Disagreement over cultural rights and women’s rights is intense. At its worst, this controversy has led conservatives to label feminism an imperialist threat, while feminists have attacked culture as irredeemably retrograde. The result is contestation that crosscuts people’s lives in a struggle that pits tradition, family, and faith against individual rights.

This course traces the evolution of this disagreement, from the emergence of universal human rights at the end of World War II, through the rise of cultural relativism, the international women’s movement, and multiculturalism. We begin with the emergence of human rights, international documents affirming these rights, and the concepts of patriarchy and masculinity. The core of the course focuses on a series of contemporary rights conflicts from around the globe. Case studies include the Arab uprising in Tunisia and Egypt, female genital cutting in Africa, “honor killings” in Turkey, and the veil in Europe. We conclude with an evaluation of the contemporary transnational women’s movement and remaining obstacles to gender justice.

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