Solidarity without “Sisterhood”? Feminism and the Ethics of Coalition Building

Abstract

Many feminist theorists have embraced coalition building as the central model for feminist political mobilization. They have done so because they believe that coalitional solidarity resolves a long-standing impasse within feminism between the political claims of diversity among women and the political need for unity. In this essay, I argue that the turn to coalition politics within feminist theory is problematic: While coalitional solidarity honors the claims of diversity among women, it ignores the importance of acknowledging commonality. The tactical ties that it encompasses fail to enact the kind of mutual recognition on which feminism, as a movement for social justice, depends. I show that in order to address both the concern with diversity and the need for unity in a satisfying way, theorists of solidarity must supplement their appeal to coalition building with an account of the ethical and affective preconditions of inclusive political ties. Specifically, I argue that the cultivation of “enlarged sympathy” among feminist political actors is crucial to the establishment of political bonds that accommodate and affirm important differences among women.The author would like to thank the following individuals for helpful comments and discussions: Farid Abdel-Nour, Cheryl Hall, Kimberly Lau, Peregrine Schwartz-Shea, and the editors and anonymous reviewers at Politics & Gender. An earlier version of this article was presented as a paper in San Francisco at the American Political Science Association's annual meeting in 2001.