From Amrita Basu's course on Women's Activism in Global Perspective:

"Women are claiming a new voice in civil society by spearheading both egalitarian movements for social change and reactionary movements which would restore them to putatively traditional roles. They are prominent in local level community-based struggles but also in women's movements, perhaps the most international movements in the world today. This course will explore the varied expressions of women's activism at the community, national, and transnational levels. How is it influenced by the intervention of the state and international agencies? How is it affected by globalization? Among the issues and movements which we will address are: struggles to redefine women's rights as human rights, women's activism in right wing movements and religious nationalism, international debates about sexuality and reproduction, campaigns around violence against women at the hands of families and the state, and the impact of the Internet on women's activism. Our understanding of women's activism is informed by a richly comparative perspective and attention to cases from diverse regions of the world."