Feminist Scholar-Activism Goes Global: Experiences of “Sociologists for Women in Society” at the UN

Abstract

This article focuses on the experiences and strategies of members of Sociologists for Women in Society (SWS) who strive to bridge the worlds of social activism and academia. It concerns the International Committee’s work at the United Nations (UN), specifically at the annual Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) meeting. It builds on transnational feminist literature that has discussed the UN as stage for a diverse global women’s movement and provider of global gender equality norms that, if utilized, advance gender equality in its member states. I analyze themes that emerged from a sample of in-depth interviews with current or former UN scholar-activists within SWS from a larger ethnographic study, and present experiences and challenges of SWS members’ engagement with UN politics and policy development since the mid-nineties. I demonstrate that SWS does justice to its mission of serving as an activist organization through its work in the global arena. Analysis of interviews, observations, and archival material demonstrates that SWS’s UN scholar- activism is increasing the visibility and applicability of feminist sociology. While this activism critically examines the discourse, it also disrupts hegemonic discourse and offers opportunities for concrete social change, particularly through linking activism, mentoring, and teaching.