Sex and Superpower Rivalry: Women's Rights and Cold War Competition at the United Nations, 1968 - 1989

During the Cold War, ideological competition between the capitalist West and the state socialist East fueled scientific and technological progress as the superpowers endeavored to outdo each other in the space race and the development of superior weapons of mass destruction. But superpower rivalries also impacted social progress as each Bloc vied for the hearts and minds of the citizens of the newly independent countries in the Global South. In this talk, Kristen R. Ghodsee explores the impacts of Cold War rhetoric on the progress of women's rights.