ABSTRACT
This chapter ventures reconceptualization of theories and approaches that transform women's lives from that steeped in disadvantage and subordination to premise on equality. It elaborates reconsidering women's human rights including consideration of legal approaches that have been effective in eradicating discrimination against women. The chapter outlines the global campaign for women's rights commencing in 1970s and culminating in significant formal legal and policy victories on both national and global fronts. It examines continuing theme in women's rights advocacy: that of the apparent conflict between harmful and discriminatory cultural norms and practices and the principle of gender equality. The chapter outlines the major features of South Africa's expansive Bill of Rights, demonstrating how this document in effect vindicates fifty years of global human rights activism. It surveys the transformation process in Afghanistan and the attempts by women both inside and outside of Afghanistan to put women's issues on the national agenda.
