From Cape Town to Kabul: New Book by Albany Law School Dean Penelope Andrews Develops Strategy for Pursuing Women's Human Rights

ALBANY, N.Y., Dec. 4, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Albany Law School President and Dean Penelope (Penny) Andrews is the author of the newly published book From Cape Town to Kabul: Rethinking Strategies for Pursuing Women's Human Rights (Ashgate Publishing), which advances a new approach to pursuing human rights for women in developing democracies.

In the book, Dean Andrews draws upon her experience living under apartheid and after the fall of apartheid in her native South Africa, as well as her subsequent scholarship and advocacy on behalf of women around the world, including South Africa, Australia and the United States. She applies these perspectives to the contemporary example of Afghanistan, where an emerging democracy necessitates new conversations about human rights and gender equality.

Coining the term "conditional interdependence," From Cape Town to Kabul: Rethinking Strategies for Pursuing Women's Human Rights suggests a new approach that would allow women's rights to gain momentum and provide greater benefit for nascent democratic societies.

Dean Andrews grew up in apartheid South Africa, fighting for equal rights. An annual award in her name—The Penelope E. Andrews Human Rights Award—is given by the South African law school at the University of KwaZulu-Natal. In 2005 she was a finalist for a vacancy on the Constitutional Court of South Africa, the highest court on the country's constitutional matters.

In addition to teaching and conducting legal scholarship around the world, Dean Andrews has consulted for the U.N. Development Fund for Women, and for the Ford Foundation in Johannesburg, where she evaluated labor law programs. She earned her B.A. and LL.B. from the University of Natal, Durban, South Africa, and her LL.M. from Columbia University School of Law.

ALBANY LAW SCHOOL is a small, independent private school located in the heart of New York state's capital since 1851. Visit www.albanylaw.edu.

MEDIA CONTACT:
Nick Crounse, Albany Law School: (518) 445-3208; cell (518) 429-4843; [email protected]

SOURCE Albany Law School