Main description:

Empowerment of Women for Promoting Health and Quality of Life reviews the evolution of modern Public Health and Global Public Health and the role of women's empowerment for promoting global health. It critically reviews the evolution of global health since the 1990s when the UN initiated the Human Development Approach and adopted the millennial development goals through global consensuses. It analyses the paradigm shifts from disease-based prevention using
the Public Health model to a new paradigm focusing on the root causes of health problems globally (e.g. inequalities, powerlessness). It reviews the philosophical, theoretical and empirical foundations of these paradigms.

The second section presents our meta-analysis of 86 successful women's empowerment case-studies around the world that address threats to health and well-being of their families and communities. These movements represent four domains: human-rights, equal-rights, health, and income. Using an EMPOWER (acronym) framework designed for the meta-analysis, it answers six questions: can ordinary women organize empowerment movements that enhance the well-being of their families and communities; if so,
what are their characteristics; what problems motivate them; which empowerment methods are used and do they vary by domains; who support and oppose them and how; and what are the social contexts that affect their movements. Success consists of: accomplishing the original goal/s, external recognition
and/or replication by others, and subjective and objective empowerment outcomes. A summary of each case allows readers to learn directly from that movement. The final chapter critically reviews the key findings, issues and their implications for policy, actions, and research in human service professions.

Contents:

Chapter 1: Empowerment of Women for Global Health Promotion: Justifications ; Chapter 2: Evolution of Global Public Health: From Germs to Gender Empowerment ; Chapter 3: Social Determinants of Health ; Chapter 4: Dynamics of Multicultural Communities ; Chapter 5: Key Issues in Empowerment Theories: the EMPOWER model ; Chapter 6: A Meta-Analysis of Women's Self-Organized Empowerment Movements ; Chapter 7: Human Rights Case Studies ; Chapter 8. Equal Rights Case Studies ; Chapter 9: Economic Development Case Studies ; Chapter 10: Health Promotion and Disease Prevention (HPDP) Case Studies ; Chapter 11: Summing Up: Progress, applications, and Implications