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Home → Research Centres → Jigs → Issues → Volume 8, Numbers 1 & 2 (double issue)

Volume 8, Numbers 1 & 2 (Double Issue)

2004

Contents

Articles

 

Poetry

No information about poetry published in this issue is available at this time.

 

Book Reviews

No information about book reviews published in this issue is available at this time.

 

Abstracts

WOMEN'S ORGANISATIONS AND NETWORKS: SOME DEBATES AND DIRECTIONS

SUSIE JACOBS (guest editor), Sociology Department, Manchester Metropolitan University

Introduction

This special issue focuses on feminist organisations and networking. Its themes encompass forms and circumstances of organisation, as well as obstacles to women's agency. The more "traditional" as well contemporary feminist forms exemplified by the case studies here exemplify the range of forms of feminism takes in contemporary circumstances, marked as they are both by globalising forces and the persistence of national and local specificities.

 

CONCEIVING AND RESEARCHING WOMEN'S NETWORKS IN GLOBALISATION

HIROMI TANAKA, Faculty of Social Science, Ruhr University of Bochum, Germany

Abstract

The twentieth-first century has begun amidst economic, political, social and cultural processes transcending national boundaries. These processes, intensified particularly in the past few decades, involve the disruption of national entities. I argue that women's networks as well as other networks have increased in significance in the context of the new social formations and attempt to position research on women's networks within a wide range of network research with respect to the new social realities. I also deliberate that future women's network research should be concerned with the webs of transnational social relationships and of power relations. These factors also crosscut women's networks.

 

"A PART OF LIVING FEMINISM": INTERGENERATIONAL FEMINISM IN A WORKING CLASS AREA

SARAH MADDISON, School of Politics and International Relations, University of New South Wales

Abstract

In recent years young women's feminist activism has often been ignored or criticised for not conforming to older women's expectations regarding the style and content of their praxis. Similarly, the political struggles of working class women have often been overlooked due to the sometimes hidden nature of their resistance to oppression and marginalisation. This article presents a case study of young, working class women who are active in their community on the south western outskirts of Sydney, through an exploration of the group's processes of collective identity. The Young Women Who Are Parents Programme is based in a women's health centre, and provides a unique program of structured, intergenerational support for the young women as they are trained to become advocates for other young women who are parents in the area. The fact that this inclusive model of feminist praxis exists and is thriving in one of the more disadvantaged areas of Sydney suggests that the women's movement as a whole is capable of learning lessons about being more inclusive. Further, the fact that feminist organisations such as this one are actively engaging young women in feminist processes of collective identity may prove to have a significant impact on any future wave of feminist activism in Australia.

 

OPPORTUNITIES AND OBSTACLES: THE RAPE CRISIS FEDERATION IN THE UK

HELEN JONES, Sociology Department, Manchester Metropolitan University UK

Abstract

From 1996 to 2003 the rape crisis movement in England and Wales was supported by a national organisation - The Rape Crisis Federation. This article tells the story of its emergence, its feminist principles, the impact it had at the national level, its links with other feminist networks within the UK and in Ireland and its demise following the withdrawal of state funding. In speaking out about the responsibility of the state to take action against sexual violence it forged a place for itself at the table of government and secured state funding. Whilst not dismissing the evident benefits that state funding can bring to women's organisations, this paper offers a timely critique, utilising the Rape Crisis Federation as a contemporary example. Caution is required to ensure that closer involvement with the state does not result in exhaustion of resources, both human and material, or assimilation resulting in even less power for women's groups.

 

GLOBALISATION, GAIATSU, AND WOMEN IN JAPANESE POLITICS

SUE ELLEN M. CHARLTON, Department of Political Science, Colorado State University

Abstract

Gaiatsu (foreign or external pressure) has provided opportunities for women's organisations and feminists to expand their influence in Japanese politics. Three case studies illustrate the different ways in which international pressure has contributed to the development of women's networking and efforts to foster gender equality through public policies. These case studies examine the drafting and revising of Japan's Equal Employment Opportunity Law, the reform of development policies to incorporate gender-sensitive practices, and the creation of a transnational coalition seeking apology and compensation from the Japanese government for its use of "comfort women" during the Asia-Pacific War.

 

WOMEN OF THE (CYBER) WORLD: THE CASE OF MEXICAN FEMINIST NGOs

CHARLENE MERITHEW, Independent Scholar

Abstract

Mexican feminist non-governmental organisations use the internet as a means to gain support for the promotion of women's issues and to instigate political and social reform. This article examines the theoretical considerations of the use of alternative, radical, and citizens' media, in order to provide a broad view of their relationship to the functioning of various Mexican feminist NGOs. It also interprets and discusses the efforts of these groups to surpass territorial frontiers in order to establish a system of support and exchange at the global level in pursuit of a more gender-equitable society.

 

SEX SELECTION AND FEMINIST "INTERNET-WORKS"

NAVTEJ PUREWAL, Sociology Department, University of Manchester

Abstract

This article explores sex selection and its specific intersection with son preference which, as a women's rights and ethical issue, has come to have local and global significance. The international and global dimensions of sex selection, as argued in this article, can partially be attributed to the use of the internet by both clinics advertising their sex selection services and women's and medical organisations opposing the practice. The article focuses upon the manner in which the internet has been used as a medium for advertising by clinics, as well as a political tool by medical and women's organisations campaigning against the practice. It looks at the use of the internet by sex selection service providers as well as in political campaigns raising awareness about the practice of pre-sex selective methods and sex selective abortions. The internet has provided an important medium through which feminist networks have been fostered and formed in challenging sex selection, or "son selection" as some women's organisations have called it. The internet (the worldwide web and email) has been an indispensable tool for anti-sex selection campaigns which have utilized it in raising awareness about the issue, often facilitating the formation of feminist networks.

 

WOMEN'S NETWORKING FOR CHANGE: NEW REGIONAL AND GLOBAL CONFIGURATIONS

WENDY HARCOURT, Society for International Development, Rome, Italy

Abstract

This article briefly reviews different women's networks associated with the Society for International Development's (SID) work on women's empowerment, reproductive rights and health, political conflict and well-being. The focus of the article is both global and regional with a particular look at the activities of different South Asian networks responding to the region's growing political conflicts and to the alarming increase of violence against women. She uses the framework of the "women and politics of place" developed by a SID-based research group coordinated by Arturo Escobar and herself, to explain the forms of networking and what they term "meshworking" that are currently evolving.

 

CORGANISING FOR WOMEN'S ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL RIGHTS: HOW USEFUL IS THE INTERNATIONAL COVENANT ON ECONOMIC, SOCIAL AND CULTURAL RIGHTS?

DIANE ELSON, Department of Sociology, University of Essex
JASMINE GIDEON, Birkbeck College, University of London

Abstract

This article explores the potential strengths and weaknesses of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR) as a focus for women's international organising to claim economic and social rights. The article charts the ways in which international women's groups have engaged with the UN human rights system and through an examination of feminist critiques of the ICESCR it proposes some strategies for civil society organisations to draw on to ensure the realisation of their economic and social rights. The article argues that there is a need to directly challenge the economic policies that hinder the realisation of their economic and social rights. Linkages between legal activists, feminist scholars and grassroots mobilisations for economic and social justice need to be strengthened if such goals are to be achieved.

 

GLOBALISED PRODUCTION AND NETWORKS OF RESISTANCE: WOMEN WORKING WORLDWIDE AND NEW ALLIANCES FOR THE DIGNITY OF LABOUR

ANGELA HALE, Women Working Worldwide, Manchester Metropolitan University

Abstract

This article uses as its starting point the global networking activities of Women Working Worldwide, a small women's organisation based in the UK but working with an international network of women workers' groups, mainly in Asia but also Africa, Central America and Eastern Europe. These are groups supporting women who have been drawn into export production, working in factories supplying the world market with consumer goods such as clothing and footwear. It recounts the organising strategies of these groups and how this has led to the emergence of local and international networks supporting women workers' rights not just as workers but also as women. It looks at how these groups have linked with Northern based campaigns, such as the Clean Clothes Campaign, and how together they have exposed the abuse of workers' in international supply chains and so prompted a response from MNCs in the form of "corporate social responsibility". In particular, the article considers the networking activity of Women Working Worldwide itself and whether involvement in the development of the UK Ethical Trading Initiative provides possibilities for utilising the power of international networking. It raises the particular problems presented by the global increase in subcontracting which separates workers from one another and makes organising even more difficult. At the same time, it highlights the inventiveness of women's organisations in developing new and effective forms of resistance, and examines the potential for bringing these together with more traditional forms of trade union organising.

 

NEW FORMS, LONGSTANDING ISSUES, AND SOME SUCCESSES: FEMINIST NETWORKS AND ORGANISING IN A GLOBALISING ERA

SUSIE JACOBS, Sociology Department, Manchester Metropolitan University

Abstract

This article focuses on "new" transnational feminist networks and links discussion of these to that dealing with "older" feminist organisations and forms. It discusses the network form, the context in which transnational networks have arisen and links between "local" and global formations. The article revisits material on difficulties within feminist organisations and asks whether and to what extent transnational networks have been able to incorporate earlier critiques. How have developments such as coalitions and transversal politics been able to deal with differences of ethnic identity and political viewpoint? Are social class divisions still of importance within organisations and networks? And are longstanding issues such as debates over institutionalisation and autonomy, and of hierarchies within organisations/networks, still underlying factors? The article argues that transnational networks are indeed innovative forms but that they by no means provide instant "solutions" to enduring problems. Nevertheless, the proliferation of feminist transnational and regional networks does indicate a measure of feminist success, and feminism(s) remain important political forces.