In Shakespeare’s Mediterranean comedy Twelfth Night, Feste, Olivia’s jester, continually describes ambivalence in terms of imported iridescent material, describing Orsino’s mind as an opal and iridescent silk, referencing the multi-coloured Peruvian gemstone that flashes between turquoise and orange: ‘Now, the melancholy god protect thee; and the tailor make thy doublet of changeable taffeta, for thy mind is a very opal’ (ii .vi.80). Valerie Traub has recently suggested that ambivalence may be a productive and uniquely early modern way of thinking through issues of race and gender. This chapter argues that the language of iridescence, coupled with the play’s multicultural setting, allows Shakespeare to explore not only what an ambivalent mind might look like, but also to champion and embrace ambivalence of identity, including foreignness, gender, and sexuality.

Chapter 4 focuses on the situation of women. Like many previous health crises, the COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated existing gender inequalities. Most of the burden of caring for members of the family, particularly the children, fell on women during the pandemic, often with little or no support, and often while they tried to continue to engage in paid work. School closures also transferred much of the responsibility for overseeing the education of children to women. As women took on these family responsibilities, it affected their work participation. Health-care policies adopted during the pandemic disadvantaged access to reproductive care. Women also experienced greater mental health problems. Additionally, the unprecedented scale of stay-at-home advisories combined with pandemic-related tensions in the household and social isolation from family, friends, and support networks increased the risks of women experiencing heightened levels of domestic violence during the pandemic.

This introduction situates the rebellions in British Guiana within the larger context of unrest in the Caribbean during the 1930s. I also discuss the concepts of solidarity, overlapping diasporas, and modern politics to explore how this story fits into the broader historiography, and why the stakes of this project have implications both within and beyond the region.

This chapter applies an intersectional analysis to reconstruct the harshness of laborers’ daily lives in British Guiana, examining the dimensions of race, labor categories, age, and gender. Working women particularly felt the pangs of the economic downturn as they were pushed out of the plantation economy during this turbulent decade. The reader is transported into the challenging hydraulic environment of 1930s British Guiana to understand what it meant to be alive and work on plantations in that colony and in that period. I specifically discuss the aftermath of the great flood of 1934 that took place during the Great Depression and how that disaster exposed the failures of British modernity and unleashed a crisis-based solidarity.

This essay offers an array of anecdotes where women’s courage played an important public function. The accounts range from the more inadvertent consequences of burning vessels to end a trajectory of exile leading to the founding of the site of Rome, to the various strategies through which women were able to inspire male warriors to fight more valorously, or through which women were the masterminds behind heroic escapes from the enemy. In addition to being inspirations and indeed sly tacticians in battle, women are also acknowledged to be successful negotiators helping to resolve conflict (as in the example of the Celtic women). Overall, while some of the examples are distressing and involve acts of violence, the stories demonstrate how the prominent virtues of Roman imperial culture were also attributable to women playing a public role, if only momentarily, for Plutarch.

This chapter explores feminist International Relations (IR) theory and its application to the Middle East, demonstrating how gendered power dynamics shape the region's international politics. Feminist IR challenges traditional IR theories by foregrounding gender as a fundamental category of analysis, revealing how hierarchical constructions of masculinity and femininity underpin state behaviour, security policies, and other global processes. The chapter examines key strands of feminist IR, including liberal, critical, poststructuralist, postcolonial, and queer feminist theories, emphasising their respective contributions to understanding the significance of gender, as well as race and sexuality, in global politics. Through a case study of Israel’s war on the Gaza Strip, still ongoing at the time of writing despite an announced ceasefire in October 2025, the chapter highlights the gendered dimensions of settler colonialism, militarism, and genocide. It interrogates how gendered and racialised discourses normalise violence and explores the war’s devastating impacts on women, social reproduction, and human security. The chapter critiques the complicity of colonial feminism in perpetuating oppression and underscores Palestinian women’s resistance. The chapter concludes by highlighting the role of feminist IR in offering pathways towards more just and inclusive international relations.

Chapter 8 examines the Court’s decision in Women against Violence and Exploitation in Society (WAVES) & Anor. v. The Republic of Sierra Leone. In this case, the Court declared that Sierra Leone had discriminated against pregnant schoolgirls by banning them from attending mainstream schools and providing substandard education in the special school established for the girls. The WAVES case is one of the few women’s rights cases decided by the ECOWAS Court, which granted all the reliefs sought by the applicants against the state without exception. The chapter argues that the Court’s reasoning in WAVES perfectly illustrates its narrow application of the due diligence principle, as WAVES presents an ideal set of facts that align with the Court’s thinking. It further argues that the Court should expand its application of the due diligence principle, drawing the attention of applicants and their legal representatives to what they can do to persuade the Court to broaden its scope.

Chapter 10, the final chapter of the book, compiles all the qualitative and quantitative trends and patterns identified throughout the detailed analysis. It shows, through a comparative analysis, facts such as the total number of cases with violations against the state and those without violations, the most common rights issues in the Maputo Protocol that have been contested, the nature of these rights and those still to be adjudicated by the Court, the defendant states involved, the types of applicants, the remedies awarded, the reliefs denied, and the duration from case filing to judgment. These elements form the quantitative aspect of the trends and patterns. The qualitative part addresses each of the book’s research questions, presenting findings from all analysed cases. This discussion culminates in the chapter’s final section on the structure of women’s rights jurisprudence in the ECOWAS Court, outlining the Court’s current position and potential future developments. It recommends measures for the Court and its users to further develop its women’s rights jurisprudence.

Chapter 7 presents a critical and nuanced analysis of Kadiatou Siby v. Mali. This pioneering case addresses state responsibility for discrimination against widows and violations of their rights to housing, property, and dignity. The Siby case is especially notable because it is among the few rulings on widows’ rights by the ECOWAS Court and establishes an original international precedent for widows’ rights in Africa. However, although the applicants invoked some provisions of the Maputo Protocol, the specific provisions explicitly outlining the rights of widows were not included. In addition to examining how much the Court relied on the due diligence principle to hold Mali accountable for the violations, the chapter highlights the implications of neglecting relevant and context-specific provisions of the Maputo Protocol in cases like Siby on the Protocol’s scope and influence. It proposes potential solutions to address this gap.

Chapter 3 parallels the Njemanze and the Collectif Cri de Coeur Pour Le Mali v. Republic of Mali cases. While the Njemanze decision was ruled in favour of the women victims, the Collectif decision was not. The applicants in Collectif relied on Njemanze to support their claims against the Republic of Mali. The Court further clarified its jurisprudence and limitations regarding holding states accountable for violations against women. The Collectif case raised important questions about when a state discharges its obligations under the Maputo Protocol to punish acts of violence against women and to implement programmes for the rehabilitation of victims. The chapter shows how the Court’s reasoning largely echoes the principles of the due diligence doctrine, which is why it rightly found Mali not responsible for the victims. However, it also reveals two jurisprudential faults in the Court’s reasoning. One involving the use and application of a decision of the African Court out of context, and another concerning its interpretation of when the due diligence principle applies in relation to healthcare services. It demonstrates how this flawed reasoning conflicts with the operation of the ECOWAS Court’s human rights mandate, especially its rule on local remedies.

Chapter 4 compares two domestic violence cases: Mary Sunday v. The Federal Republic of Nigeria, and Mrs Sarah Kingsley Odoro v. ECOWAS Commission and 2 Ors. Although the Maputo Protocol safeguards the rights of domestic violence victims within international law, holding states accountable for such violations occurring in the private sphere remains a significant challenge. In Mary Sunday, the ECOWAS Court clarified its stance regarding the types of evidence needed to establish a state’s liability for domestic violence. Meanwhile, in the Sarah Odoro case, the Court reiterated the scope of defendants over which it would have jurisdiction in domestic violence matters. This chapter highlights the potential of the due diligence principle at the individual level to broaden the Court’s perspective on holding states accountable to individual victims, while also considering the implications of such an approach for domestic violence cases in international forums.