Christine Min Wotipka

Global Civil Society and the International Human Rights Movement: Citizen Participation in Human Rights International Nongovernmental Organizations

We examine patterns of citizen participation in the global human rights movement through memberships in human rights international nongovernmental organizations (HRINGOs). After showing enormous growth in the number of HRINGOs in recent decades, we investigate country level characteristics leading to greater participation in the international human rights movement. Drawing on the social movement literature and world society theory, we employ multivariate regression analyses to explain HRINGO memberships in 1978, 1988 and 1998. To understand changes over time, we also use panel analyses for 1978 - 88 and 1988 - 98. The strongest predictors of memberships in HRINGOs are found to be embeddedness in global civil society and international flows of human resources. The effects of these international factors grew stronger over time while domestic factors became less important.

Slowly But Surely? The Global Expansion of Women's Participation in Science and Engineering Fields of Study, 1972-92.

This cross-national study shows that womens enrollments in science and engineering fields in higher education increased between 1972 and 1992 throughout much of the world. This increase was positively influenced by womens level of enrollments in the non-science and non-engineering fields. This finding suggests a positive spillover effect for women. The level of male enrollments in these fields also had a positive effect thus suggesting that as fields of study become more open to men they also become more open to women. These cross-national findings raise questions about the applicability of the persistence of an inequality perspective to womens expanded access to higher education. (authors)

The Global Diffusion of Markets and Democracy: World society and human rights: an event history analysis of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women

A worldwide human rights regime has emerged, expanded, and intensified throughout the twentieth century, especially in the post-Second World War era. This regime involves a global system of expanding organizations, social movements, conferences, rules, and discourse promoting the human rights of individuals. This regime is universalistic in aspiration: all humans are expected to be covered by the regime. This universalism involves a discursive and organizational reframing of the more limited and more varying national citizenship emphasis; human rights in principle accrue to all individuals, regardless of their citizenship or residency. And, a growing number of types of individual persons can press for their human rights: women, children, ethnic minorities, indigenous peoples, gays and lesbians, the elderly, the disabled, and the imprisoned. The content of the human rights at stake also expands, from the rights of “abstract individuals” to the rights of individual members of a specific collectivity, e.g. from suffrage to reproduction rights for women. Also on the rise is both worldwide attention to human rights abuses and violations and national displays of commitment to human rights principles and policies. These unexpected developments have increasingly been highlighted by scholars working within both the disciplines of international relations (e.g. Donnelly 1986; Finnemore and Sikkink 1998; Keck and Sikkink 1998; Hathaway 2002; Vreeland (forthcoming)) and macrosociology (Hafner-Burton and Tsutsui 2005; Tsutsui and Wotipka 2004; Smith 1995; Soysal 1994).

Women's studies as a global innovation

Starting in the 1960s, university systems around the world began to undergo a variety of drastic changes that would forever alter higher education. The spread of social movements were fueled by anti-war protests, demands for civil rights, and new forms of economic and political organization (Lipset, 1993). In terms of changes in universities, students demanded greater educational access and equal opportunities. A worldwide logic of inclusiveness increasingly affected national political and educational outcomes, including transformations in multiple dimensions of the status of women in the polity and in the educational system. This chapter focuses on the emergence and expansion of womens studies curricula in universities throughout the world, treating this unexpected development as a further manifestation of the globalization of a logic of inclusiveness.

The Worldwide Incorporation of Women and Women's Rights Discourse in Social Science Textbooks, 1970-2008.

The invisibility of women in educational curricula and the effect this has on perpetuating women’s marginal status in society has been well documented. This article examines (1) whether and how mentions of women and women’s rights have expanded and changed in textbooks cross-nationally and over time and (2) to what extent these outcomes are driven by (a) national factors of individual countries, such as economic, political, and social development, or (b) global or transnational dynamics. We employ a quantitative analysis of the representations of women in textbooks by examining over 500 secondary school social science textbooks from 74 countries published between 1970 and 2008. Descriptive analyses reveal a steady increase in mentions of women and women’s rights in textbooks around the world. Results from multilevel models indicate the explanatory power of nation-states’ linkages to global norms of human and women’s rights in additional to national characteristics.

The Worldwide Expansion of Early Childhood Care and Education, 1985–2010

Although early childhood care and education (ECCE) enrollments have expanded significantly around the world since the 1960s, little is known about the economic, social, and cultural drivers explaining this growth. Using country fixed effects and a sample of 117 countries, this study explores three predictors framing the growth of ECCE enrollments across countries and over time: economic development, improvements in women’s status, and country linkages to world society. The findings suggest that economic development was most strongly related to growth in ECCE enrollment before 1995 and that women’s status and world society indicators were even stronger predictors between 2000 and 2010. Analyses by country type suggest differences for developing countries and countries in transition compared with developed countries.

Global linkages, the higher education pipeline, and national contexts: The worldwide growth of women faculty, 1970–2012:

Despite the surge in women’s enrollments in higher education over the last several decades, women continue to be unequally represented in faculty careers around the world. In this article, we use data from the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) to examine and explain regional and global trends in percentages of women faculty within 92 countries from 1970 to 2012. Drawing on world society and development perspectives, we posit that women’s representation among faculty is influenced by a combination of global norms of justice and women’s rights as well as national contexts. Results of descriptive analyses show remarkable growth over time for all world regions, although gender parity has yet to be reached. Using country fixed effects panel regression strategies, we find that countries with higher levels of women who earn higher education degrees, stronger linkages to global norms of women’s rights, and higher levels of economic development are more likely to have higher percentages of women faculty, with the caveat that the effect of economic development is conditioned by national levels of women’s caregiving burdens. Although the pipeline argument serves as a popular narrative, women’s access to higher education is only part of the story; our analyses indicate that percentages of women faculty are shaped by the intersection of norms, national contexts, and human capital.

The Making of a Human Rights Issue: A Cross-National Analysis of Gender-Based Violence in Textbooks, 1950-2011

In the past few decades, awareness around gender-based violence (GBV) has expanded on a global scale with increased attention in global treaties, organizations, and conferences. Previously a taboo topic, it is now viewed as a human rights violation in the broader world culture. Drawing on a quantitative analysis of 568 textbooks from 76 countries from across the world, we examine the extent to which this growing global attention to GBV has filtered down into national educational curricula. We find that textbook discussions of GBV are more prevalent in the post-1993 period and are linked to discussions of women’s rights. In addition, discussions of GBV are more common in countries with more linkages to the global women’s movement. Findings from our study underscore the influence of the women’s rights movement and the radical feminist perspective on the reframing of GBV as a human rights issue.

Mothers’ gendered aspirations for their children: a case study of Forbesganj, Bihar

Abstract Current literature on parent aspirations has not empirically explored the factors that may lead to differences in aspirations among similar types of parents. Additionally, little is known about the gendered nature of these differences. In this study, we seek to understand factors shaping mothers’ aspirations in regards to education, marriage, and careers of their daughters and sons, and to explore why differences may be found for mothers from similar socioeconomic backgrounds. Using a case study approach, we conduct in-depth interviews with 28 mothers in the Indian town of Forbesganj, Bihar. We use a conceptual framework based on the capabilities approach, and draw on theories of social learning, or learning from one’s peers, through which to understand differences in aspirations. Findings suggest that mothers desire lives for their children that are different from their own, and that conceptions of such lives are influenced by exposure to role models in their communities.

The rise, removal, and return of women: gender representations in primary-level textbooks in Afghanistan, 1980–2010

ABSTRACT Nearly four decades of instability and fragility have led to many changes in the status of women and girls in Afghanistan. Yet, little research focuses on these changes within the education system. To understand the country’s stance toward gender issues in formal practice, we examine gender representations in Afghan primary-level Dari language arts textbooks. Using a qualitative content analysis and longitudinal data, we examine how ideologies about gender have been politicised in Afghanistan and are reflected in school textbooks from 1980 to 2010. Findings suggest that tumultuous political events and power struggles in the recent history of Afghanistan have led to many changes in how the daily social and working lives of Afghan women and girls have been portrayed in textbooks. As seen in the textbooks, it appears that efforts are being made within the current regime to balance competing gender norms. We conclude with suggestions for policy-makers.