Half the human race: the international women's movement at the end of the twentieth century.

Abstract

This overview of the current status of the international women's movement traces the growth of the movement from a "trickle to a torrent" during the past 150 years and credits the UN with providing the framework necessary for expanding the international policy dialogue about women's rights. The next section asks why this great burst of women's energy in public settings is occurring now and proposes that the answer can be found in the fact that a major transformation is creating a smaller, more interdependent world marked by rising productivity and environmental pressures. This transformation has also led to increased life expectancy and reduced fertility, thus giving women more productive time to be applied to education, to outside employment, to political organizing and community work, and to the support of nongovernmental organizations. The article continues by reviewing the diverse strategies used by women's groups, including "boring from within," applying political pressure, and demonstrating alternatives. After noting the existence of international networks that exchange successful strategies, the article concludes with an analysis of the processes and achievements of the 1995 Fourth Conference on Women and its Non-Governmental Forum.