Gender and Race Matter: Global Perspectives on Being a Woman

Gender and Race Matter: Global Perspectives on Being a Woman is an edited collection. It is a timely addition to the literature available on gender, social justice and political agency. During the first decade of the twenty first century, the concepts of diversity, inclusion and equality attracted increasing attention. This has recently included the foregrounding of such issues in the work of the UN related to global gender inequality. The much publicised gang rape of a young woman in India in 2012, rape used as a weapon in war and the case of the brutal handling of ‘the blue bra woman’ by the military in Egypt has resulted in protests by women demanding gender security across the globe. The Global Summit to End Sexual Violence in conflict, held in June 2014 highlighted that global attitudes need to be changed. The underlying question is how can we generate a fair and inclusive society that takes into account that women make up half the world’s population? The answer lies in promoting gender equality and social justice which strike at the heart of policy making and are central to the work of the contributors in this collection. The drive for gender equality is not a recent phenomenon with the UN cited as occupying a central role for legislative change globally. Gender inequality persists in most countries and although it appears that we have a long way to go, this collection contributes to a feminist scholarship that highlights a destabilising of established patterns of behaviour and gender relations. It acknowledges the multiplicity of discrimination but locates women at the centre of a dialogue and presents key interventions in gender and race matters. For the contributors, gender serves as an analytical framework and covers the experiences of women in different global settings related to education, political activism, corporeal violence, identity, sexuality, and poverty. The use of poetry and literature provides a powerful voice for women against exclusion and recognises their contribution to society. This collection hopes to be innovative in not only relating experiential evidence but also putting forward how women are able to challenge oppression through circumventing rules, roles, obligations and prejudice through a powerful agency.