Can Feminism Survive Capitalism? Challenges Feminist Discourses Face in Promoting Women’s Rights in Post-Soviet Europe

Abstract

This chapter examines the role of feminism and women’s rights movements in today’s Europe. It pays particular attention to the role of Western feminist discourse in relation to the women’s movements and women’s rights protection in Eastern and Central Europe. The purpose is to set women’s rights advocacy in relation to the further integration of Europe, and the issues of social justice related to the expansion of the European Union (EU). The chapter takes a critical look at the fragmented stage of European feminist discourse per se by discussing feminist influence and women’s role in the practical and ideological unification and reconstruction of post-Soviet Europe. This theoretical analysis is reflected against the practical promotion of women’s participation through civil society activism and formal political positions. The main research question asked is whether theoretical feminist discourses and practical, political women’s rights promotion can go hand in hand in contemporary Europe in practice and help women in post-Soviet Eastern and Central Europe gain a stronger voice in national and trans-European integration policies.