Women’s Organizations: The Heart and Soul of Women’s Activism

AbstractIn this paper I take the women's movement as the site for unpacking some of the strains and tensions involved in practical interpretations of secularism in present-day India. Several sources within and outside the movement point out that there has been a tendency to take the existence of secularism for granted, and that the supposedly secular idioms and symbols used for mobilizing women have been drawn from Hindu religio-cultural sources. Women from Dalit and religious minority communities have felt alienated by this. Hindu nationalists have cleverly appropriated these idioms and symbols to mobilize women as foot soldiers to further religious nationalism. Through a case-study of a grassroots women's NGO working in Uttar Pradesh, I seek to explore how women's organizations may be reshaping their agendas and activism to address this issue. Specifically, I will examine how and why the 2002 Gujarat riots affected the NGO, the ways in which it has started working on the issue of communal harmony and engaging with Muslims since the riots, and the challenges with which it has been confronted as a result of its efforts. In doing so, I will show how the complexities of NGO-based women's activism have become intertwined with the politics of secularism.

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Women's Organizations and Movements in the Commonwealth Caribbean: The Response to Global Economic Crisis in the 1980s

Feminist Review ◽

10.1080/014177898339451 ◽

1998 ◽

Vol 59 (1) ◽

pp. 57-73 ◽

Cited By ~ 35

Author(s):

Rhoda Reddock

Keyword(s):

Structural Adjustment ◽

Women's Organizations ◽

Women's Activism ◽

Political Issues ◽

Women's Equality ◽

English Speaking ◽

Commonwealth Caribbean ◽

The 1960S ◽

The Impact ◽

Women’S Organizations

In this paper I explore the emergence of women's organizations and feminist consciousness in the twentieth century in the English-speaking (Commonwealth) Caribbean. The global ideas concerning women's equality from the 1960s onwards clearly informed the initiatives taken by both women and states of the Caribbean. None the less, the paper illustrates, by use of examples, the interlocked nature of women's struggles with the economic, social and political issues which preoccupy the region's population. I examine in greater detail two case studies of women's activism and mobilization around the impact of structural adjustment policies in the two territories of Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago. By tracing the connections between and among the organizations and initiatives of women in the region, the paper situates the feminist movement in the English-speaking Caribbean as a continuously evolving one, fusing episodic struggles in different territories, engaging women of different classes and groups, and continuously building on past experience.

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Black Women’s Activism in Brazil: Black Genocide, Anti-Blackness and Racial Apartheid

CAMINHOS DA EDUCAÇÃO: diálogos, culturas e diversidades ◽

10.26694/caedu.v2i3.11520 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 2 (3) ◽

pp. 172-182

Author(s):

Kenneth Williamson,

Keyword(s):

Black Women ◽

Women's Organizations ◽

Women's Activism ◽

And Gender ◽

Black Movement ◽

Black Women's Activism ◽

Women’S Organizations

This article focuses on changes in Black women’s activism, particularly in Salvador, Bahia, Brazil, from 1995-2015, by comparing two national marches. Black organizations throughout the country came together to organize a national march in national’s capital Brasilia in November 1995. Twenty years later in November 2015, Black women organized a national march to address the intersection of racism and sexism. During those twenty years, Black activists worked tirelessly against Black genocide, anti-Blackness and racial apartheid in Brazil, and Black women stood on the frontlines of these struggles. The intersectionality of race, class, and gender were and remain critical to the activism of Black women and to the production of research and knowledge. The paper examines the changes activism in the Black movement over twenty years that marked the growth on Black women’s organizations and networks.

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GENDER STRATEGY AND WOMEN’S ACTIVISM IN THE NORTH CAUCASUS

RSUH/RGGU Bulletin Series Philosophy Social Studies Art Studies ◽

10.28995/2073-6401-2021-1-278-286 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 278-286

Author(s):

Saida V. Sirazhudinova ◽

Keyword(s):

Local Population ◽

Women's Organizations ◽

Sociological Research ◽

Women's Activism ◽

North Caucasus ◽

Sociological Study ◽

The North ◽

Formal Organizations ◽

The Moment ◽

Women’S Organizations

The paper presents the results of the sociological study conducted in the republics of the North Caucasus. The sociological research focuses on the issue of the gender strategy of civil society structures (women’s organizations and women’s activism) and its reflection in view of the local population and women activists. The research aims to determine the gender strategy of the region through the analysis of women’s activity, to identify its directions and the most common issues and questions that women’s activists and organizations solve. Women’s organizations in the region are heterogeneous, have different agendas and focus on solving different kinds of issues. Among the organizations one can distinguish formal organizations created “from upstairs”, unified by common priorities; organizations that solve a number of tasks related to their local communities or group interests; independent women’s initiatives that respond to the needs of society and its challenges. The main results of the study show that the gender strategy in the region is formed primarily by religious structures, and is built on patriarchal attitudes. The largest women’s organizations do not influence the gender strategy, and, moreover, their activities are almost invisible at the moment. At the same time, individual initiatives are emerging, which are currently not strong enough and not consolidated, but at the same time, raise important issues for women and defend their interests.

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