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Key Themes - Chapter 19

Constraints and difficulties in/for the Women’s movement

In many situations women face more constraints than men when they engage in social movements. Moreover, involvement in social protests often becomes progressively more difficult for women as actions move away from specific localities and contexts. The authors highlight several reasons for this dual state of affairs including women’s restricted access to money and land and the divisions which quickly emerged within the movement because of the diversity of membership. As well as these constraints there were also common problems which lead women to greater unification: this furthered the development of the movement as women realized that they face common problems in private and public life. This encouraged some women’s groups to sink their differences and seek various forms of collaboration designed to influence governments, IGOs and other powerful elite institutions. The common difficulties identified in this context are religious fundamentalism, economic globalization and neo-liberal policy and ideology.

 

The Global Women’s Movement

Here the authors start the discussion of the global women’s movement by describing its key events and selected achievements from 1960 to 1990.Three significant changes are identified as having boosted women’s movements and contributed to greater unity and mutual understanding: the UN and the creation a framework for increased networking; the rise of second-wave radical feminism, and the design of autonomous facilities for representing women’s views. The authors argue that in common with other movements the expansion of the women’s movement has been propelled by the compulsion to respond to vast and sometimes threatening forces for change. These global changes are seen as offering an even greater challenge to women, partly because the patriarchal oppression and economic disadvantage most women face create an almost unprecedented potential for unity of thought and action. Moreover the resources associated with globalization offer women particularly exciting opportunities to benefit from shared experiences and from pooling their acquired knowledge.