I am interested in how democracies can become more inclusive and just. The book I'm working on now, Culture and Women's Rights Don't Clash, focuses on controversial gender practices. I study the so-called "burka ban" in France, the legalization of polygyny in South Africa, and the marrying out rule for Indigenous women in Canada. By comparing three such different policy debates, I am learning that a clash between culture and women's rights is never really necessary and how to advance justice for the women these policy debates are about.
My first book, Women's Rights in Democratizing States, compares how the transition to democracy in Poland, South Africa, and Chile affected women's rights. All three countries became new democracies in the 1990s but only South Africa made impressive gains on women's rights. Why? In South Africa, women accessed positions in labor unions, political parties, and social movements and began to press for more access, voice, and capacity for contestation within these institutions. As they made progress, these institutions increasingly supported women's rights in society more broadly. Read an excerpt from the book, or check out my blog post, "Why the Quality of Democracy Matters for Women's Rights in Democratizing States." My research has been funded by the National Science Foundation, USAID, Notre Dame Institute for Advanced Studies, the Institute for Women's Studies at the University of Michigan, the Collegio Carlo Alberto in Italy, the Dickey Center for International Understanding at Dartmouth College, and many organizations at the University of Virginia. |