The Leadership of Women

**What can we learn from the women whose leadership has shaped human rights struggles across the globe? **

The Leadership of Women is a powerful memoir by David Hinkley that celebrates the remarkable women who inspired his work beyond Amnesty International, spotlighting their groundbreaking contributions to movements for justice. Through vivid stories of collaboration, resilience, and innovation, Hinkley honors these champions while offering lessons for activists today.

This book is both a tribute and a call to action—an invitation to join ongoing struggles for the rights of women, refugees, people in poverty, and victims of abuse worldwide. The Leadership of Women is ideal for students, scholars, and activists seeking to understand and advance human rights in the 21st century.

• Cover
• Half Title
• Title Page
• Dedication
• Copyright Page
• Table of Contents
• 1 The mentor, the music and the muse: Ginetta Sagan, Joan Baez, and Rose Styron
  • The mentor and the music: A human rights journey begins
  • Learning the work
  • The music
  • The muse: Rose Styron and the conflagration in Chile
  • Ginetta, Joan, and Rose in Poland under the Jaruzelski dictatorship
  • Topolino
• 2 The anatomy of human rights: Susannah Sirkin and the power of medicine in the pursuit of justice
  • Sometimes, you see something in a fighter
  • Susannah’s transition
  • A chance encounter and the lessons of Srebrenica
  • Glimpses of a record of historic accomplishments
    • Tragedy and injustice in Pinochet’s Chile
    • The International Campaign to Ban Landmines
    • Sexual violence in conflict zones
      • Horror and hope in Kavumu
      • Finally, a breakthrough
      • A dispatch from Oslo
    • Doctors in the crosshairs in Syria
    • Violations of human rights at the US-Mexico border
      • Violations involving US clinicians
      • Compromised patient safety
      • Unsafe discharge
      • Misuse of patient information
      • Standing Up for Patients
  • Inspiration
• 3 Justice and accountability: Sandra Coliver and the fight against impunity
  • Sandra Coliver in the spotlight
  • Our next meeting opened a window on Sandy’s work after Amnesty
  • Neris Gonzales
  • Zenaida Velásquez Rodriguez and the phenomenon of forced disappearances
  • The Guernica 37 Center and “nonrecurrence”
  • Inspiration
• 4 A lamp beside the golden door: Karen Musalo and the struggle for equal rights for refugee women
  • The elusiveness of victory
  • The Holocaust and the beginning of a global consensus on the rights of refugees
  • Equality in application of the law
  • Our first meeting
  • Case study 1: Fauziya Kassindja or “Matter of Kasinga”
  • Case study 2: Rody Alvarado or “Matter of R-A-”
  • The urgent need for regulations governing asylum for gender-based harms and the long-term failure of both political parties to provide them
  • A message from Karen Musalo to students of the law
• 5 Confronting extreme poverty and inequality: A voice from Yemen
  • Global Priorities sends me to Cairo and Amman
  • A warm welcome
  • Dealing with “intelligence” in Jordan
  • Music in the Roman Amphitheater
  • A voice for economic justice and equality from Yemen
  • Hansuli Gerber and Arnold Kohen
  • Success and failure for the Global Priorities Campaign and the Millennium Development Goals
  • What remains from the Global Priorities Campaign
• 6 The Memphis blues again: Sullivan Robinson, Johnnie Rogers Turner, and the evolution of the civil rights movement
  • Beale Street 2008
  • Echoes of history: the National Civil Rights Museum
  • The Hip Hop Caucus
  • Circle Up Now and Tom Lee Park
  • Sullivan Robinson
  • Keep the Dream Alive
• 7 The girl scouts of Seneca Falls: The legacy of Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Lucretia Mott
  • The 150th anniversary of the woman’s rights convention of 1848
  • The footprints of history
  • Reflections on challenges we face today
• Glossary
• Recommended projects
• Appendix 1 Chronology of the author’s collaboration with featured leaders
• Appendix 2 Nongovernmental, Intergovernmental, and other Organizations
• Appendix 3 Timeline of gender-based asylum, prepared by Karen Musalo
• Bibliography
• Recommended further reading
• Index

David Hinkley is a lifelong human rights activist, educator, and writer whose work spans Amnesty International leadership, global advocacy, and decades of engagement with movements for justice and equality.