Regressions in Gender Equality, Women’s Human Rights, and Empowerment. The Other Side of the Coin

This open-access book highlights recent setbacks that threaten women’s human rights and positions achieved through feminist activism and commitment in academia and civil society. Almost three decades after the Beijing Conference and the Platform for Action, this book draws the attention of the international community to the dangerous steps backward, pushbacks, and omissions that continue to characterize the political choices of national governments worldwide. The author, an expert in the field, argues for more stringent intervention to urge governments to implement the plans in the Beijing Platform for Action. The book does not assert the supremacy of one part of the world over another. Instead, it takes a thematic approach and evaluates all aspects of the Beijing Platform for Action. The book adopts an intersectional approach, and considers age, marital status, race and ethnicity, religious beliefs, disability, immigration status, gender identity and expression, etc., in identifying multiple levels of discrimination. It, further, does not confine itself to a critical analysis of the current or already realized setbacks, but instead highlights regulatory gaps that continue to undermine the impact of the Beijing Platform for Action, limiting women’s empowerment and agency, and overshadowing their voice. Therefore, it significantly adds to the literature on women’s studies by identifying policy areas for intervention. Through this book, aimed at gender and women’s studies scholars, policy-makers, activists, and personnel from government organizations and NGOs working with women, the systematic and structured analysis of the current setbacks in gender equality can provide valuable support for education, and enrich the scientific debate on how to make the Beijing Platform for Action a reality.