Toward a Relational Cosmopolitanism

This chapter argues that cosmopolitanism as a framework for global gender justice fails to capture the rich diversity and the power differences among women. It evaluates two prominent cosmopolitan positions, individualist cosmopolitanism and institutional cosmopolitanism. Individualist cosmopolitanism relies on an abstract and atomistic notion of the self. Abstracting from social and cultural context diminishes the significance of identity, and holding a strongly individualist notion of the self obscures the power relationships that undergird structural inequality. Institutional cosmopolitanism accounts for our interconnections through unequal global economic and political relationships, but it leaves aside issues of gender and culture. The chapter draws on the work of Rabindranath Tagore to construct a new type of cosmopolitanism, relational cosmopolitanism, that recognizes our interdependence, appreciates diversity, and criticizes power relationships. Supplemented by feminist ideas of world traveling and difference as a creative resource, relational cosmopolitanism is a promising framework for feminists interested in global gender justice.

Globalization and Women’s Empowerment

This chapter argues that cooperatives, because of their focus on both overcoming social oppression and economic exploitation, foster both economic and feminist empowerment for women. First, the chapter discusses the neoliberal economic policies of globalization, which have a disproportionately negative impact on women. Because economic and gender inequality often coincide, projects to enhance women’s empowerment have focused on economic empowerment. This narrow definition of women’s empowerment does not address gender inequality and sexist oppression; nor does it take into account structural and social change. Development strategies to redress women’s economic vulnerability include access to microfinance institutions. However, an increase in material goods alone does not challenge the social, economic, and political structures that create poverty and social marginalization. Cooperatives explicitly promote social equality and challenge the individualism underlying other social institutions. Cooperatives intentionally develop leadership, challenge inequality, and foster the collective capacities needed to challenge structural oppression and systemic exploitation.

Women’s Rights as Human Rights

This chapter assesses the human rights framework as a paradigm for global gender justice. First, it examines the gains made by the “women’s rights as human rights” movement; this movement brought issues of sexual and gender violence under the purview of human rights. Next, the chapter argues for the importance of economic and social rights, and supports the indivisibility of legal, political, social, and economic rights. However, some postcolonial feminists challenge the rights framework’s claim to universality, and care ethicists criticize its strong individualism. The chapter proposes that a feminist social justice approach provides a more comprehensive framework for negotiating the complex relationships among gender, class, religious, and racial and ethnic identities and oppression than a human rights framework.

Conclusion

This chapter suggests that we use the broader framework of feminist social justice to analyze oppression and exploitation at the global level. Noting that in real life the ethical and the political overlap, the chapter advocates a dual-track approach to problems of injustice, both individual, immediate aid and long-term systemic changes. Emphasizing the connections between local economic institutions, such as cooperatives and Fair Trade organizations, and transnational projects, such as the solidarity economy, the chapter shows how the local work of the Self-Employed Women’s Association and Marketplace India connect to transnational projects for both economic justice and gender equity. Supporting grassroots organizations engaged in transnational work for gender and economic justice is one route for engaging in transnational feminist solidarity. In terms of methodology, the chapter concludes by suggesting a shift from independence to interdependence, from identity to intersectionality, and from political interest to social and political imagination.

Introduction

This chapter provides an overview of the book, explains the context of the project, and introduces a feminist social justice framework based on anti-oppression and anti-exploitation. The chapter also outlines a feminist social justice approach drawn from a wide range of feminist work. One feature of this approach is the connection between theory and practice. The chapter discusses the participant action research that the book uses; interviews and observation of grassroots women’s organizations in India engaged in political and social activism and grounded in economic justice projects informed the feminist social justice framework. This framework offers an alternative to the liberal paradigm of universal human rights, neoliberal economic projects, and cosmopolitanism for analyzing and pursuing global gender justice. The feminist social justice approach recognizes the importance of relationality, intersectionality, and power relations for analyzing the complex relations of oppression women face globally.

Responsibility for Global Justice and Transnational Feminist Solidarity Projects

This chapter argues that Iris Marion Young’s approach to unjust social systems and her acknowledgment that each of us is placed differently in those systems provides an important resource for engaging with questions of sexist oppression globally, while being attentive to intersectionality and power relations. After an explication of Young’s theory of political responsibility, criticisms of her theory are addressed. Because Young’s theory of political responsibility draws on feminist concepts such as social location, power, and privilege, it provides a more nuanced way to understand global justice than abstract universal frameworks such as human rights or cosmopolitanism. Extending Young’s theory, the chapter argues that global cross-border alliances can positively promote not only changes in unjust institutions and structures at the transnational level but also foster new local institutions, organizations, and practices that are fairer and more just, such as Fair Trade.

Women’s Activism as a Model for Feminist Theorizing

This chapter describes the work of two grassroots women’s organizations in India, the Self-Employed Women’s Association and MarketPlace India. It provides background on each organization and identifies four themes in their work: Collaboration and Participation, Women’s Leadership, Women’s Empowerment, and Respect for Diversity and Global Connections. Drawing upon actual struggles for economic and social justice, the chapter shows how these organizations empower their members through dignified labor, participation in organizational decision making, and developing leadership. The organizations also cultivate a respect for diversity of identities. This respect for diversity coincides with the ability to criticize pernicious traditions and practices. Each organization empowers its members to challenge structural injustice through social and political activism. The chapter demonstrates the effectiveness of beginning from the local and moving toward the global to promote gender justice, and it suggests that the comprehensive strategy that these organizations employ could serve as a model for transnational feminism.