Women, Empires, and Body Politics at the United Nations, 1946-1975

"Giusi Russo sheds light on the pivotal and until-now-overlooked role the UN Commission on the Status of Women played in defining international women's rights between 1946 and 1975. During this era of the Cold War, decolonization, and economic development, the CSW developed the blueprint for what was later popularized as 'women's rights are human rights.' . . . Demonstrating the inextricable links between 'body politics' and international politics, Russo's book fills important gaps in global feminist, foreign relations, and human rights histories."-Katherine M. Marino, author of Feminism for the Americas: The Making of an International Human Rights Movement

"An astute analysis. Giusi Russo provides a chronology of the emergence of body politics and the move from public (civic and political equality) to private (marriage and reproduction) discrimination that characterized this lingering period of imperial feminism. Russo has produced a theoretically sophisticated work that moves the discussion of feminisms in new directions by centering the Global South during and after colonial occupation."-Eileen Boris, author of Making the Woman Worker: Precarious Labor and the Fight for Global Standards, 1919-2019