What is women’s empowerment, and how and why does it matter for women’s health? These are questions that the University of California Global Health Institute’s (UCGHI) Center of Expertise (COE) on Women’s Health, Gender, and Empowerment aimed to answer with this book. Since 2009 the COE has brought together a multidisciplinary network of experts from across the University of California (UC) campuses and departments, along with their global partners, to advance research and education on what has become a capstone theme in the global health and development agenda: women’s and girls’ empowerment and health. Women’s Empowerment and Global Health demonstrates the outcomes of COE’s commitment to advance pedagogy and present the work of thought leaders in this domain.
Despite the rise of a human rights-based approach to health and increasing awareness of the synergies between women’s health and empowerment, a lack of consensus remains as to how to operationalize empowerment in ways that improve health. Women’s Empowerment and Global Health presents thirteen multidisciplinary case studies that demonstrate how science and advocacy can be creatively merged to enhance the agency and status of girls and women. The book is organized into two sections, the first focused on sociocultural, educational, and health systems interventions, and the second on economic, policy, and structural interventions. Seven of the chapters are enriched by complementary videos that provide readers with context about programs in India, Kenya, the United States, Mexico, Nicaragua, Zimbabwe, and South Africa. Women’s Empowerment and Global Health provides the next generation of researchers and practitioners, as well as students in global and public health, sociology, anthropology, women’s studies, law, business, and medicine, with cutting-edge and inspirational examples of programs that point the way toward achieving women’s equality and the positive outcome of empowerment on health.
