A growing number of protest movements across the globe - such as for equal civil status and reproductive freedom, as well as against sexualized violence - show that women's and gender rights are highly contested. Against the backdrop of a long unequal history of rights implementation, the contributors to this volume deal with the question of why and in which ways gender equality has become contested in various political contexts. Local case studies examine the relevant structural, institutional, and socio-cultural causes of the global challenges to equality. This book follows an interdisciplinary approach and unites scholars from law, linguistics, cultural studies, history, social sciences, and gender studies.