Women's Studies: Special Topics on Women

Created by staff at the Bora Laskin Law Library in Toronto, "The Women's Human Rights Resources Programme (WHRR) collects, organizes and disseminates information on women's human rights law to facilitate research, teaching and cooperation. The information introduces women's human rights law in general, emphasizes selected international and Canadian topics, and explores the interconnections between domestic and international human rights law." Includes a database and research guides and bibliographies.

A project of the National Network to End Domestic Violence (NNEDV), whose website is also worth visiting, this site was is meant to provide "legal information and support to victims of domestic violence and sexual assault." More practical than scholarly, it defines the issues, advises on how to stay safe, deal with courts, etc.

There are many webpages from groups fighting violence against women. The resources of Amnesty International are especially interesting because they are global and far-reaching. There are features, videos and country-specific reports. In the left frame are links to other women's pages on Women's Health, Gender Discrimination, Women's Human Rights Defenders and Women, Peace & Security.

Like AI, HRW also addresses global issues related to women's human rights. Reports may look at specific countries or general topics. You might assume that the latest news focuses on abuses in the developing world, but you'd be wrong. Many topics relate to challenges in the U.S. Recent reports have titles like "House Vote a Step Backward for Women’s Rights" and "Sexual Violence, Harassment of Immigrant Farmworkers."

The Center for Gender in Global Context at Michigan State is an interdisciplinary center in International Studies and Programs focused on gender, feminist, and women's studies. This page links to a couple dozen working papers that the Center and its affiliates have produced since 2000.

While working on his dissertation about rape in Germany during the Weimar Republic, Stefan Blaschke began this webpage. And this useful bibliography has been around for years. The current materials, from sources worldwide, can be found in this blog, which "informs monthly about news, events and literature concerning the history of rape." The original Bibliography (posted in 2009) can be found at the Internet Archive, here.

"VAWnet is a comprehensive and easily accessible online collection of full-text, searchable materials and resources on domestic violence, sexual violence and related issues." I am linking to the Research page, which "contains resources relevant to research on domestic and sexual violence including Applied Research Documents, data sets, research and evaluation tools, fact sheets, research reports, and other publications that provide an analysis, critique and/or review of current related issues." Explore other parts of the website from the left and top frame.

"Violence against women and girls is one of the most systematic and widespread human rights violations. According to a 2013 global review of available data, 35 per cent of women worldwide have experienced either physical and/or sexual intimate partner violence or non-partner sexual violence. Eliminating such violence globally requires intensive efforts, which led world leaders to establish an online tool that increases opportunities to exchange experiences and strengthen knowledge to prevent and stop violence against women. The Global Database on Violence against Women provides easy access to comprehensive and up-to-date information on measures undertaken by United Nations Member States to address all forms of violence against women."

"For the past 20 years, the Center for Reproductive Rights has used the law to advance reproductive freedom as a fundamental human right that all governments are legally obligated to protect, respect, and fulfill." This page "contains every Publication and Video the Center has produced since 1997."

This webpage, sponsored by the U.S. National Library of Medicine and the National Institutes of Health, is a good starting point for, as they claim, "Trusted Health Information." Here you will find news, overviews, information on current research, and statistics related to women's health. Topics range from body image to heart disease to substance abuse.

womenshealth.gov is the website of the Office on Women's Health/U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, established to "provide FREE, reliable health information for women everywhere." Sections include an A-Z list of Health Topics, Publications, Statistics and Health Tools (calculators).

"The Motherhood Initiative for Research and Community Involvement (MIRCI) is the newly launched feminist scholarly and activist organization on mothering-motherhood, developed from the former Association for Research on Mothering at York University (1998-2010). The initiative houses the Journal of the Motherhood Initiative (formerly The Journal of the Association for Research on Mothering), Mother Outlaws, The International Mothers and Mothering Network (formerly IMN), Young Mothers and Empowerment Forum, The Motherhood Studies Forum and is partnered with Demeter Press."

"The Feminist Theory Website provides research materials and information for students, activists, and scholars interested in women's conditions and struggles around the world. The goals of this website are: 1) to encourage a wide range of research into feminist theory, and 2) to encourage dialogue between women (and men) from different countries around the world. Hopefully, this will result in new connections, new ideas, and new information about feminist theory and women's movements." Unfortunately, the site is mostly a simple bibliography. It lists resources on specific theories and fields, but doesn't tell you about them or link to them.