Perils and Possibilities of Doing Transnational Feminist Activism Essay

Introduction

Women in history have faced many challenges to fighting and championing their rights. Perhaps the greatest thing to note is the progress made by their historic efforts so far. Women have faced not only cultural, religious, and traditional barriers but also political challenges such as authoritarian rules, in the war for their rights and recognition. In this context, individual women, as well as groups, have participated in ensuring that women’s human rights are defended in the context of gender across the globe. These have promoted awareness of human rights among women and other masses, ensured and led to the adoption of the rules and regulations recognizing women rights and that supports ending of women violations and participated in the empowerment of the women.

The violations of women range from sexual, political representations, and economic empowerment among others. In history, women have risen to combine efforts and counter these forces denying them their rights. However, the law in some countries is still reluctant to recognize the rights of women.

Women Feminist Activism and Related Issues

The theoretical framework of women’s rights hypothesizes that all rights are indivisible, meaning that all rights are not secure if one right is not. In addition, the rights of all people are related (all people do not have secure rights if some do not have them secure). This framework enables sharing between two categories of people; those who are familiar with women’s concerns but are unfamiliar with rights discourse and those who are unfamiliar with women’s concerns but are aware of rights claim, and this helps in women passing their points or information on their needs. Other strategies supported by the WHR that could help to deal with their issues are conceptual strategy-determining which are and which are not rights issues, and the political strategy where women can claim political, social, and economic in local, national, and international venues (Ackerly, n.d.).

Women have historically encountered legal barriers towards championing their own rights in legal frameworks and political representations. Some of these have and are not easy to handle at all. It has been recorded that women in Chile for example used church-related or secular beneficent maternalism, which according to Karen Mead was any organized activism on part of women considering themselves as having “gendered qualifications to assist less-fortunate women and especially children”, to advance women activities in the first decades of the twentieth century. Women encountered legal codes that denied women cultural, economic, and political rights. Women’s demands for recognition and maternal rights denied through the Chilean Civil Code were rejected based on being against the social order, and traversing the authority of the pater familias. The Inter-American Commission of Women (IACW) of the Pan-American Union lobbied the League of Nations in defending the rights of married women worldwide, and women’s collaboration and unions have led to women’s success on various issues. The dictatorship regime in Chile championed the traditional family and women’s role in the domestic sphere, whereas according to Jadwiga, the woman traversed dangerous grounds (2009). The rule discouraged citizens to question the natural role of family and that of women, poised through the first lady that women needed to serve others in self-surrender. However, the family operations were disrupted during the military rule, by military raids, arrests, and curfews in the country.

Legal barriers are linked to the political and traditional systems in certain countries where the constitution outlines the various rights enjoyed by women and men and those that are not. Traditional values are reflected in the constitutions where the countries’ political system allows constitutional changes based on the views of the communities or politicians (who may serve to represent the traditional and cultural interest of the society). In many countries, women are underrepresented in political systems and government positions that are involved in making major political changes and decisions, and to an extent, this denies women have the rights they demand to be engraved into the legal frameworks or decision-making. Because being enlightened on gender issues is very essential in making people have wise decisions towards the formulation of laws and regulations supporting women’s rights, inadequate representation in legal and political frameworks usually translates to the inadequacy of legal or political support for the rights.

Political frameworks are themselves tied to the culture of a people in some or most of the countries and therefore cultures and traditions which demean women and deny the woman the rights may frail to elect women for representation in the political system and thus deny the women the chance to champion for their rights. Issues cutting across national, regional, and international boundaries are usually implicated by legal issues, traditions, culture, and beliefs about the position, rights, and role of women in society (Ackerly, 2008). The aforementioned author notes that transnational feminist movements have always been splintered or are splintering in their efforts to face myriad exploitations of gender domination.

Internal fractures in women’s rights movements relating to focus on various issues have been reported or hinted to. Ackerly notes that the movements seem to have split on differences where some focus on violence against women, others on political participation and threats from fundamentalist politics, others on sex and sexuality matters, and some economic matters. This means that women also have influenced their own effectiveness on activism issues since unity is very essential to accomplishing goals. In another perspective, the differences may be used to solve local challenges with local compromises to transnational perspectives or ideas because of the arising legal or other types of barriers to international ideas, for example, cultural beliefs. International bodies such as the United Nations, the World Bank, and the World Trade Organization among other institutions may influence the bureaucracies of international and national politics and economics and those working in them, through gender streaming according to Ackerly (2008).

Traditional notions of biologically determined traditions in cultural settings have also been an obstacle, and continue to be. These notions have for a long time prevented the owning of properties by the woman in the family, exposed them to abuse, poverty and shame. Usually, women championing their rights in the family would be labeled or considered defiant and disobedient. Notions that demean women and devalue them have played an important role in ensuring that women are denied chances for education which is important in championing their rights through representation in authoritative and influential positions to support women in their endeavors, or through the formulation of global strategies to fight against human oppression and demeaning.

Transnational feminism faces many global challenges which cannot be ended at a single time. Some of these challenges have to do with the structure of globally recognized institutions that champion general human rights and the way they function. In addition, foreign policies that deal with gender issues within countries and in global institutions may require a transformation in order to promote women’s rights and related issues, if at all they exist, or additions may be required if these policies do not deal with gender issues. These institutions may not historically have supported women’s rights and would require to be changed. Achieving this change itself is a challenge because the initiatives may lack the political force or will since these systems may have been there for a long time. These institutions include those that force countries or push them to respect human rights and enforce laws that respect the rights, or those mentioned earlier (World Trade Organization, World Bank, and United Nations) that may help women through gender mainstreaming.

The re-organization of bureaucracies that may be necessitated by gender mainstreaming in nations in order to accommodate women may be influenced by politics in the local countries even when consequences are severe such as being threatened with withholding of financial debts. Ackerly proposes an anti-fundamentalist strategy approach to solving challenges facing feminist activists. Fundamentalists, he notes have suppressed the freedom and rights of subsets within populations by using resources of democracy such as elections and speech and uses political strategies to ensure divided opposition. In addition, they accumulate social, political, and economic power on the minority. Fundamentalists have been indicated as who will be of continuous concern to feminists and women activists. Anti-fundamentalism is an important global political strategy in consideration of the global manifestation of fundamentalism, whereas it is an imperative political strategy in many local and national contexts. This fundamentalism manifests in religious, economic, cultural, and political forms. In some cases, religious fundamentalism manifest where the authority interprets religious texts for political purposes and this may be in favor of certain gender. Market federalism seeks to support the idea of a unified economic model all over or in a certain region. Market federalism and religious federalism may both be linked to the political system.

Other encounters that women have faced in their campaign include differences in matters of religion on fundamental issues such as abortion and divorce. In Chile, a disagreement for example ensured between the women and the church in 1983, with the latter critiques of women’s workshops on sexuality, the problem of abortion, and their outspoken position on women’s rights. The church view contradicted that of the Circulo members. A chain of reaction ensured following an article written by Kirkwood, a feminist writer, and Circulo founder, in a Circulo journal led to the suspension of women from the academy. The article was titled “Divorce another issue Adjourned”. Some religious beliefs have been built on the conception that a woman has to assume the roles of a submissive and junior to the husband.

Since in most cases the religious beliefs may go unquestioned, it makes it difficult for the women to champion their interests. In fact, some of their ideas according to some religions need be rejected which means further frustration for women. In addition, there are many religions which do not similarly buy some principals on women freedom. In fact, differences in religion themselves translates to the differences among the women. Resistance against spreading the activism may be encountered because some people, not only men but also women are resistant. The fact that religious resistance remain very influential to transnational feminism is because they refer to individual decisions that may not even continually be influenced by other people i.e. a person personally reject some ideals out of their own beliefs sometimes even when not directed by other people to. However, there is a substantial number who are influenced by the leaders of certain religions.

Market fundamentalism and religious fundamentalism are not distinguishable politically. According to Ackerly, who criticizes anti-fundamentalism, fundamentalism should not replace analytical human rights frame-work. Attacking ‘fundamentalist’ groups is not easy for feminist women because they use state machinery and are powerful. Therefore, discouraging anti-federalism, social activism and criticism as a means of attacking fundamentalism is in a way appropriate, also because the fundamentalism groups may be strategically inappropriate to be attacked through these means. In fact, according to Ackerly, feminist activists can operate with strategies that seek to discourage harmful traditional practices that are supported by groups who use religious arguments or helping the communities in appropriate interpreting religious texts. It is necessary to turn anti-federalism into a unifying discursive and theoretical strategy for transnational feminism, because it has limited value as a unifying discursive or theoretical strategy for social movements.

Conclusion

Challenges facing women in championing for their rights cut across economic, political, and religious aspects. There are feminist activists who have championed for the rights of women in history. There are achievements to this activism such as recognition of their rights in laws of countries. Transnational feminist activism face more challenges than local activism. These challenges include political barriers, religious and traditional and cultural beliefs. Traditional and cultural issues deal with demeaning the woman and thus may deny her representation in political or other structures.

Representation in legal and political systems is important for strategically placing the woman at a better position to championing their rights. In addition, cultural and traditional barriers act to deny the woman the chance for education which may give her the chance to understand women issues and formulate strategies that may help in championing for their rights. Transnational women issues are better solved through collaboration among women, although women organizations have shown fractures in collaborating to attack issues. Religious, political, market fundamentalism have been documented. Fundamentalists use political and economic power and therefore may be very hard to attack by the feminist activism. International organizations like United Nations, World Bank and World Trade Organization can help women champion their rights through gender mainstreaming but also political influence may play its role.

Anti-fundamentalism has been criticized as inadequate strategy to attack fundamentalism unless it is turned into unifying discursive and theoretical strategy for transnational feminism, because it has limited value as a unifying discursive or theoretical strategy for social movements. According to the theory, rights are indivisible meaning that all must be secure, and that they are related-all people need have secure rights. The framework enables sharing of ideas on rights between two groups; the group which is familiar with women concerns but not unfamiliar about rights discourse and those are aware of rights claim but not aware of women rights.

References and Bibliography

Ackerly, Brooke A. 2001. “Women’s Human Rights Activists as Cross-Cultural Theorists.” International Feminist Journal of Politics Vol. 3, (3): 311-46.

Ackerly Brooke. (2008). Transnational Feminist human rights activism: local and global or Theorical Frameworks: discursive, political, and conceptual strategies. Web.

Basu, Amrita, ed. 1995. The Challenge of Local Feminisms: Women’s Movements in Global Perspective. Westview Press

Bunch, Charlotte. 2004. A Feminist Human Rights Lens on Human Security. Feminist Politics, Activism and Vision: Local and Global Challenges, (Ed). Luciana Ricciutelli and Angela Miles, Margaret McFadden: London: Zed Books.

Jadwiga Mooney & Campbell Jean. (2009). Feminiat Activism and Women’s Rights Mobilization in the Chilean Circulo de Estudios de la Mujer: Beyond Maternalist Mobilization. Web.