Conclusion: Recommendations. for Future Interventions

VER the last two decades, strong states, intergovernmental agen­cies, and large donors have increasingly justified their interventions as helping women. Their claims are given legitimacy by a new consensus among international women’s activists and human rights advocates that women’s rights are human rights. Central to this global feminist consensus are new claims that gender-based violence—such as rape, domestic violence, and trafficking in women—constitutes a violation of women’s human rights. For those activists committed to protecting women’s rights and those policymakers concerned with the impact of their decisions, it is essential to shed light on these interventions’ consequences for women and for the broader structures of sex and gender that organize the social order. Although several studies consider the impact of specific types of interventions—international norms (e. g., Thomas 2001; Merry 2006a), transnational advocacy networks (e. g., Keck and Sikkink 1998; Moghadam 2005), democracy assistance (e. g., Wedel 2001; Henderson 2003; Sundstrom 2006), and economic sanctions (e. g., Pape 1997)—this is the first to compare systematically the effects of the various interventions. Drawing upon extensive fieldwork as well as some quantitative indicators, the previous chapters show how profoundly such interventions can impact gender and women’s lives even in a relatively short time. The in-depth case study of such a critical case as Russia, where global feminism

was unlikely to take root, also permits the examination of the processes through which global initiatives penetrate into a diverse and expansive polity.

What does this analysis tell us about interventions and global feminist reform? How does the Russian case stand in comparison to other cases? What does this comparison suggest about why certain interventions work better than others? What does this study show about how social scientists should study gender vio­lence and other policies? Finally, what does this analysis offer to those concerned with fostering gender justice?