The global women's movement : origins, issues and strategies / Peggy Antrobus.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Antrobus, Peggy.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Feminism.

Women's rights.

Physical Description:

xiv, 204 pages ; 20 cm

Place of Publication:

London ; New York : Zed, 2004.

Summary:

Of all the great social movements of the twentieth century, it is the women's movement that looks set to continue to shape the course of social progress over the next generation. This overview of the international women's movement by the well-known feminist activist Peggy Antrobus asks where are women now--particularly in the Third World--in the struggle against gender inequality? What are the issues--from poverty to sexual and reproductive health to the environment--that they face in different parts of the world? What challenges confront the women's movement and what strategies are needed? Rooted in the author's long experience in seeing these movements in a changing national and global context over the past decades, this intervention will prove an invaluable aid to reflection and action for the next generation of women as they carry through the unfinished business of women's emancipation.

Contents:

2 The global women's movement: definitions and local origins 9

Characteristics 15

Symbols and images 21

Origins 23

3 Global contexts for an emerging movement: the UN Development Decades, 1960s-1970s 28

International debates on socio-economic development (1960s-1970s) 29

The decade of the 1980s 31

The decade of the 1990s 31

Background to the Decade for Women (1975-85) 33

4 A Decade for Women: UN conferences, 1975-85 37

The context for International Women's Year (1975) 38

International Women's Year (1975) 41

The Decade for Women (1975-85) 46

Mid-Decade (1980) 49

The second half of the Decade 52

Significance of the Decade for the global women's movement 59

Postscript to the Decade: the Fourth World Conference on Women (1995) 63

5 The Lost Decade - the 1980s 67

The macro-economic policy framework of Structural Adjustment Programmes (SAPs) 68

Consequences of the policy framework of adjustment 69

SAPs and women's movements 72

6 It's about justice: feminist leadership making a difference on the world stage 80

Background to the global conferences of the 1990s 80

Economic justice: the UN Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED) 82

Gender justice 91

Political justice 99

Assessment of the global conferences of the 1990s 102

7 Political strategies and dynamics of women's organizing and feminist activism 109

Activist strategies 109

Institutional strategies 122

Crosscutting strategies 124

Approaches to social change 126

Analysis of power 131

Lessons learned 133

8 The new context: challenges and dilemmas for the future 137

The context: then and now 138

Origins of the present conjuncture 139

Challenges of the present 140

Paradoxes and dilemmas 156

9 Leadership for moving forward 164

What kind of leadership? 164

Feminist leadership 166

Where might feminist leadership be found? 175

How might feminist leadership be renewed and strengthened? 177

The special role of leadership at the global level 178

10 Epilogue: is another world possible? 181

Selected women's networks and websites 189

1 The World Needs the Love of a Free Woman 191

2 The Global Women's Strike 193

3 The Sisterhood is Global Institute 195.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

1842770160

1842770179

OCLC:

57201794