Women's Studies resources - regional

Academic Liaison Librarian: Sue Cumberpatch

What useful websites and reference sources there are for my subject

General Regional
  • Collections and directories
    • Libraries, publishers and databases
    • Internet portals and gateways
    • Electronic forums and news sites
  • Groups, societies and institutions
Academic Themed
  • Multi-subject resources
  • Feminist studies/Women's studies
    • Feminist theory
    • Feminist methodology
  • Humanities and arts
    • Art
    • History
    • Literature and Language
    • Music
    • Philosophy
    • Other humanities and arts
  • Social sciences
    • Economics
    • Education
    • Politics
    • Sociology
    • Other social sciences
    • Sciences
  • Rights, citizenship and activism
  • Development
  • Sexualities
  • Health
    • Reproductive and sexual health
  • Family and motherhood
  • Ageing
  • Religion
  • War, conflict and peace
  • Gender-related violence
  • Work, labour and employment
  • Media and Arts
  • Computing and cyberculture
  • Statistics

Multiple regions

  • International Gender Studies Resources - From the Institute of International Studies at the University of California at Berkeley, this site includes general and specific bibliographies and filmographies on issues pertaining to women and gender in Africa, Asia, Latin America, the Middle East and Arab World, and among minority cultures in North America and Europe.
  • WomenAction - A forum "to develop a communications network and information-sharing strategy that allows women in every world region to participate in and impact on the 5-year review of the implementation of the 1995 Beijing Platform for Action."
  • Annuaire au Feminin, le Guide des Femmes Interactives - a source of women contacts "women citizens of the world." Has many gaps but is very new. Multilingual.
  • Library of Congress Federal Research Division: Country Studies - can be searched singly or severally by keywords for issues to do with women, gender etc.

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Europe

  • Archif Menywod Cymru (Women's Archive of Wales) - archive of a broad range of archival, photographic and other authentic historical sources to aid the piecing together of women in Welsh history. Subjects covered include domestic, political, religious, economic, cultural and social spheres. Archives include materials on equal opportunities, lesbian campaigns and Labour politics. The archive is particularly interested in acquiring diaries, scrapbooks, the minute books of women's organisations, literacy manuscripts, photographs, etc. Some information is in Welsh.
  • Amazone - "the (Belgian) national contact centre for women and women's organisations, which has now developed to become a resource centre for equality between men and women."
  • BalkanWomen - Balkan Women and Friends is an electronic email group that exists to "enable discussions and exchanges of information between social scientists and others who conduct research women in the Balkans." The website seeks to provide information about research on Balkan women from journals, conferences, research projects, conferences, calls for papers, jobs and scholarships and researchers seeking collaborators.It was created in October 2001. Members need to subscribe to the list in order to contribute.
  • Engender - Engender is an organisation for women and organisations working on women's issues. They aim to ensure that women have greater visibility, more effective voices, better representation and more power in their own lives and that of their communities and country.
  • European Women's Lobby - in French and English. The EWL is "the largest reunion of non-governmental women organisations of the European Union. It consists of national women organisations of the 15 member states and of European organisations. The EWL counts today over 2700 member organisations."
  • Human Rights Watch: Hopes Betrayed - Trafficking of Women and Girls to Post-Conflict Bosnia and Herzegovina for Forced Prostitution This site provides access to the full-text of a report published by Human Rights Watch in November 2002. It presents evidence that Traffickers have forced thousands of women and girls into prostitution in Bosnia and Herzegovina It also documents how local Bosnian police officers facilitate the trafficking by creating false documents; visiting brothels to partake of free sexual services; and sometimes engaging in trafficking directly.
  • International Information Centre and Archives for the Women's Movement - "The IIAV is the national centre of expertise in the Netherlands, providing information on the position of women and women's studies". In English and Dutch, with information and an on-line catalogue.
    • See in particular Mapping the World - "a database of women's information services available throughout the world."
    • See also IIAV's Gender and Water Resources, in the Development section, below.
  • La Strada Foundation - The La Strada Foundation is a non-governmental organisation based in Poland and founded in 1995. "After eight years of success, this program has expanded to a network of 9 independent but coordinated offices in Poland, the Netherlands, Czech Republic, Ukraine, Bulgaria, Belarussia, Bosnia-Hercegovina, Macedonia and Moldova".The foundation "seeks to refer victims to support networks and to educate women and girls against potential dangers of trafficking". The site contains full details of the activities of the organisation. Available in Polish and English.
  • Les Penelopes - a French women's organisation coordinating the creation of a federative website of all feminist and women's organisations based in France. In French, English and Spanish.
  • National Council of Women - "the voice for women across Great Britain... acts as the mouthpiece for women to Government departments and agencies, decision making bodies, major organisations on all matters pertaining to the lives of women." Site under development outlines the NCW's activities, and provides a forum for women to comment on topical issues.
  • NIKK: the Nordic Institute for Women's Studies and Gender Research - founded "to co-ordinate regional research, networking, seminars/conferences and information dissemination"; based at the University of Oslo. Information in English and Nordic languages. Includes many of their publications.
  • OWL: Open Women Line - site in English and Russian is "aimed at creation in Russia of the social-information Internet-resource for women, for expansion of easy access for women to new information resources and development of information exchanges between women's organizations in Russia and as well on an international level". Information about projects, plus an online magazine.
  • Quine Online: Scottish Women - "highlighting the activities, interests and concerns of Scottish women in all walks of life". Site includes full texts of relevant Scottish Office publications, plus features and events listings.
  • Sex and Power Who Runs Britain? 2006 [PDF] - provides access to some data published by the Equal Opportunities Commission in January 2006. It provides statistics on British womens representation in senior positions in politics, public life and business. This is compared with male representation. Comments are made about the glass ceiling faced by women.
  • women2win - a new organisation within the British conservative party which aims to increase female representation by campaigning for more women to win nominations as Tory MPs. The website provides basic statistics on women conservative MPs and information about the campaign. This includes press releases and statements.

See also Social science information sources: Area Studies: Europe.

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Near and Middle East

  • Arab Women Connect - an Internet networking/training project established by the UNIFEM Arab States Regional Office and other bodies. It consists of bilingual web pages containing full-length studies, reports and other information on Arab women; a comprehensive on-line database of local women's NGOs and government agencies; an on-line database of experts in gender and development, media, new information and communication technologies, advocacy, project formulation and management, strategic planning and analysis; and interactive e-mail and discussion lists. The Unifem Arab States are Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Palestine, Syria, Yemen, Qatar and UAE.
  • Bat Shalom - "an Israeli national feminist grassroots organization of Jewish and Palestinian Israeli women working together for a genuine peace grounded in a just resolution of the Israel-Palestine conflict, respect for human rights, and an equal voice for Jewish and Arab women within Israeli society."
  • ESCWA Centre For Women - the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia's Centre for Women is "responsible for identifying women-related priorities of ESCWA work programmes and medium-term plans; will monitor developments with respect to the status of women and evaluate indicators and statistics with a view to formulating an integrated policy for the advancement and empowerment of women. It also aims to promote respect for the particularities, customs and culture of each Arab country in order to harmonize Arab positions at global conferences and will follow up on global and UN conferences organized with a view to incorporating the regional dimension in international documents."
  • General Union of Palestinian Women (GUPW) - established in 1965 as a body within the Palestinian Liberation Organization and "is considered to be the official representative body for Palestinian women around the world. It is also the umbrella for all women's organizations in Palestine and in exile."
  • H-Gender MidEast - "This discussion network seeks to establish an active dialogue on issues of gender in the Arabic speaking Middle East, Turkey, the Caucuses, Central Asia, Western Asia, the Mediterranean and sub-Saharan Africa."
  • The Iranian Women's Studies Foundation (IWSF) - "a non-profit organization with no affiliation to any political or religious group or organization, and aims to provide a forum for the exchange of ideas on issues related to Iranian women, to disseminate information on Iranian women's achievements, and to establish a network of communication among communities of Iranian women the world over. The main activity of the IWSF consists of annual international conferences wherein a theme related to Iranian women is approached through scholarly presentations, art exhibitions, and artistic or dramatic performances."
  • Jerusalem Center for Women - Palestinian and Israeli women, "united in a joint effort to bring about a just, comprehensive and lasting peace between our two peoples, we affirm our commitment to working together ... for the rapid realization of our common vision of peace.
  • The Machreq/Maghreb Gender Linking and Information Project - a forum for debate, learning and exchange on women, gender and development amongst interested groups in the Middle East and Maghreb region.
  • Women & Gender Issues from the Cornell University Library Middle East & Islamic Studies Collection.
  • Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan - in Persian, English and other languages. "Established in Kabul, Afghanistan, in 1977 as an independent political organization of Afghan women fighting for human rights and for social justice in Afghanistan."
  • We Want to Live as Humans; Repression of Women and Girls in Western Afghanistan - the full text of a 52-page report issued by Human Rights Watch in December 2002. It presents evidence that Afghan women and girls suffered mounting abuses, harassment and restrictions of their fundamental human rights during 2002. Can be downloaded as a PDF file.
  • Women in the Middle East - from Columbia University's extensive site.

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Africa

  • African Gender Institute, University of Cape Town - information about the Institute's programmes and projects, plus links to other regional and international websites.
  • Africa: Women Issues - a short but well-described list of links to websites, part of the Africa Web Links edited by Ali B. Ali-Dinar at the University of Pennsylvania (USA).
  • Africa Resource Center: JENdA - a journal of culture and African Women's Studies.
  • Africa South of the Sahara: Women - list of links to Internet resources, with descriptions, maintained by Karen Fung at Stanford University Libraries (USA).
  • Agenda - "a feminist project in South Africa. It is committed to giving women a forum, a voice and skills to articulate their needs and interests towards transforming unequal gender relations. " Selected articles from the printed quarterly journal, plus links to other related sites in the region and worldwide."
  • Commission on Gender Equality (South Africa) - Aims "to promote gender equality and to advise and make recommendations to Parliament or any other legislature with regard to any laws or proposed legislation which affects gender equality and the status of women." Site includes progress of legislation and a media directory.

See also Social science information sources: Area Studies: Africa.

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South and East Asia

  • China: Women's Issues & Communities - part of the East and South East Asia: Annotated Bibliography of Internet Resources produced by Robert Y. Eng, Professor of History at Redlands University, USA. Many links in Chinese only.
  • Chinese Human Rights Web : Women's Rights - an e-book. "The Reader contains translations of approximately sixty selections from China's twentieth-century human rights discourse. The documents are arranged chronologically and are presented in full wherever possible. Each selection is preceded by a brief introduction dealing with the author and the immediate context. The book includes a substantive introduction by the editors and a glossary in which translations of key terms are linked to their Chinese equivalents."
  • East & Southeast Asia: An Annotated Directory of Internet Resources - from the Department of Asian Studies at Redlands University in California. The Chinese section includes Chinese Women Writers: A Working Selected Detailed Annotated Bibliography.
  • (Inter)disciplining Chinese Women: An Introduction to the English Language Literature on Women's Studies in China - bibliographic essay from the University of Madison Wisconsin Libraries.
  • Marjorie Chan's Chinese Language and Gender On-line Bibliography - "This page is first and foremost an online, Chinese linguistics bibliography on language and gender. Despite growing knowledge of linguistic studies on other languages, scholars studying gender issues are generally quite unaware of what has been written to date on Chinese, with the result that publications typically contain little to no references on Chinese. Hence, this stand-alone web page has a two-fold aim: (1) to provide online resources for anyone interested in conducting research on the topic, and (2) to broaden linguists and other web surfers' knowledge to what publications exist on this topic for Chinese." From Ohio State University.
  • SAWNET (South Asian Women's NETwork) - "a forum for South Asian women, and those interested in issues relevant to South Asian women. ('South Asia' is taken to include Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka)." Substantial list of links to women's organizations (classified by country and region), plus news, articles, book and film reviews, health information etc.
  • Women in Asia Web Resources - from the Australian National University.
  • Women's Studies: Japan - bibliographies of English and Japanese materials (arranged by subject), plus links to websites. Part of the Japanese Studies Resources at Duke University Libraries (USA).

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The Americas

  • American Women - a gateway to Library of Congress resources for the study of women's history and culture in the United States. Provides information that will help researchers planning to do on-site research at the Library of Congress, tips on searching for women's history resources in the catalogs, and information about Web broadcasts from events sponsored by the Library that are available through different Websites.
  • Canadian Research Institute for the Advancement of Women - CRIAW is a research institute which provides tools to facilitate organizations taking action to advance social justice and equality for all women. The site contains useful fact sheets that provide basic information to a wide audience in plain language about important women's equality issues.
  • Misinformation Exchange - established by the National Council for Research on Women "to document the extent and impact of the removal, distortion and burial of data relating to women and women's inequality on US government websites during the Presidency of George W. Bush." It includes access to a weblog which documents news stories and recent incidents, plus full text reports published by the Council and an exchange where researchers can post known examples.
  • National Council for Research on Women (USA) - "a working alliance of 92 women's research and policy centers... to generate and facilitate collaborative research, communication, and cooperative exchange". Site includes a directory of members, descriptions of projects, and details of publications.
  • National Organization for Women (USA) - "the largest women's rights organization in the United States, with a membership of over 500,000 contributing women and men". Large searchable site includes information about events and campaigns (covering issues such as economic equity, reproductive health, sexuality, ethnic diversity, violence against women etc), plus reports and press releases.
  • PAR-L - A Canadian Electronic Feminist Network. A bilingual (English and French) electronic network of individuals and organizations interested in women-centred policy issues in Canada. The objectives are: to foster a greater online presence for feminist groups by creating a network of Partners; to provide a space for discussing policy and action issues of concern to women in Canada; to provide a convenient electronic gateway to feminist online resources for policy, action, and research; to circulate the results of PAR-L's Partners' research and activities widely among academics, policy analysts, community groups, and interested individuals; to enhance the visibility and accessibility of feminist action and research online.
  • RIMA - Red Informativa de Mujeres de Argentina - Argentinian women information Network. In Spanish.
  • We the People: Women and Men in the United States [PDF] - From the Economics and Statistics Administration at the US Census Bureau, this 19-page report is based on information collected during the most recent US census. Prepared by Renee E Spraggins, the report compares this information with data collected from the 1970, 1980, and 1990 censuses. Findings include; the observation that the current trend towards women remaining single for a longer period persisted through the past several censuses, women 18 and older were more likely than their male counterparts to live in poverty and families maintained by a woman with no husband present had lower incomes.
    Users should note that this paper is in PDF format and therefore requires access to Adobe Acrobat Reader for viewing.

See also Social science information sources: Area Studies: Americas.

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Pacific/Australasia

  • The Center for Asia-Pacific Women in Politics (CAPWIP) - "a non-partisan, non-profit and non-governmental regional organization (NGO) dedicated to promoting equal participation of women in politics and decision-making. CAPWIP was established in 1992 by a group of women from the Asia-Pacific region who share a vision of governance that affirms gender equality, integrity and accountability, excellence, sustainable development and peace."
  • ISIS International Web Resources on Women - based in Manila, ISIS is "a feminist NGO dedicated to women's information and communication needs. Documenting ideas and visions. Creating channels to communicate. Collecting and moving information. Networking and building links. We focus on those advancing women's rights, leadership and empowerment in Asia and the Pacific. With connections in over 150 countries, we also keep up with changing trends and analyses concerning women worldwide."
  • Jessie Street National Women's Library (Australia) The national women's library for Australia, named after Jessie Street "an activist who worked tirelessly to improve the status of women, both in Australia and overseas."
  • Massey University (New Zealand) Women's Studies - program information, full-text articles, and links to other NZ women's studies resources.
  • WEL Australia - "a national independent political organisation dedicated to creating a society where women's participation and potential are unrestricted, acknowledged and respected and where women and men share equally in society's responsibilities and rewards."

See also Social science information sources: Area Studies: Asia.