From Motherhood to Citizenship: Women's Rights and International Organizations / Edition 1

by Nitza Berkovitch

Overview

It was not until the second half of the twentieth century that many countries began granting women the right to participate in public institutions as individuals. Until then, women were incorporated into various domains of life mainly through their relational roles as mothers. In From Motherhood to Citizenship, Nitza Berkovitch argues that this trend is not confined to specific countries, but represents a worldwide phenomenon. Moreover, the forces that shape this transformation are embedded in the global cultural and political system.

Berkovitch offers the first detailed account of the critical role played by international organizations in the promotion of women's rights by individual nation-states. Demonstrating the importance of rhetoric in the framing of women's issues, the book traces the formation of the global agenda on women. From Motherhood to Citizenship begins in the 1870s, when the earliest international campaigns fought the "evils done to womankind," and continues through the interwar era in which the first official world bodies (the League of Nations and the International Labour Organization) promoted and expanded the concept of "women's protection." It concludes with the recent United Nations Decade for Women, which for the first time puts "women's rights" on the world agenda.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780801871023
Publisher:	Johns Hopkins University Press
Publication date:	07/01/2002
Series:	Women's Rights and International Organizations
Pages:	224
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.49(d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Nitza Berkovitch is an assistant professor in the Department of Behavioral Sciences at Ben-Gurion University, Beer Sheva, Israel.

Table of Contents

	List of Tables and Graphs	vii
	Preface and Acknowledgments	ix
1	Introduction: Women's Rights and Global Discourse	1
2	"Improving the Lot of Womanhood": The Emerging World Social Agenda	18
3	"For the Protection of Women and Children": The Interwar Era Discourse on Women	58
4	Human Rights and Working Women: The Global Campaign and State Action	100
5	From "Mothers of the Race" to "Human Resources"	139
6	Setting a New Research Agenda	168
Appendix	Countries by Date of Adoption of Equal Pay Law	179
	References	181
	Index	197

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

This book fills a gap in the existing literature and provides compelling evidence of the important effect that international organizations have had on nation-states' passage of legislation addressing women's unique circumstances.
—Patricia Fernandez-Kelly, Princeton University

Patricia Fernandez-Kelly

This book fills a gap in the existing literature and provides compelling evidence of the important effect that international organizations have had on nation-states' passage of legislation addressing women's unique circumstances.

Editorial Reviews

Most compelling is how Berkovitch demands self-reflection among feminist scholars. In illustrating the link between international policy, the 'scientization' of gender (that is, the need for quantitative measures to represent womanhood), and the drive for data collection on equality, she reminds us of the historical context of our own research agenda.
—Winifred R. Poster, American Journal of Sociology

The writing has a very logical and clear progression . . . Overall, this book . . . will be of value to students of women's rights or of general human rights.
—Jeannette Campbell, South African Journal of International Affairs

From the Publisher

The writing has a very logical and clear progression . . . Overall, this book . . . will be of value to students of women's rights or of general human rights.

South African Journal of International Affairs - Jeannette Campbell

Most compelling is how Berkovitch demands self-reflection among feminist scholars. In illustrating the link between international policy, the 'scientization' of gender (that is, the need for quantitative measures to represent womanhood), and the drive for data collection on equality, she reminds us of the historical context of our own research agenda.

American Journal of Sociology - Winifred R. Poster

The writing has a very logical and clear progression... Overall, this book... will be of value to students of women's rights or of general human rights.

— Jeannette Campbell

South African Journal of International Affairs

Most compelling is how Berkovitch demands self-reflection among feminist scholars. In illustrating the link between international policy, the 'scientization' of gender (that is, the need for quantitative measures to represent womanhood), and the drive for data collection on equality, she reminds us of the historical context of our own research agenda.

— Winifred R. Poster

American Journal of Sociology

Beginning with the 1870s and the earliest international campaigns against sexism, Berkovitch (behavioral science, Ben-Gurion U., Israel) traces the history of the role played by international organizations in the promotion of women's rights. She explores the formation of the League of Nations and the International Labour Organization and their concerns for women's protection, and concludes with an examination of the UN Decade for Women, which has placed women's rights at the forefront of the international agenda. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

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