Amnesty International and women's rights : : feminist strategies, leadership commitment and internal resistances / / Miriam Ganzfried.

• Funder: Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF)
• VerfasserIn: Ganzfried, Miriam,
• Author: Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF)
• Place / Publishing House: Bielefeld, Germany : : transcript Verlag,, [2022]
• Year of Publication: 2021; 2022
• Edition: 1st ed.
• Language: English
• Series: Edition Politik
• Physical Description: 1 online resource (320 p.); 516 MB 24 SW-Abbildungen

Amnesty International's (AI) focus on civil and political rights has marked their work with a gender bias from the outset. In the first comprehensive look at AI's work on women's rights, Miriam Ganzfried illustrates the development of their activities regarding women's rights issues over twenty years. Through interviews with staff members and activists and unprecedented access to archive material from the Swiss and the German AI sections, she shows how women activists strategized to make AI increase its work on women's rights. Additionally, the book demonstrates that, despite the leadership's commitment to the Stop Violence Against Women campaign, internal resistance hampered the integration of women's rights into the organization's overall work.

Table of Contents

Cover -- Contents -- List of figures -- List of graphs -- Acknowledgements -- 1. Introduction -- 1.1 Purpose and delimitation -- 1.2 Significance -- 1.3 Theoretical paradigm -- 1.4 Structure of the study -- 2. Problem and research questions -- 2.1 A gender‐biased understanding of human rights -- 2.2 Contestation of the traditional understanding of human rights -- 2.3 Response of human rights NGOs -- 2.4 Research questions -- 3. Conceptualization -- 4. Focused literature review -- 4.1 Social constructivism in International Relations -- 4.2 The role of norm entrepreneurs in the emergence of international norms -- 4.3 Comparatively powerless actors' strategies for influencing norm dynamics -- 4.4 Norm diffusion and norm dynamics -- 4.5 The study's theoretical contribution -- 5. Data and method(s) -- 5.1 The origin and characteristics of Grounded Theory -- 5.2 Reasons for the use of grounded theory techniques -- 5.3 Case selection -- 5.4 Data corpora -- 5.4.1 Criteria for data collection and generation -- 5.4.2 Written archival documents -- 5.4.3 Interview data -- 5.5 Data analysis -- 6. AI's structure, decision‐making, and policy implementation -- 6.1 Brief overview of the development of AI's work in general -- 6.2 A gendered human rights NGO -- 6.3 Internal structure - the international level -- 6.4 Internal structure - the national levels -- 6.4.1 The Swiss section -- 6.4.2 The German section -- 6.5 Decision‐making and implementation -- 6.5.1 The international level - The IS as a powerfull central node -- 6.5.2 The national level - AI sections -- 7. The beginnings of AI's interest in VAW -- 7.1 The international level -- 7.1.1 Policy development 1989-2001 -- 7.1.1.1 ICM decisions indirectly concerning AI's work on VAW -- 7.1.1.2 ICM decisions directly concerning AI's work on VAW.

7.1.2 Policy Implementation - AI's activities on VAW within the frame of the mandate -- 7.1.2.1 Women in the Front Line -- 7.1.2.2 Human Rights are Women's Rights -- 7.1.2.3 Take a Step to Stamp Out Torture -- 7.1.3 Feminist strategizing -- 7.1.4 AI's work on women's rights discussed -- 7.2 The national levels -- 7.2.1 The Swiss section -- 7.2.1.1 First collective and individual initiatives -- 7.2.1.2 A women's network emerges -- 7.2.1.3 Ignorance rather than opposition -- 7.2.2 The German section -- 7.2.2.1 Sektionsarbeitskreis Menschenrechtsverletzungen an Frauen -- 7.2.2.2 The MaF's successful attempts to influence decision‐making -- 7.2.2.3 Disinterest regarding women's rights -- 7.3 Intermediate conclusions -- 8. The challenges to make women's rights part of AI's DNA -- 8.1 The international level -- 8.1.1 Policy development 2002-2010 -- 8.1.1.1 ICM Decisions indirectly concerning AI's work on VAW -- 8.1.1.2 Decisions directly concerning AI's work on VAW -- 8.1.2 Policy Implementation- Focus and content of the SVAW campaign -- 8.1.3 Pushing work on the issue of VAW from the top down -- 8.1.3.1 Policy development initiated by the IEC -- 8.1.3.2 Getting ready for the SVAW campaign -- 8.1.3.3 The SVAW campaign Machinery -- 8.1.4 Resistance against AI's work on VAW -- 8.1.4.1 Resistance against the SVAW campaign -- 8.1.4.2 Resistance against the adoption of a policy on abortion -- 8.2 The national levels -- 8.2.1 The Swiss section -- 8.2.1.1 Merging the international campaign strategy with the section's priorities -- 8.2.1.2 The continuing importance of the women's network -- 8.2.1.3 Women's rights - confined to a story by women acting for women -- 8.2.2 The German section -- 8.2.2.1 Look &amp -- Act: Preventing Violence against Women -- 8.2.2.2 The MaF - a group of voluntary experts.

8.2.2.3 Highly controversial issues - domestic violence and abortion -- 8.2.3 Comparison between the Swiss and the German AI sections -- 8.3 Intermediate conclusions -- 9. Discussion and outlook -- 9.1 Summary and new insights -- 9.1.1 New insights into the mandate period -- 9.1.2 New insights into the post‐mandate period -- 9.2 Implications for other human rights NGOs -- 9.3 The study's theoretical contribution -- 9.3.1 Ways that comparatively powerless actors can influence norm emergence -- 9.3.2 Reasons for limited norm diffusion -- 9.4 Outlook -- Appendix -- Appendix 1: Coordinators of the Intersectional Women's Network IWN -- Appendix 2: Additional graphs and figures -- Appendix 3: AI's statute, mandate, and mission -- Sources and Literature -- Sources -- Amnesty International archive -- Archive of the Swiss section of Amnesty International, Bern -- Archive of the German section of Amnesty International, Berlin -- Private archives -- Archival Material -- Interview Material -- Internet Documents -- Literature -- List of abbreviations.