Author Description

Product Description<br/><br/><br/>Women burst onto the political scene in Africa after the 1990s, claiming more than one third of the parliamentary seats in countries like Angola, Mozambique, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda, and Burundi. Women in Rwanda hold the highest percentage of legislative seats in the world. Women's movements lobbied for constitutional reforms and new legislation to expand women's rights. This book examines the convergence of factors behind these dramatic developments, including the emergence of autonomous women's movements, changes in international and regional norms regarding women's rights and representation, the availability of new resources to advance women's status, and the end of civil conflict. The book focuses on the cases of Cameroon, Uganda, and Mozambique, situating these countries in the broader African context. The authors provide a fascinating analysis of the way in which women are transforming the political landscape in Africa, by bringing to bear their unique perspectives as scholars who have also been parliamentarians, transnational activists, and leaders in these movements.<br/><br/><br/>Review<br/><br/><br/>"This book counters the mainstream media image of Africa as a continent mired in the legacies of colonialism. The activist scholars writing here inspire us to recognize the impact of women's transformative leadership in policy making and bring a message of women's political activism as the urgent agency of social change."<br/>-Peggy Antrobus, Development Alternatives with Women for a New Era (DAWN)<br/><br/>"Written by a distinguished team of African and American academics and practitioners, this outstanding book analyzes the ways in which women activists and politicians have been transforming politics in Africa since the early 1990s. With a particular focus on Uganda, Mozambique and Cameroon, the book nonetheless draws illuminating comparisons across countries and subregions. Finding that the most important single deter