Women, Development, and the UN: A Sixty-Year Quest for Equality and Justice

"Devaki Jain opens the doors of the United Nations and shows how it
has changed the female half of the world -- and vice versa. Women, Development, and
the UN is a book that every global citizen, government leader, journalist, academic,
and self-respecting woman should read." -- Gloria
Steinem

"Devaki Jain's book nurtures your optimism in this
terrible war-torn decade by describing how women succeeded in empowering both
themselves and the United Nations to work toward a global leadership inspired by
human dignity." -- Fatema Mernissi

In Women, Development, and
the UN, internationally noted development economist and activist Devaki Jain traces
the ways in which women have enriched the work of the United Nations from the time
of its founding in 1945. Synthesizing insights from the extensive literature on
women and development and from her own broad experience, Jain reviews the evolution
of the UN's programs aimed at benefiting the women of developing nations and the
impact of women's ideas about rights, equality, and social justice on UN thinking
and practice regarding development. Jain presents this history from the perspective
of the southern hemisphere, which recognizes that development issues often look
different when viewed from the standpoint of countries in Africa, Asia, and Latin
America. The book highlights the contributions of the four global women's
conferences in Mexico City, Copenhagen, Nairobi, and Beijing in raising awareness,
building confidence, spreading ideas, and creating alliances. The history that Jain
chronicles reveals both the achievements of committed networks of women in
partnership with the UN and the urgent work remaining to bring equality and justice
to the world and its women.