Globalization, Religion and Gender

In the early 1970s, accompanying the wave of globalization, conservative nationalist religious movements began using religion to oppose non-democratic and often Western oriented regimes. Reasserting patriarchal gender relations presumably authorized by religion has been central to these movements. At the Fourth United Nation Congress on Women in Beijing in 1995, Muslim and Catholic delegations from diverse countries united to oppose provisions on sexuality, reproductive rights, women's health and women's rights as human rights. In this book, scholars from eight different Muslim and Catholic communities analyze the political strategies that women are employing in these contexts, ranging from acceptance, religious reinterpretation, innovation and political action towards change and equal rights.