Feminism, pacifism, nationalism, and the United Nations decade for women

Abstract

This paper examines theoretical and actual linkages between feminism, pacifism, and nationalism during the first half of the UN Decade for Women, from the first UN Conference on Women in 1975 to the second in 1980. After a brief examination of the origins of the Decade, the author conceptualizes three stages in the development of the current international women's movement: stage 1, in which Western feminists placed the issue on the world's agenda, stage 2, from 1975 to the early 1980s, in which both conflict and communication are evident, and stage 3, likely by 1985, in which consolidation of the movement occurs. She then examines the theoretical linkages between feminism and pacificism by means questions to each. A brief review of the two conferences themselves precedes a discussion of the linkages between equality, development, and peace (the themes of the Decade) at the conferences, and changes in these from one conference to the other. The author concludes that feminism and pacifism are both theoretically and pragmatically relevant to each other, and that international coalition-building along the lines of congruence between them is necessary to the success of the women's movement, and that this is beginning as a result of the two Decade Conferences so far.