Women's Charters and Declarations: Building Another World

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The development of women’s charters, manifestos and declarations serve as a demand for change and improvement in the status and lives of women; they are an articulation of the need for gender justice. These documents have given women a platform to demand their rights and voice their concerns over exclusion, inequality, discrimination and oppression. They serve as tools to challenge the roots of institutional and individual belief systems that continue to oppress women.  Such documents also reflect a journey through a patriarchal maze at the state and non-state levels, in an attempt to reshape the fundamental norms and values of a society as regards women’s rights. 

Amongst others, one of the central goals of this publication is to highlight strategies that women have adopted both historically and recently, to raise their collective voice in their demand for equality and non-discrimination, at the state and non-state levels.  Although the passing of nearly two centuries of struggles has brought more visibility, more open women’s rights discourse, and acceptance of a degree of women in the political sphere, as Rashida Manjoo outlines in the introduction of this book, the necessity for women to demand their human rights remains critical - as millions of women continue to face inequalities on a daily basis in nearly all areas of their lives.