Caron E. Gentry reviewed Soft Force: Women in Egypt’s Islamic Awakening by Ellen Anne McLarney. Search for the book in a library near you. The review was published in Times Higher Education, September 10, 2015.
Professor McLarney also gave an interview at Islamicommentary.org.
The YouTube videos below are short talks by the author. The first introduces the book. The second introduces how she became interested in research about Muslim ideas about human rights in the 19th century C.E.
I have not read the book.