NGOs, feminist activism and human rights

When the members of the United Nations Security Council adopted Resolution 1325 ‘Women, Peace and Security’ in late October 2000, recognizing for the first time the disproportionate impact of war and conflict on women, it almost seemed as if women's organizing at the international level had come full circle. A century earlier, in 1915, women's organizations, then mostly from Europe and North America, also rallied around the issue of security. While the ways in which women organize today and interact with international institutions have changed in many ways, we can see similarities across time. Today, as in the past, the ability of women's organizations to access and pressure policymakers depends on entrepreneurial women or organizations, congenial opportunity structures, symbolic events, and strategic framing. This chapter illustrates the importance of these factors by reviewing feminist organizing at the international level over the decades.