Calls for Reform and Responses Notes

Calls for Reform and Responses

• Essential Question: How have social categories, roles, and practices changed and stayed the same since 1900?

• In the age of global economics, transportation, and communication, human rights were elevated to the level of global discourse, challenging assumptions about race, class, gender, and religion.

• Efforts to safeguard human rights opened doors of opportunity for some who had previously been excluded.

• People sought liberation from poverty and protested inequalities and environmental damage caused by globalization.

An Era of Rights

• In December 1948, the United Nations adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, asserting basic rights and fundamental freedoms for all human beings without distinctions based on race, color, sex, language, religion, political opinion, national origin, property, birth, or other status.

The UN and Human Rights

• The United Nations has promoted human rights, which are basic protections common to all people.

• The UN created UNICEF in 1946 to provide food for children in Europe after World War II.

• In 1948, the UN formalized its position on human rights in the Universal Declaration.

• The UN investigates abuses of human rights, such as genocide, war crimes, government oppression, and crimes against women.

• The International Court of Justice settles disputes over international law and often deals with border disputes and treaty violations.

• The UN protects refugees through sub-agencies like NGOs and UNHCR by providing food, medicine, and temporary shelter.

• Among the earliest refugees the UN helped were Palestinians who fled the disorder when the UN partitioned Palestine to create the state of Israel in 1948.

Global Feminism

• The Women's March on Washington in January 2017, along with millions of demonstrators worldwide, represented a global solidarity for women's rights.

Landmark Events in Global Feminism after 1900

• March 1911: First International Women's Day Celebration; one million demonstrators in Austria, Denmark, Germany, and Switzerland stood for women's rights.

• April 1915: Meeting of First International Congress of Women; representatives from 12 nations, including the United States, attended.

• June 1975: United Nations First World Conference on Women; representatives from 133 nations met in Mexico City and planned for the advancement of women.

• December 1979: Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW); an international bill of rights for women adopted by the United Nations.

• September 1995: Meeting of Fourth International Congress of Women; thousands of participants and activists met in Beijing, China.

• The 1979 Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women outlined many rights and protections that are cornerstones of global feminism, including:

  • The right to vote and hold office.

  • The right to freely choose a spouse.

  • The right to access the same education as men.

  • The right to access family planning resources and birth control.

Cultural and Religious Movements

• Discourse on rights also became part of cultural and religious movements.

• The Negritude Movement emphasized pride in