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Moving Feminist Activists Inside the American State: The Rise of a State-Movement Intersection and Its Effects on State Policy

Lee Ann Banaszak

in The Unsustainable American State

This chapter explores the historic roots of feminist activists in the United States and the consequences of this that lead to the development of the American state. It begins by conceptualizing ... More

This chapter explores the historic roots of feminist activists in the United States and the consequences of this that lead to the development of the American state. It begins by conceptualizing feminist activists within the state as a state-movement intersection and then proceeds on presenting the role that the historical development of state and society can play in allowing other interests into the state. The changing nature of women's education and employment is then discussed and the chapter looks at how they attained significant presence in the federal bureaucracy. Due to the increasing number of feminist activist around during the period under discussion in this chapter, numerous changes in the nature of the federal government transpired.Less

Agency Under Networks: Belonging and Privacy in Feminist Visual Culture

Esha Niyogi De

in Empire, Media, and the Autonomous Woman: A Feminist Critique of Postcolonial Thought

This chapter gives an in-depth look at the feminist dance theatre of Manjusri Chaki-Sircar and Ranjabati Sircar. Besides, it determines how this minimal norm of feminist temporal agency is being ... More

This chapter gives an in-depth look at the feminist dance theatre of Manjusri Chaki-Sircar and Ranjabati Sircar. Besides, it determines how this minimal norm of feminist temporal agency is being further explored by Aparna Sen in her films. It reveals the twofold struggle of feminist activists, which is found under the practical conditions of contemporary capitalism. Furthermore, the chapter studies the Indian visual perspective and the ways feminist visual/performative texts are trying to break out from a secular gaze on women's autonomy. A juxtaposition of the performance art of Manjusri Chaki-Sircar and Ranjabati Sircar with the cinema of Aparna Sen is presented as well. These works suggest how the activists continue to reprise ethical autonomies in neoliberal India.Less

The Anti-Rape Movement and the Turn to Law

Rose Corrigan

in Up Against a Wall: Rape Reform and the Failure of Success

This chapter provides an overview of law and social change among 1970s rape law reformers, emphasizing both their reluctance to work with the state and their reasons for ultimately doing so. ... More

This chapter provides an overview of law and social change among 1970s rape law reformers, emphasizing both their reluctance to work with the state and their reasons for ultimately doing so. Anti-rape activists had deep antipathy toward law that made them outsiders to the legal process. The poor political “fit” between feminist ideology and legal actors and institutions was compounded by the insufficiency of criminal law as a vehicle for aspirational reforms. As a result of the choice to focus on criminal law, reformers never articulated a positive vision of rights to go along with their political and ideological critique of rape. When the first wave of reform was completed, feminist lawyers participating in statutory reform campaigns moved on to other issues, leaving the articulation and protection of the rights of rape victims in the hands of legal and medical professionals allied with state interests. Without the presence of a committed and engaged social movement or the assistance of committed legal strategists, rape crisis centers (RCCs) quickly lost political leverage to ensure that those professionals complied with even minimum standards of fair treatment of those victims.Less

The Anti-Rape Movement and the Turn to Law

Rose Corrigan

in Up Against a Wall: Rape Reform and the Failure of Success

This chapter provides an overview of law and social change among 1970s rape law reformers, emphasizing both their reluctance to work with the state and their reasons for ultimately doing so. ... More

This chapter provides an overview of law and social change among 1970s rape law reformers, emphasizing both their reluctance to work with the state and their reasons for ultimately doing so. Anti-rape activists had deep antipathy toward law that made them outsiders to the legal process. The poor political “fit” between feminist ideology and legal actors and institutions was compounded by the insufficiency of criminal law as a vehicle for aspirational reforms. As a result of the choice to focus on criminal law, reformers never articulated a positive vision of rights to go along with their political and ideological critique of rape. When the first wave of reform was completed, feminist lawyers participating in statutory reform campaigns moved on to other issues, leaving the articulation and protection of the rights of rape victims in the hands of legal and medical professionals allied with state interests. Without the presence of a committed and engaged social movement or the assistance of committed legal strategists, rape crisis centers (RCCs) quickly lost political leverage to ensure that those professionals complied with even minimum standards of fair treatment of those victims. Less

Feminist Dreams and Nightmares: The Struggle for Gender Health Equity in Brazil

Kia Lilly Caldwell

in Health Equity in Brazil: Intersections of Gender, Race, and Policy

This chapter traces the development of health policies for women in Brazil from the early 1980s to the mid-2010s and examines the central role that feminist health activists have played in calling ... More

This chapter traces the development of health policies for women in Brazil from the early 1980s to the mid-2010s and examines the central role that feminist health activists have played in calling for gender health equity. This chapter argues that, while reproductive health and abortion have been central organizing issues for Brazilian feminists, they have faced major political, cultural, and religious challenges in their efforts to advance a women’s health agenda. Special attention is given to women’s health policies that were developed during the democratic transition in the mid-1980s and during the two terms of President Dilma Rousseff (2011-2016), Brazil’s first female president.Less

“Something had to be there already”

Carol Giardina

in Freedom for Women: Forging the Women's Liberation Movement, 1953-1970

The feminism of women activists working with women's liberation movements has been framed by powerful forces. All these feminist activists shared common life experiences. This chapter aims to give ... More

The feminism of women activists working with women's liberation movements has been framed by powerful forces. All these feminist activists shared common life experiences. This chapter aims to give insight on these common features prevalent in the lives of women activists. The common feature was the presence of an Old Left family background for these feminists. The chapter provides an account of the presence of radical feminism in the lives of major activists. The activists talked about in the chapter include Judith Brown, Pam Allen, Pauli Murray, Eleanor Holmes Norton, Ella Baker, and Patricia Robinson. These women activists had an idea about the woman question much before they became Women's Liberation pioneers. This can be attributed to their radical feminist families.Less

Postfeminist Uncertainties

in Sheltering Women: Negotiating Gender and Violence in Northern Italy

This chapter is concerned with the history of the “postfeminist” period of Italian society. It includes narratives of previous feminist activists who live in Parma and sketches Italian feminism. This ... More

This chapter is concerned with the history of the “postfeminist” period of Italian society. It includes narratives of previous feminist activists who live in Parma and sketches Italian feminism. This chapter also includes a thorough summary of the important political opposition between communists and Catholics that existed in Italian society for nearly fifty years.Less

Fashioning Women through Activism, Ritual, and Dress

Mina Roces

in Women's Movements and the Filipina: 1986-2008

This chapter is devoted to the activities that involve the participation and indoctrination of potential followers. Oral testimonies, theater as advocacy, demonstrations, songs, and special rituals ... More

This chapter is devoted to the activities that involve the participation and indoctrination of potential followers. Oral testimonies, theater as advocacy, demonstrations, songs, and special rituals are practices in which former survivors become advocates or activists. Identities with particular feminist organizations are developed through participation in these activities, which often include the wearing of a particular “uniform.” Hence, this chapter focuses on both the content and performance of these practices insofar as they inform us about how women activists represented and fashioned women. It also concentrates on those organizations that aimed to transform women into feminist activists through specific practices.Less

Flame, Nyaradzo, and Pretty: Black Women and Girls in Harare with Reason to Hope

Carolyn Martin Shaw

in Women and Power in Zimbabwe: Promises of Feminism

This chapter examines three types of women that are central to the book's study of the promises of feminism in Zimbabwe: women combatants/veterans (“Flame”), feminist activists (“Nyaradzo”), and ... More

This chapter examines three types of women that are central to the book's study of the promises of feminism in Zimbabwe: women combatants/veterans (“Flame”), feminist activists (“Nyaradzo”), and beauty and modeling contestants (“Pretty”). There are seven categories or classes in Zimbabwe, according to education, income, residence, occupation, ownership of property, and attitudes toward family and social change. Groups 3, 4, and 5 constitute the middle class—this is the group to which Flame, Nyaradzo, and Pretty belong. Each of these women wants more from her society, all are eclectic in their principles and goals, and at one time, they each had reason to hope. All resist the stasis of an overwhelming presentism that is an alternative to cruel optimism. The chapter also considers several paradoxes in assessing the effectiveness of women's movements in changing policies in African countries.Less

Framing claims for women: from ‘old’ to ‘new’ Labour

Lovecy Jill

in Women and New Labour: Engendering politics and policy?

This chapter reviews the stance of the Labour Party on women and feminising politics from so-called ‘old’ to New Labour, illustrating how feminist activists within the party were able to mobilise ... More

This chapter reviews the stance of the Labour Party on women and feminising politics from so-called ‘old’ to New Labour, illustrating how feminist activists within the party were able to mobilise their demands. The British Labour Party was participating in a rising trend among its sister social-democratic parties, particularly in Europe. The focuses of the episode of strategic framing include collective empowerment of women within the party, empowering executive representation, and empowering individual women party members. It is shown that changes in the party's evolving opportunity structures had less of a direct impact on how feminist activists sought to extend the party's policy commitments to women from the late 1970s through until the early 1990s.Less

Teaching outside Liberal-Imperial Discourse: A Critical Dialogue about Antiracist Feminisms

Sylvanna Falcón, Sharmila Lodhia, Molly Talcott, and Dana Collins

in The Imperial University: Academic Repression and Scholarly Dissent

This chapter focuses on antiracist feminisms. It presents the multiple conversations of four members of a feminist group called Collective of Antiracist-Feminist Scholar Activists (CASA) about ... More

This chapter focuses on antiracist feminisms. It presents the multiple conversations of four members of a feminist group called Collective of Antiracist-Feminist Scholar Activists (CASA) about critical pedagogies, the challenges of navigating academic life while remaining engaged in a diverse social justice movement, and finding sustainable ways to remain present with their loved ones while pursuing their work. The article entitled New Directions in Feminism and Human Rights, a special issue of the International Feminist Journal of Politics (IFjP) in 2010, sought to explore the contradictions that emanate from, on the one hand, the institutionalization of human rights among imperial nation-states and global bodies, on the other, the growing embrace of human rights logics and languages by activists.Less

The Skin of the Burka: Recent Life Narratives from Afghanistan

Gillian Whitlock

in Soft Weapons: Autobiography in Transit

This chapter investigates how autoethnographies circulate in the West and empower feminist activism in Afghanistan at the same time as they appeal to Western fantasies about one of the most ... More

This chapter investigates how autoethnographies circulate in the West and empower feminist activism in Afghanistan at the same time as they appeal to Western fantasies about one of the most intractable signs of cultural difference: the veil. My Forbidden Face is one of the most popular life narratives from Afghanistan. Afghan feminist activists strategically use the burka. The specter of the refugee haunts those Afghan women who pass into the West as celebrities and champions of freedom. The covers of Afghan women's autoethnographies play on similarity and difference and on the threshold of what can be recognized as human, with the burka securely placed as a metonymic sign of the absolute Other, obscuring the promise of a familiar woman's body beneath. In the war of words and significations attached to the war on terror, the faces of Afghan women mark a threshold in the struggle over how subjects become human.Less

New selection grids: points tests and gender effects, 1993–2003

Anna Boucher

in Gender, Migration and the Global Race For Talent

Chapter 5 considers the second case study - changes in skilled immigration points tests in Australia and Canada over the decade from 1993 to 2003. This Chapter argues that the points test adopted in ... More

Chapter 5 considers the second case study - changes in skilled immigration points tests in Australia and Canada over the decade from 1993 to 2003. This Chapter argues that the points test adopted in Canada was more gender aware, an outcome informed by the engagement of diversity-seeking activists in the policy process and the establishment of a gender-based analysis unit within Citizenship Immigration Canada. The absence of gender considerations in Australia relates to the tight administrative control over the policy process by the immigration ministry and its reliance on regulatory instruments to achieve key policy goals.Less

Critical Reflection of Section One: Silence Kills in “Revolting” Times: Braiding Feminist Activist Scholarship with the Threads of Resistance, Human Rights, and Social Justice

Shelly Grabe

in Women's Human Rights: A Social Psychological Perspective on Resistance, Liberation, and Justice

Situated in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and New York City, with women raped in war and LGBQTGNC folks bearing the brunt of poverty, Section One reveals women’s struggles, hunger for recognition, blows of ... More

Situated in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and New York City, with women raped in war and LGBQTGNC folks bearing the brunt of poverty, Section One reveals women’s struggles, hunger for recognition, blows of the State, and solidarities. Lindorfer and Wienberg address feminist evaluation, in a fraught policy arena, on a topic that could not be more dis-easing—rape as a crime of war. They critique human rights research practices and reframe evaluation as the radical praxis of recognition and circulation of stories in the history of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Billies tells a story about feminist activist scholarship and gendered violence, this time woven with vectors of oppression including race, class, disability, immigration, and sexuality. Billies documents the Welfare Warriors Research Collective, where LGBTQGNC researchers gather stories and numbers, exposing their relations with public institutions. Both chapters reflect feminist indictments—of the State, of oppression, and of traditional conceptions of empirical science.Less

“An Infinite and Undefinable Movement”

Fatima El-Tayeb

in European Others: Queering Ethnicity in Postnational Europe

The queering of ethnicity in Europe refers to Europe’s deliberate indifference to non-European minorities. This concluding chapter discusses how three methodological approaches have been used to ... More

The queering of ethnicity in Europe refers to Europe’s deliberate indifference to non-European minorities. This concluding chapter discusses how three methodological approaches have been used to resolve queering ethnicity in Europe. These are: the accounts of African and Muslim feminist activists, African diaspora theory, and African and Muslim queer theory—all of which have been prominent during the inauguration of the EU-sponsored Museum of Europe. These approaches are used to address these questions: who is allowed to speak and who is not? What can and cannot be said? From which position are we speaking and with what authority? This chapter concludes that effective communication might be the solution to queering ethnicity in Europe.Less

Conclusion: Looking to the Future

Hilmi M. Zawati and Teresa A. Doherty

in Fair Labelling and the Dilemma of Prosecuting Gender-Based Crimes at the International Criminal Tribunals

This concluding chapter summarizes the intentions of the author to present an in-depth case study featuring war-time gender-based crimes during the onset of wars in the nations of former Yugoslavia, ... More

This concluding chapter summarizes the intentions of the author to present an in-depth case study featuring war-time gender-based crimes during the onset of wars in the nations of former Yugoslavia, Rwanda, and Sierra Leone. It provides a summary of findings about the revolutionary efforts of the international criminal tribunals and feminist legal activists for a firmer international criminal justice. In addition, it describes the role of the principle of fair-labelling and other compelling legal concepts in providing a legalistic approach to the discourse.Less