International networking for women's human rights

In the last half of the twentieth century, women's activism reached a critical mass that was both reflected in and enhanced by the United Nations Decade for Women from 1976 to 1985 and four world conferences on women culminating in Beijing in 1995. Central to women's organizing in the 1990s has been a global movement for women's human rights. In asserting that "women's rights are human rights," it seeks to demonstrate both how traditionally accepted human rights abuses are specifically affected by gender and how many other violations against women have remained invisible. This international movement has many manifestations and reflects women's collaborative efforts across diverse contexts. This chapter examines one aspect of that development-the Global Campaign for Women's Human Rights and other global networks such as the Development Alternatives with Women for a New Era (DAWN).