WOMEN’S EMANCIPATION AND CIVIL SOCIETY ORGANISATIONS

Dedication

Contents

Images, figures, maps and tables

Images

Figures

Maps

Tables

About the authors

Acknowledgements

Foreword

1. Introducing the anthology

Introduction

Theoretical frames

Emancipation as a standpoint to challenge domination

The genesis of the anthology

Structure of the anthology

Overview of the first section

Overview of the second section

2. ‘Empowerment’ as women’s emancipation? A global analysis of the empowerment paradigm and the influence of feminism in women’s NGOs

Introduction

Women’s global inequality

Gender equality policy

Feminism, empowerment and the ‘empowerment paradigm’

Research findings: gender equality policy and practice in women’s NGOs

Conclusion

Section One. Organising for emancipation

3. Se Non Ora Quando? (‘If not now, when?’) The birth, growth and challenges of a new voice within the feminist scenario in Italy

Introduction

Methodological note

Italy: ‘the land that feminism forgot’1

The birth of the SNOQ movement

Growth of the movement: from the first ID card to the first national event in Siena

Organisation and management structure of the SNOQ movement

Media relations and agenda setting: fame, competence and strategy

The relationships with other feminist movements in Italy

The relationship with politics and political parties

Conclusions

4. Street harassment activism in the twenty-first century

Introduction to street harassment: ‘Men always bother you, all the time’

The development of the movement to end street harassment

Government responses

Global activism in a digital age

The future of anti-street harassment activism

Conclusion

5. New gender-political impulses from Eastern Europe: the case of Pussy Riot

The phenomenon of Pussy Riot: an introduction

The conditions for feminist activism: the state, religion and civil society in contemporary Russia

A close connection: the church and the state in Russia

Gender relations in Russia

Pussy Riot: feminist ‘anti-Putinism’

Pussy Riot as political protest

Pussy Riot as a religiously motivated protest

Pussy Riot as feminist protest

Pussy Riot and their critique of the economic system

Conclusion

6. How a feminist activist group builds its repertoire of actions: a case study

Introduction

Conceptual framework

Empirical approach

La Barbe, a feminist activist group

‘La Barbe’s main performance: ‘congratulating organisations’

Interpreting La Barbe tactical repertoire

Relevance of La Barbe tactical repertoire for organisation studies

La Barbe influences and inspirations

Criticism of French feminism

La Barbe dialectical continuity with former feminisms

The theoretical inspirations of La Barbe

Conclusion

7. From feminist extravagance to citizen demand: the movement for abortion legalisation in Uruguay

Introduction

The Uruguayan women’s movement

The process towards legalisation, 1985–2012

Movement and countermovement: the two faces of civil society

Organisations, leaders and alliances

Repertoire of actions and campaigns

Regional and international linkages and networks

Culture wars and the political battle for public opinion

Conclusion

8. Sustainability from the bottom up: women as change agents in the Niger Delta

Introduction

Women, social movements and civil society in the Niger Delta

Measuring attitudes towards participation and women’s emancipation

Women’s empowerment as strategic decision-making

Women and social conflict in Nigeria

Women’s participation, power and agency

Towards a gendered justice agenda in the Niger Delta

Section Two: Emancipating organisation(s)

9. A women’s NGO as an incubator: promoting identity-based associations in Nepalese civil society

Introduction

CSOs, NGOs and IBAs in Nepal

A women’s NGO working towards transformation of the society

Promoting self-representation among trafficking survivors

Advantages and challenges faced by IBAs

Incubating another women’s IBA

Solidarity across sectors for an inclusive women’s movement

From an incubator to a partner

Why is an incubator necessary for IBAs?

Conclusion

10. Gender democracy and women’s self-empowerment: a case of Somali diaspora civil society

Introduction

Empowerment in the Somali context

Gender mainstreaming through capacity-empowerment

Social remittances and transnational identities

The ‘meso’ level of capacity development

Somali civil society in diaspora

Somali diaspora CSOs and their contribution to women’s empowerment: some examples

Discussion

Conclusions

11. The role of civil society organisations in emancipating Portuguese Roma women

Introduction

Social participation in southern European countries

The hidden heterogeneity of the southern European pattern

The emergence of Roma associational participation

Portuguese Roma civil society organisations

Methodology

Some findings

The associative engagement as part of a personal turning point

Concluding remarks

12. Breaking down dichotomies in the narratives of women’s activism in Morocco

Introduction

History of women’s activism

Methodology

Rights-based women’s activism

Faith-based women’s activism

Narratives of dichotomy

Similarities across divisions

Why the divided women’s civil society is hurting emancipation

Conclusion: the need for separate voices

13. Working within associations: recognition in the public space for women?

Women’s employment in French associations

Methodology

A review of the relevant literature

Findings

Women’s jobs and distinctiveness of the voluntary sector

Discussion: enabling women’s access to public space or supporting the gendered status quo?

Conclusions

14. Flexible working practices in charities: supporting or hindering women’s emancipation in the workplace

Flexible working and gender stereotypes

Why is flexible working important in the charity sector?

Investigation of flexible working in charities

Data analysis and outcomes

Concluding comments

15. Examining and contextualising Kenya’s Maendeleo ya Wanawake Organisation (MYWO) through an African feminist lens

Introduction

The roots of Maendeleo

Reading into Maendeleo’s activities

Challenges of Maendeleo ya Wanawake

Nairobi, ‘the unfinished agenda’ and African feminisms

Maendeleo and the feminist agendas

The subaltern speaking?

Championing women’s rights under different rubrics: activists, feminists and womanists

A call for solidarity

Conclusion

16. Organising for emancipation/emancipating organisations?

Introduction

Differing understandings of emancipation

Locations of domination: emancipation as a standpoint

How is domination to be resisted and emancipation achieved through organising?

Do CSOs reinforce or challenge the status quo?

Feminism as a global social movement?

Current strategies for action

Index