The transition to democracy in South Africa was one of the defining events in twentieth-century political history. The South African women’s movement is one of the most celebrated on the African continent. Shireen Hassim examines interactions between the two as she explores the gendered nature of liberation and regime change. Her work reveals how women’s political organizations both shaped and were shaped by the broader democratic movement. Alternately asserting their political independence and giving precedence to the democratic movement as a whole, women activists proved flexible and remarkably successful in influencing policy. At the same time, their feminism was profoundly shaped by the context of democratic and nationalist ideologies. In reading the last twenty-five years of South African history through a feminist framework, Hassim offers fresh insights into the interactions between civil society, political parties, and the state. Hassim boldly confronts sensitive issues such as the tensions between autonomy and political dependency in feminists’ engagement with the African National Congress (ANC) and other democratic movements, and black-white relations within women’s organizations. She offers a historically informed discussion of the challenges facing feminist activists during a time of nationalist struggle and democratization. Winner, Victoria Schuck Award for best book on women and politics, American Political Science Association “An exceptional study, based on extensive research. . . . Highly recommended.”—Choice “A rich history of women’s organizations in South African . . . . [Hassim] had observed at first hand, and often participated in, much of what she described. She had access to the informants and private archives that so enliven the narrative and enrich the analysis. She provides a finely balanced assessment.”—Gretchen Bauer, African Studies Review

Using 150 years of women's history, this book details how women have organized into global movements which have shaped and challenged how international organizations consider gender. It argues that traditional ways of analysing international relations have ignored women's contributions because their tools are gender-exclusive. After developing a gender analysis, this book brings to light many contributions from women's movements especially related to the League of Nations and United Nations, and puts these in the context of changes in the global political economy.

Twenty-six original essays look at contemporary feminist organizations.

The first in-depth analysis of the black feminist movement, Living for the Revolution fills in a crucial but overlooked chapter in African American, women’s, and social movement history. Through original oral history interviews with key activists and analysis of previously unexamined organizational records, Kimberly Springer traces the emergence, life, and decline of several black feminist organizations: the Third World Women’s Alliance, Black Women Organized for Action, the National Black Feminist Organization, the National Alliance of Black Feminists, and the Combahee River Collective. The first of these to form was founded in 1968; all five were defunct by 1980. Springer demonstrates that these organizations led the way in articulating an activist vision formed by the intersections of race, gender, class, and sexuality. The organizations that Springer examines were the first to explicitly use feminist theory to further the work of previous black women’s organizations. As she describes, they emerged in response to marginalization in the civil rights and women’s movements, stereotyping in popular culture, and misrepresentation in public policy. Springer compares the organizations’ ideologies, goals, activities, memberships, leadership styles, finances, and communication strategies. Reflecting on the conflicts, lack of resources, and burnout that led to the demise of these groups, she considers the future of black feminist organizing, particularly at the national level. Living for the Revolution is an essential reference: it provides the history of a movement that influenced black feminist theory and civil rights activism for decades to come.

In a revealing examination of the complex interrelationship of religion, social forces, and organizational structure, Ordaining Women draws examples and data from over 100 Christian denominations to explore the meaning of institutional rules about women's ordination.

Natural Allies, based on painstaking research begun more than 30 years ago when Anne Frior Scott was preparing her now-classic The Southern Lady, is clear and highly readable. It will appeal not only to historians and sociologists but also to anyone working with or studying voluntary organizations. "Both an engaging survey of existing scholarship and a plea for additional research. . . . With wry humor and impassioned scholarship Anne Frior Scott teaches us that the more we are able to learn about women . . . 'the more we will understand about the society that has shaped us all.'" -- New York Times Book Review

In the decades since the women's movement first called for new collective, nonhierarchical modes of organization, have distinctly "feminist" organizational structures evolved? Focusing on women's nonprofit organizations founded in New York City between 1967 and 1988, Rebecca Bordt describes what these organizations look like structurally and explains why they have adopted a particular form.

A powerful new call-to-action series was launched with the New York Times bestselling MoveOn's 50 Ways to Love Your Country. The second book in the series, 50 Ways to Improve Women's Lives, written by nationally recognized women, is poised to again become an instrument for change and reinvigorate a movement. 50 Ways to Improve Women's Lives parlays the collective expertise of the National Council of Women's Organizations' 200 member organizations — which include Planned Parenthood, NOW, League of Women Voters, Code Pink, the AAUW, the National Council of Negro Women, and the YWCA — and features 50 personal, inspiring essays with "Helping Ourselves" and "Call-to-Action" sidebars. Covering subjects as diverse as pay equity, reproductive health, child care, racism, and women in leadership, the book addresses topics that affect women (and all of us!) on a personal and political level, and provides readers with ways to move beyond old arguments and turn inspiration into action. Contributors include Madeline Albright, Gloria Steinem, Betty Friedan, Eleanor Smeal, Hillary Clinton, Congresswomen Maloney, Slaughter, and Pelosi, and many others.

This book discusses the role of women in jihadi organizations. It explores the critical puzzle of why, despite the traditional restrictive views of Islamic jurisprudence on women’s social activities, the level of women’s incorporation into some jihadi organizations is growing rapidly both in numbers and roles around the world. The author argues that the increasing incorporation of women and their diversity of roles reflect a strategic logic –jihadi groups integrate women to enhance organizational success. To explain the structural metamorphosis of jihadi organizations and to provide insight into the strategic logic of women in jihadi groups, the book develops a new continuum typology, dividing jihadi groups into operation-based and state-building jihadi organizations. The book uses multiple methods, including empirical fieldwork and the conceptual framework of fragile states to explain the expanding role of women within organizations such as ISIS. Addressing a much-overlooked gap in contemporary studies of women’s association with militant jihadi organizations, this book will be of interest to scholars in the field of gender and international security, think tanks working on the Middle East security affairs, activists, policy-makers, as well as undergraduate and postgraduate students undertaking study or research associated with gender and militant non-state actors.

This novel was the major inspiration for the Women's Movement and continues to be a powerful and illuminating analysis of the position of women in Western society___