Local To Global: Transnational Networks And Indian Women's Grassroots Organizing

Abstract

By focusing on grassroots groups of the Indian women's movement, we suggest that localglobal linkages often involve several intermediary levels—specifically levels below the nationstate. Grassroots organizing in India illustrates how a variety of intermediary networks are complexly intertwined within the nation state and beyond. Grassroots groups are localized, rural- or urban-based, and can be informal (such as in Bada Bhilwara and the case of MSK) or formal in character (such as Sanlaap). These groups actively build lateral and vertical networks. Austerity and structural adjustment programs have placed pressures on Third World women, forcing them to devise survival strategies to meet basic needs that combine efforts to change gender relations. Grassroots groups are built around daily needs and survival, and often challenge economic liberalization policies that have negative consequences for women—especially poor women.