Includes bibliographical references and index.

Eleanor Roosevelt : negotiating the universal declaration of human rights / Jo E. Butterfield and Blanche Wiesen Cook -- Daisy Bates : the NAACP / Bridget Gurtler -- Wangari Maathai : Kenyan environmental and democratic movements / Rosemary Ndubuizu and Mary K. Trigg -- Aileen Clarke Hernandez : advocate for black women's leadership / Carolina Alonso Bejarano and Kim LeMoon -- Mirna Cunningham : indigenous women and revolutionary change in Nicaragua / Miriam Tola and Alison Bernstein -- Gloria Steinem : getting the message out / Jeremy LaMaster and Mary K. Trigg -- Audre Lorde : black, lesbian, feminist, mother, poet warrior / Kathe Sandler and Beverly Guy-Sheftall -- Charlotte Bunch : leading from the margins as a global activist for women's rights / Mary K. Trigg and Stina Soderling -- D�azon Dixon Diallo : feminism and the fight to combat HIV/AIDS / Stina Soderling and Alison Bernstein -- Cecile Richards : leading Planned Parenthood in the new millennium / Bridget Gurtler -- Bhairavi Desai : organizing immigrant labor through a feminist lens / C. Laura Lovin and Mary K. Trigg -- Thuli Madonsela : whispering truth to power / Taida Wolfe and Alison R. Bernstein.

"From Eleanor Roosevelt to feminist icon Gloria Steinem to HIV/AIDS activist Dazon Dixon Diallo, women have assumed leadership roles in struggles for social justice. How did these remarkable women ascend to positions of influence? And once in power, what leadership strategies did they use to deal with various challenges? Junctures in Women's Leadership: Social Movements explores these questions by introducing twelve women who have spearheaded a wide array of social movements that span the 1940s to the present, working for indigenous peoples' rights, gender equality, reproductive rights, labor advocacy, environmental justice, and other causes. The women profiled here work in a variety of arenas across the globe: Planned Parenthood CEO Cecile Richards, New York City labor organizer Bhairavi Desai, women's rights leader Charlotte Bunch, feminist poet Audre Lorde, civil rights activists Daisy Bates and Aileen Clarke Hernandez, Kenyan environmental activist Wangari Maathai, Nicaraguan revolutionary Mirna Cunningham, and South African public prosecutor Thuli Madonsela. What unites them all is the way these women made sacrifices, asked critical questions, challenged injustice, and exhibited the will to act in the face of often-harsh criticism and violence. The case studies in Junctures in Women's Leadership: Social Movements demonstrate the diversity of ways that women around the world have practiced leadership, in many instances overcoming rigid cultural expectations about gender. Moreover, the cases provide a unique window into the ways that women leaders make decisions at moments of struggle and historical change."--Publisher's web site.