Women's Movements

Abstract

This review of women’s movements and activism around the world focuses on the less visible, less publicized women’s initiatives in non-western countries that are not usually addressed in western social movement studies. We consider previous analyses to review focal points in the discussion about identities (namely, women’s, feminist, and/or gender) and assess how these identities shape different social movements. Following these analyses, we explore the relationship between women’s movements and dominant approaches to social movements that tend to downplay gender. In this context, employing a feminist transnational approach helps us understand the relevance of multi-situated networks and alliances in contemporary social action. Finally, we also draw on intersectional feminist theory to examine the stratified axes of oppression and propose a relational policy that challenges hierarchies evident within and across different women’s movements.