Women Reshaping Human Rights: How Extraordinary Activists Are Changing the World (South)

It's been said that the world would be very different if women ruled. Thus far, female leaders haven't proven this to be so, but women activists have certainly moved mountains in search of a better world. In Women Reshaping Human Rights encounter Eva Brantley, who waged war on Indira Ghandi's sterilization policies in India, acted as legal counsel to Lech Walesa at the height of Solidarity's push against the Communist regime in Poland, and rounded up testimony on the Soviet practice of dropping toys wired to explosives in Afganistan. You'll also meet Chinese dissident Dai Qing who threw her weight against the repressive Communist government to mobilize grass roots support against the massive Yangtze dam project and in favor of free press and expression. Brief biographies outlining the lives and work of 17 activists and groups are supplemented by sections in which the women themselves speak out. Fascinating subjects rise above the somewhat stiff writing.