ASSIGNMENT
Subject: Feminist and Womanist Theology
Research Topic: History of global feminist traditions/movements
Submitted to: Mrs. Preeti Wilson
Submitted by: Gnanaselvan. T
History of global feminist traditions/movements
Globalization refers to the economic, social, cultural, and political processes of integration that
result from the expansion of transnational economic production, migration, communications,
and technologies.
To understand the future of women, we must appreciate the history of feminist that has
brought us to this revolutionary movement. In the past two centuries, revolution has
transformed women’s lives. Feminist politics originated where capitalism, industrial growth,
democratic theory and social critiques conveyed as they did in Europe and North America. By
1900 an international women’s movement advanced these goals in urban areas of Latin
America, the Middle East and Asia. Since 1970 feminism has spread globally, in both
industrialized nations and in the developing regins too.1
Given their specific historical origins, the feminist politics initially forged in Europe and North
America have not simply expanded throughout the world. Elsewhere, abundant forms 2 of
women’s resistance to men’s patriarchal authority predated western democratic theories; they
continue to influence feminist movement today. 3 By the year 200 these growing international
movements to improve women’s lives increasingly influenced each other, due in part to the
forum provided by the United Nations Decade for women for 1975 to 1985 and the follow up
1
Neeru Tandon, Feminism A Paradigm Shift,( Atlantic: New Delhi, 2008) 107.
2
Neeru Tandon, Feminism A Paradigm Shift,( Atlantic: New Delhi, 2008) 107
3
Neeru Tandon, Feminism A Paradigm Shift,( Atlantic: New Delhi, 2008) 107
1|Page
conference in Beijing in 1995. While they share the conviction that women deserve full human
rights, international feminism often diverge in their emphasis. Only some concentrate solely on
women while others recognize complex links to the politics of race, class, religion and
nationality. Despite these differences, most western feminist have learned that global economic
and political justice are prerequisites to securing women’s rights. Women in the developing
world have found that transnational support for their efforts at home. 4
None of this feminist movement has proceeded without opposition, including formidable
backlash in every era in which women have gained public authority.
Nonetheless, at the beginning of the twenty-first century, the historical conditions that
promote feminism can be found in different parts of the world. First coined in France in the
1880 as feminism, it spread through European countries in the 1890 and to the north and
south America by 1910. Western women’s movement also significantly expanded their agendas
after 1960. Along with the demand for economic and political rights, women’s liberation
revived a politics of difference through its critique of interpersonal relations. 5
Feminist Theoretical Approaches to Globalization
‘Feminist theoretical approaches to globalization’ is an umbrella term that refers to a number
of specific theoretical approaches that feminists have used to clear the challenges that
globalization poses for women, people of color, and the global poor. These various approaches
include those developed by postcolonial feminists, transnational feminists, and feminists who
endorse an ethics of care. In this section, we identify four key features shared by these various
feminist approaches to globalization and outline some of the distinctive characteristics of each
theoretical orientation.6
Common Features
4
Neeru Tandon, Feminism A Paradigm Shift,( Atlantic: New Delhi, 2008) 107
5
Neeru Tandon, Feminism A Paradigm Shift,( Atlantic: New Delhi, 2008) 107
6
V.R. Krishna Iyer and Feliciano V. Carino eds., Globalization and its impact on Human rights, (Christian Sahitya
Samithy:Kerala, 2000)109
2|Page
First, feminist approaches to globalization seek to provide frameworks for understanding the
gender injustices associated with globalization. Rather than developing all-encompassing ideal
theories of global justice, however, feminist philosophers tend to adopt the non-ideal
theoretical perspectives, which focus on specific, concrete issues. Early feminist analyses
focused on issues that were widely believed to be of particular importance to women around
the world, such as domestic violence, workplace discrimination, and human rights violations
against women. While gendered analyses of these issues have provided valuable insights into
the distinctive nature of the harms involved, many feminist philosophers view this approach as
too narrow, both in terms of the specific issues it addresses and its methodological approach to
these issues.7 They contend that even apparently gender-neutral global issues often have a
gendered dimension, including war, global governance, migration, southern debt, and climate
change. Although gender oppression takes different forms in different social, cultural, and
geographical locations, women in every society face systematic disadvantages, such as those
resulting from their socially assigned responsibility for domestic work. Because of these
structural injustices, women of all nationalities tend to suffer more from the poverty, overwork,
deprivation, and political marginalization associated with neoliberal policies. Thus, more recent
feminist analyses of globalization tend to understand the outcomes of globalization not as
disparate or contingent phenomena, but rather as a result of systematic, structural injustices on
a global scale. Indeed, some contend that the global basic structure itself is implicitly biased
against women.8
The second key feature of feminist approaches to globalization is a shared commitment to core
feminist values, including an opposition to the subordination of women. Some theorists also
draw upon feminist interpretations of mainstream moral and political ideals, such as equality,
democracy, and human rights, to develop critiques of neoliberal policies. However, not all
feminist political philosophers agree with this approach. Some believe that new feminist ideals,
such as relational understandings of power, collective responsibility, and mutual dependence,
7
V.R. Krishna Iyer and Feliciano V. Carino eds., Globalization and its impact on Human rights, (Christian Sahitya
Samithy:Kerala, 2000) 109
8
V.R. Krishna Iyer and Feliciano V. Carino eds., Globalization and its impact on Human rights, (Christian Sahitya
Samithy:Kerala, 2000) 110
3|Page
are needed to diagnose the gender injustices associated with globalization. 9 For instance, Iris
Marion Young argues the traditional ideal theories of justice are unable to account for the
unjust background conditions that contribute to the development of sweatshops in the global
South. She argues that a new relational model of responsibility, which she calls the social
connection model, is needed to clear the obligations that people in rich northern countries
have to workers in the global South. The social connection model holds that individuals bear
responsibility for structural injustices, such as those suffered by workers on the global assembly
line, because our actions contribute to the institutional processes that produce such injustices.
The third key feature of feminist approaches to globalization is an emphasis on feminist
methodologies. In particular, these approaches tend to embody three key methodological
commitments. The first is interring sectionalist, which maintains that systems of oppression
interact to produce injustices, and thus, that gender injustices cannot be understood solely in
terms of sex or gender. Feminists who theorize about justice on the domestic level argue that
women's experiences of gender oppression are shaped by other forms of oppression, such as
those based on race, class, disability, and sexual orientation. Feminist theorists of globalization
contend that gender oppression interacts with these systems of oppression, along with other
forms of systematic disadvantage that arise within the global context. Salient categories include
nationality, geographical location, citizenship status, and socioeconomic position within the
global economy (for instance, as a Southern elite, a Western laborer, or a worker on the global
assembly line).10 Given this broad conception of intersectionality, feminist theorists of
globalization insist that gender injustices arise within specific transnational contexts, such as
historical relationships among nations and current global economic policies.
The second methodological commitment shared by feminist approaches to globalization is a
sensitivity to context and concrete specificity. Feminist philosophers strive to accurately reflect
the diverse interests, experience, and concerns of women throughout the world, and to take
seriously differences in culture, history, and socio-economic and political circumstances. In this
9
V.R. Krishna Iyer and Feliciano V. Carino eds., Globalization and its impact on Human rights, (Christian Sahitya
Samithy:Kerala, 2000) 110
10
V.R. Krishna Iyer and Feliciano V. Carino eds., Globalization and its impact on Human rights, (Christian Sahitya
Samithy:Kerala, 2000) 115
4|Page
way, feminist approaches to globalization attempt to move between local conditions and global
pressures, between historical realities and contemporary experiences of oppression and
vulnerability, while being attentive to complex interactions among social, economic, and
political forces. Western perspectives and undermine their own commitment to reflecting
women's lived experience.11
Finally, feminist theorists of globalization are committed to developing self-reflexive critiques.
At the heart of this methodology is a willingness to critically examine feminist claims, with
particular attention to the ways in which feminist discourses privilege certain points of view. For
instance, Schutte insists that ostensibly universal feminist values and ideas are likely to embody
the values of dominant cultures. This helps to explain why the voices of women from
developing countries are often taken seriously only if they reflect the norms and values of the
West and conform to Western expectations. Thus, Schutte insists that feminists must engage in
methodological practices that de-center their habitual standpoints and foreground perspectives
that challenge accepted ways of thinking.12
The struggle to develop feminist theories that embody these methodological commitments has
been ongoing for feminists. In the 1980s, Chandra Talpade Mohanty observed that Western
feminist scholarship tends to adopt an ethnocentric perspective, depicting so-called Third-
World women as one-dimensional, non-agentic, and homogenous. In her often-cited words,
such scholarship tends to suggest that:the average Third World woman leads an essentially
truncated life based on her feminine gender (read: sexually constrained) and her being “Third
World” (read: ignorant, poor, uneducated, tradition-bound, domestic, family-oriented,
victimized, etc.). This is in contrast to the (implicit) self-representation of Western women as
educated, as modern, as having control over their own bodies and sexualities and the freedom
to make their own decisions.13
Distinctive Feminist Approaches
11
V.R. Krishna Iyer and Feliciano V. Carino eds., Globalization and its impact on Human rights, (Christian Sahitya
Samithy:Kerala, 2000) 115
12
V.R. Krishna Iyer and Feliciano V. Carino eds., Globalization and its impact on Human rights, (Christian Sahitya
Samithy:Kerala, 2000) 116
13
V.R. Krishna Iyer and Feliciano V. Carino eds., Globalization and its impact on Human rights, (Christian Sahitya
Samithy:Kerala, 2000) 115
5|Page
Despite these common aims and methodological commitments, feminists have analyzed
globalization from a number of different theoretical perspectives. Below, we examine three
prominent approaches to globalization, developed by postcolonial, transnational, and ethics of
care feminists. Although it is not possible to draw sharp boundaries around these theoretical
perspectives, we identify some distinctive features of each.14
Postcolonial and Third-World Feminisms15
Postcolonial and Third-World feminisms offer primarily critical theoretical frameworks, which
analyze globalization within the context of the history of Western colonialism and imperialism.
They begin with the claim that Western colonialism and imperialism have played important
roles in shaping the contemporary world, and highlight their enduring effects on global
relations and local cultural practices. Although postcolonial and Third-World feminists write
from all over the world, they foreground non-Western epistemic standpoints and criticize
North-South power asymmetries from the diverse perspectives of members of the global South.
Postcolonial and Third-World feminists make several important claims. they insist that it is
impossible to understand local practices in developing countries without acknowledging the
ways in which these practices have been shaped by their economic and historical contexts,
particularly their connection to Western colonialism and imperialism.
Ethics of Care
Another prominent school of feminist theoretical responses to globalization puts care, both
caring labor—the work of caring for the young, old, sick, and disabled, and the everyday
maintenance of households—and the moral ideal of care, at the center of its analyses.
Proponents of this approach begin by observing that most mainstream analyses of globalization
either ignore or devalue care. This is problematic, they argue, for at least two reasons: care
work, which is done almost exclusively by women, has been profoundly influenced by
globalization; and any viable alternative to neoliberal globalization must prioritize the moral
14
Binion, G., “Human Rights: A Feminist Perspective,” in Women's Rights: A Human Rights Quarterly Reader, B.
Lockwood (ed.) Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 2006, pp. 70–86.
15
V.R. Krishna Iyer and Feliciano V. Carino eds., Globalization and its impact on Human rights, (Christian Sahitya
Samithy:Kerala, 2000) 120
6|Page
ideal of care. Thus, ethics of care approaches to globalization have both practical and
theoretical dimensions.16
Transnational Feminism
In its broadest sense, transnational feminism maintains that globalization has created the
conditions for feminist solidarity across national borders. On the one hand, globalization has
enabled transnational processes that generate injustices for women in multiple geographical
locations, such the global assembly line (discussed below). Yet on the other, the technologies
associated with globalization have created new political spaces that enable feminist political
resistance. Thus, transnational feminists incorporate the critical insights of postcolonial, Third
World and ethics of care feminists into a positive vision of transnational feminist solidarity.
Transnational feminism is sometimes contrasted with global or international feminism, a
second-wave theory that emphasizes solidarity among women across national boundaries
based on their common experience of patriarchal oppression.
Issues
In addition to analyzing the gendered dimensions of globalization, feminist political
philosophers discuss specific issues that have been shaped by it. Below, we discuss four
representative examples. First, we discuss two issues associated with economic globalization—
economic justice and migration—and then we turn to two issues connected to political
globalization—human rights and global governance.17
Economic Justice
16
Ackerly, B., and Attanasi, K., “Global Feminisms: Theory and Ethics for Studying Gendered Injustice,” New
Political Science, 31(4): 543–555. 2009
17
Ackerly, B., and Attanasi, K., “Global Feminisms: Theory and Ethics for Studying Gendered Injustice,” New
Political Science, 31(4): 543–555. 2009
7|Page
It is widely argued that neoliberal policies have created dramatic economic inequalities, both
between the global North and global South and within countries in both hemispheres. One task
for feminist political philosophers has been to identify the ways in which these policies
reinforce specific inequalities based on gender, class, race, and nationality. In particular,
feminists shed light on the disparate and often disproportionately burdensome consequences
of neoliberal policies for specific groups of women. An additional, related task has been to
identify the ways in which gendered practices and ideologies shape the processes of
globalization.18
Migration19
Migration has accelerated along with the globalization of the economy and women comprise a
higher proportion of migrants, especially labor migrants, than ever before. Feminist
philosophical responses to the feminization of migration fall into two general lines of argument.
Early work in this area highlights the ways in which gender, race, class, culture, and immigration
status intersect to produce disproportionate burdens for immigrant women. Later work
discusses the feminization of labor migration, with a focus on domestic workers.
Some feminists argue that a feminist ethics of care is better suited to theorizing global care
chains. In particular, care ethics emphasizes several key normative features and practices that
traditional theories tend to overlook: concrete specificity; acknowledgement of human
dependence and vulnerability; and a relational understanding of the self. Care ethics focuses on
the ethical significance of relationships formed through dependency, such as those between
caregivers and their charges. Kitty argues that intimate relationships between specific
individuals, in which caring and affection are the norm, play a vital role in forming and
sustaining individuals' self-identities. When these relationships are disrupted, people suffer
harm to their sense of self and self-respect. It follows that the harm involved in global care
chains lies in their threat to the core relationships that are constitutive of self-identity.
18
Bahar, S., “Human Rights are Women's Rights: Amnesty International and the Family,” Hypatia: A Journal of
Feminist Philosophy, 11(1): 105–134. 1996
19
Binion, G., “Human Rights: A Feminist Perspective,” in Women's Rights: A Human Rights Quarterly Reader, B.
Lockwood (ed.) Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, pp. 70–86. 2006.
8|Page
Human Rights
The term ‘human rights’ refers simultaneously to several things: a moral language; a set of
norms and laws, both national and international; and a framework for analyzing and responding
to the various serious harms experienced by men and women around the world. Feminist
political philosophers argue that globalization has had contradictory effects on the extent to
which women experience human rights violations.20
Many feminist political philosophers have argued that globalization has contributed to human
rights violations against women. Most obviously, neoliberal policies have led to infringements
of specific social and economic rights, such as the right “to a standard of living adequate for the
health and well-being” and the right “to security in the event of unemployment, sickness,
disability, widowhood, and old age” (Universal Declaration of Human Rights, article 25).
Moreover, by diminishing women's economic security, neoliberal policies have exacerbated
existing forms of gender discrimination and violence and made women and girls more
vulnerable to a wide variety of additional human rights violations.21
Democracy and Global Governance22
As with human rights, feminist philosophers have argued that globalization has contradictory
implications for democratic governance. Globalization also connects people across national
borders, creating transnational communities that offer new avenues for democratic
participation.
Globalization has been accompanied by the establishment of formal democracy in some
countries and the number of women serving in national legislatures has increased in some
nations. However, some feminist philosophers are quick to argue that neoliberals has not
resulted in increased political influence for women on the whole, especially at the level of
20
Bunch, C., 2004, “A Feminist Human Rights Lens on Human Security,” Peace Review: A Journal of
Social Justice, 16(1): 29–34.
21
Bunch, C., 2004, “A Feminist Human Rights Lens on Human Security,” Peace Review: A Journal of Social Justice,
16(1): 35.
22
Ackerly, B., and Attanasi, K., “Global Feminisms: Theory and Ethics for Studying Gendered Injustice,” New
Political Science, 31(4): 543–555. 2009
9|Page
global politics. One important reason is that global economic institutions are neither adequately
representative nor fully democratic. Women are virtually absent from the formal decision-
making bodies of institutions such as the WTO and the World Bank, and these institutions tend
to be unofficially dominated by the interests of wealthy nations and multinational corporations.
Feminists argue that women's lack of political influence at the global level has not been
compensated for by their increased influence in national politics because globalization has
undermined national sovereignty, especially in poor nations.
Conclusion
On the whole, globalization presents a number of challenges to feminist political philosophers
who seek to develop conceptions of justice and responsibility capable of responding to the lived
realities of both men and women. As globalization will most certainly continue, these
challenges are likely to increase in the coming decades. As we have outlined above, feminist
political philosophers have already made great strides towards understanding this complex
phenomenon. Yet the challenge of how to make globalization fairer remains for feminist
philosophers, as well as all others who strive for equality and justice.
Bibliography
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