Introduction  xv
fueled by fears of immigration, globalization, and con-
cerns about national identity (BBC 2016). In recent elec-
tions, nationalist parties have won more than 20 percent
of the vote in Switzerland, Denmark, Austria, and Hun-
gary. Research shows that notions of nation and nation-
alism are gendered in ways that reinforce stereotypical
notions of masculinity and manhood and femininity and
womanhood and support aggressive militarism and sexu-
alized violence against women (Nagel 1998). During the
recent presidential campaign, the United State has seen
a rise in white nationalism, “the belief that national iden-
tity should be built around white ethnicity, and that white
people should therefore maintain both a demographic
majority and dominance of the nation’s culture and pub-
lic life” (Taub 2016). Certainly, the success of the Leave
Campaign in Brexit in the United Kingdom was fueled by
nationalism and backlash against immigrants. In India,
questions of Hindu nationalism, gender, and the rights of
religious minorities are an important part of national dia-
logue (Banerjee 2003).
Very quickly, we see that no threat is an isolated prob-
lem. Rather, these threats intersect and complicate one
another. The problems of nationalism and the far right
are exacerbated by war and the resulting waves of refugee
immigration that inevitably follow. And again, we see a
gendered problem, where women and children are more
likely to be adversely affected by war and immigration or
migration, and women are more likely to be vulnerable to
sexual violence related to their refugee status (Amnesty
International 2016).
War seems a perpetual state in our world, and we know
that war disproportionately affects women in specifically
gendered ways. “Women and children account for almost
80 percent of the casualties of conflict and war as well
as 80 percent of the 40 million people in world who are
now refugees from their homes” (Marshall 2004). Julienne
Lusenge, the director of the Fund for Congolese Women
and president of SOFEPADI in the Democratic Republic
of the Congo, says of her country, “At the moment, women
from Rutshuru and Beni in the North Kivu province of the
RDC are assassinated, massacred, have their throats cut
or stomachs ripped open, are raped and suffer sexual vio-
lence, are kidnapped and forced to become sex slaves. I can
even give you the numbers; but one woman is already too
many” (UN Women 2015).
According to Human Rights Watch (HRW), “Women
in Syria have been arbitrarily arrested and detained,
physically abused, harassed, and tortured during Syria’s
conflict by government forces, pro-government militias,
and armed groups opposed to the government” (2014).
And the civil war in South Sudan has displaced 2 million
people, but sexual violence against women in the conflict
is so prevalent that one woman interviewed called rape
“a normal thing” (Muscati 2015). According to the United
Nations, women and girls suffer disproportionately during
and after war, as existing inequalities are magnified and
social networks break down, making them more vulner-
able to sexual violence and exploitation (United Nations
2003).
Another and a related global problem is growing wealth
inequality. Oxfam reports that the world’s richest 1 percent
now have more wealth than all the rest of us in the world
combined! We also find that income inequality among in-
dividuals has grown, and inequalities between countries
have also increased. Since the end of the colonial era in
1960, inequality has grown exponentially. The gap between
the gross domestic product (GDP) of the United States and
Latin America and sub-Saharan Africa has grown over 200
percent, and the gap for South Asia has grown almost 200
percent. While extreme disparities exist within nations,
Americans are, on average, 9 times richer than Latin Amer-
icans, 72 times richer than sub-Saharan Africans, and 80
times richer than South Asians (Hickel 2016). Research
suggests that closing the gender gap in labor around the
world would raise nations’ GDP significantly. More impor-
tantly, we know women are more likely to live in poverty
and experience its ill effects. Additionally, economic risks
are often placed on the poor, especially women, increasing
their vulnerability to weather-related, political, and eco-
nomic crises (Oxfam 2013). Creating equality for women
can both address the grinding poverty in which so many
of the world’s women live and help close the inequality gap
among nations (McBain 2014).
Women’s reproductive rights remain a persistent issue
around the globe. Maternal mortality is the second-leading
cause of death for reproductive-age women, and yet 225
million women around the world are not able to use mod-
ern contraceptives to delay or prevent pregnancy (Femi-
nist Campus n.d.). In 2015, around 303,000 women died
from unnecessary complications during pregnancy and
childbirth. One-third of maternal deaths occur in South
Asia alone (Feminist Campus n.d.). India has the highest
number of maternal deaths in the world at around 50,000
per year (Barnagarwala 2014). In India, women face low
levels of access to contraceptives and lack of control over
reproductive decision making, which are exacerbated by
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