Globalization has intensified the pressures on poor women. They have resisted in both the North and the South in movements that are exclusively female and in others where women play a significant part.

This book brings together scholars and organizers to record and analyze women’s grassroots activism in two key areas: claims to livelihood and human rights. Through cases ranging from the British miners’ strike to making gender central to the Guatemalan peace process, the book documents activists challenging the boundaries of prevailing assumptions of work, environment, reproduction, community, democracy and indeed politics. It contributes to the ongoing debate about the scope of women’s movements, while demonstrating how women’s activism around needs and rights is a crucial element in the global struggle for equality and justice.

Essential reading for students and academics in women’s studies, development, politics, sociology, geography and labour studies - as well as for activists everywhere.