The twelve essays in this publication present a continuum of cases where the state enables violence against women - from state-sponsored torture to lax prosecution of sexual assault. Some contributors uncover buried histories of state violence against women throughout the twentieth century, in locations as diverse as Ireland, Indonesia, and Guatemala. Others spotlight ongoing struggles to define the state’s role in preventing gendered violence, from domestic abuse policies in the Russian Federation to anti-trafficking laws in the United States.
The articles in this anthology deal with several challenges of generational, gendered, economic and sexual relations as well as with the changes of the institutions of marriage, state, religion, welfare and taxation. It focuses primarily on a European and North Atlantic context. but it also includes some refelctions on developments in Asia in a global era.