women’s movements

What does transforming economic power mean?

Srilatha Batliwala. Today’s targeting of women in processes of realigning economic controls is perhaps quite unique. In order to unpack and understand economic power, we must revisit the different realms in which power operates, and the various forms that it takes – visible, hidden and invisible, says Srilatha Batliwala On the eve of the 12th AWID […]

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Where we must stand: African women in an age of war

Amina Mama. Whether one considers the direct effects of military rule and conflict on women, or the global economic implications of the US war-on-terror, militarism threatens to strip away all the 20th century gains in women’s rights, dispossessing us once more. African women must take a stand, says Amina Mama (Read this article in Italian) […]

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Mexico: the war on drugs is becoming a war on women

Posted in Militarism, Violence & Conflict, Sexuality on October 31st, 2012 by

Laura Carlsen. Women human rights defenders in Mexico are increasingly targeted, often by government forces, since drug war violence and militarisation provide a cover for attacking leaders of grassroots movements, says Laura Carlsen Some women had to be escorted into the city by court-appointed guards. Others flew in from virtual war zones where they check […]

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Senegal: the land belongs to those who work it

Fatou Guèye. After a quarter century of armed conflict, and a socio-economic fabric reduced to shreds, women in Casamance, Senegal, are winning the right to access land and rebuild peace, says Fatou Guèye Ziguinchor is a region in Casamance in the south of Senegal that is separated from the rest of the country by Gambia. […]

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Reclaiming care as a fundamental end in itself

Posted in Labour & Work, The Role of the State on October 31st, 2012 by

Emily Esplen. The benefits of getting women into work have been widely acclaimed in donor circles, popularised by the World Bank’s catchy slogan ‘Gender equality is smart economics’. For feminists who have long been advocating for women’s economic independence as a fundamental cornerstone of women’s liberation, the current preoccupation with stimulating women’s income-generating capacities is […]

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Post conflict reconstruction: ask the women farmers

TABARA NDIAYE. Twenty years of conflict has destroyed the social fabric of Casamance.The only way to re-instate security and eradicate famine in an area once known as the bread-basket of Senegal is to ask the women farmers, says Tabara Ndiaye “How many times have we seen the experts ask our grandfathers questions about the rice […]

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Peace movements: violence reduction as common sense

CYNTHIA COCKBURN If one thing holds the overall movement of peace movements together it is the goal of violence reduction. There’s a shared conviction that violence is a choice, that there exists, much more often than commonly supposed, a more violent and a less violent course of action Can we justifiably speak of a global […]

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Brazil: “state feminism” at work

Posted in Plenary 3, The Role of the State on October 29th, 2012 by

ANA ALICE ALCÂNTARA and CECILIA SARDENBERG. How far can the flourishing “participatory state feminism” in Brazil expand into the state apparatus in order to counter the absence of women in decision making positions and redefine women’s place in society? Feminist activism in Brazil has stretched the very concept of democracy by including women’s rights in the process […]

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Women defining economic citizenship

Jennifer Allsopp. How can we empower women to participate in existing economic structures but transform them? We need a model of economic power and citizenship that is not simply about sustaining capital or growth, but sustaining and celebrating life itself.  Jenny Allsopp reports directly from the AWID Forum 2012. Here are parts two and  three of her report. […]

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Visible players: the power and the risks for young feminists

Posted in Plenary 1, Plenary 2, Plenary 3, Sexuality, The Role of the State on October 29th, 2012 by

JENNIFER ALLSOPP. From the student protests in Chile, to the protests of the ‘Arab spring’ in the MENA region, the debate among young feminists about how to reclaim public space reveals tensions between an individualist model of autonomy and a collectivist reclamation of public space. Jenny Allsopp reports on day two of the AWID Forum 2012 […]

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“Food sovereignty” as a transformative model of economic power

JENNIFER ALLSOPP. The argument is being made that “food sovereignty” is an organising principle so demonstrably strong that it has the potential to transform economic power. Can we really invest in it as the ecological principle to take us into the 21st century? Jenny Allsopp reports from the AWID Forum 2012 In order to advance women’s rights and […]

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Culture versus Rights Dualism: a myth or a reality?

Posted in Culture & Religion, Global Governance on October 29th, 2012 by

YAKIN ERTURK. Women’s human rights discourse and movements have become entangled within a culture-versus-rights dualism. Yakin Ertürk argues that this is a false dualism which serves both private patriarchy and public patriarchy of neo-liberal globalisation The 1990’s was a remarkable period in experiencing the unravelling of a world order that has characterised much of the […]

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Making visible the invisible: commodification is not the answer

MARILYN WARING. If you are invisible as a producer in the GDP, you are invisible in the distribution of benefits in the economic framework of  the national budget. As feminists we must embrace an ecological model if we are to transform economic power, and the market and commodification must be seen as the servants of […]

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Decoding the “DNA of Patriarchy” in Muslim family laws

Posted in Culture & Religion on October 24th, 2012 by

Why and how did verse 4:34, and not other verses in the Qur’an, become the foundation for the legal construction of marriage? Why areqiwamah and wilayah still the basis of gender relations in the imagination of modern-day jurists and Muslims who resist and denounce equality in marriage as alien to Islam? How can we Muslim women reconstruct the […]

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We cannot be free until every one of us is free

Posted in Plenary 1 on October 24th, 2012 by

  The 12th AWID Forum began with a burst of colour in the Haliç Auditorium with 2240 women attending from 140 countries, the majority from the global South and East. Already, in the corridors and gardens of the Congress Centre, the inter-regional dialogue had begun. During the first plenary, there was discussion of the current context […]

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