“Feminist Agendas and Democracy would be great reading for any women’s studies course that covers global perspectives or in any Latin American studies course. Public policy analysts would also benefit from this book. The fluidity of the reading and its broad spectrum of themes make it appealing to anyone interested in democracy, social movements or gender justice.” — Ana Maria Goldani, Contemporary Sociology
“Besides its contribution to scholarship, this is an eminently teachable text. As my students and I experienced in Fall 2009, it is an excellent regional case study of the challenges facing feminist activists at the national institutional level and beyond. Jaquette’s pithy introduction and thought provoking conclusion bookend chapters that are ripe for comparison, discussion and debate.” — Elisabeth Jay Friedman, International Feminist Journal of Politics,
“Feminist Agendas and Democracy offers an update on an increasingly diverse women’s movement in Latin America. . . . Combining the perspectives of academic and non-academic activists, contributions to the volume identify some recent successes of women’s activists (i.e., Argentina’s gender quota law, Brazil’s law criminalizing domestic violence, the Peruvian Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s focus on sexual violence against women) while working to understand, explain and address the movement’s continuing fragmentation.” — Laura Landolt, Mobilization
“Taken altogether, the chapters in Feminist Agendas and Democracy in Latin America provide a wealth of detail about the full spectrum of feminist activism in the region today, allowing the reader to generate her own conclusions about the pros and cons of various strategies for advancing women’s rights.” — Lisa Baldez, Women’s Studies International Forum
“This anthology offers an array of important and thought-provoking essays focusing on women’s activism and feminism in Latin America.” — Kia Lilly Caldwell, Journal of Latin American and Caribbean Anthropology,
“This is a highly readable and informative volume that will be of interest to students, policymakers, academics, and activists from other regions, particularly for the story it tells about feminist movements’ engagement with democratising and consolidating states.” — Fiona Macaulay, Gender and Development
a powerful book on the women's movement in Latin America. . . . This accessible and engaging text is a must read for undergraduate and graduate students in women's studies, political science, and social sciences in general. Summing Up: Highly recommended. All readership levels. — Frau Sally Benz, Feminist Review Blog
“Feminist Agendas and Democracy in Latin America is a valuable text for scholars and students of Latin American feminisms interested in some of the most pressing issues of the day. It assembles accessible and compelling essays by authors with expertise in law and the social sciences, and with personal experiences of political involvement and activism in the contexts they write about. This collection is a fine contribution to the literature on women’s movements in Latin America and promises to be a critical reference for dialogues about the future of feminism and gender equity in the region.” — Barbara Sutton, A Contracorriente
“[A] powerful book on the women's movement in Latin America. . . . This accessible and engaging text is a must read for undergraduate and graduate students in women's studies, political science, and social sciences in general. Summing Up: Highly recommended. All readership levels.” — I. Coronado, Choice
“All of the chapters are excellent in this volume. The authors are recognized feminist experts and academics and their penetrating analyses point out the strengths and limits of feminist strategies in the target nations. . . . Feminist Agendas and Democracy in Latin America is a fascinating, well-organized volume that could be used in advanced undergraduate and graduate courses in feminist politics and history.” — Kathryn A. Sloan H-LatAm, H-Net Reviews
“In several respects, Jaquette has delivered another major contribution to the field, with nine high-quality case studies grouped under three sections. . . . [T]he chapters are excellent, all written by top feminist experts and academics, and providing up-to-date data and perspectives on feminist strategies and work in the region. . . .[Feminist Agendas and Democracy in Latin America] is a very useful collection of works, and it nicely reveals the vitality of feminist movements and networks in Latin America.” — Stéphanie Rousseau, Perspectives on Politics
“This welcome update on the current state of the feminist agenda in the region is full of strong contributions. . . . Well worth the price of admission is the brilliant concluding chapter, in which Jaquette champions professional women working within their democratic political systems—to build bridges to government agencies, win legal redress through the courts, and provide life-sustaining social services.” — Richard Feinberg, Foreign Affairs
“Feminist Agendas and Democracy in Latin America gives one a sense of the dynamism of feminist thinking in Latin America. The essays address national and regional women’s movements’ significant yet partial successes over the past twenty years as well as the ways that the movements have more recently confronted urgent political strategy choices such as whether to rely on judicial solutions or to engage with the World Social Forum.” — Cynthia Enloe, author of The Curious Feminist: Searching for Women in a New Age of Empire
“Feminist Agendas and Democracy in Latin America is a timely intervention in debates that should matter to feminists everywhere. Using freshly collected data, the authors evaluate questions like the impact of gender quotas on politics, the relationship between global feminism and national policies, and the impact of neoliberal restructuring and democratic transition on specific women’s movements. Engaging and clear, the essays offer new insights into issues that demand our attention.” — Gay W. Seidman, author of Beyond the Boycott: Labor Rights, Human Rights, and Transnational Activism
“This is an important, timely, and fascinating examination of women, feminism, and democratization in Latin America. It is also a terrific read and another major contribution by Jane S. Jaquette, who has brought together a first-rate team of authors with extensive knowledge of the countries about which they write.” — Valentine Moghadam, author of Globalizing Women: Transnational Feminist Networks