The Challenge of New Women's Movements

Abstract

In contrast to the earlier postcolonial period when women's organizations tended to be closely associated with the ruling party and state, after the 1990s a new generation of independent women's organizations emerged with their own agendas, leadership, and sources of funding. Although the older welfare, domestic, and developmental agendas have persisted to this day, a new emphasis on political participation emerged, especially in the 1990s, that allowed women to press for the changes that we discuss in subsequent chapters, including constitutional and legislative reform and greater representation of women in legislatures, judiciaries, and the bureaucracy. New women's organizations formed to improve leadership skills, encourage women's political involvement on a nonpartisan basis, lobby for women's political representation, press for legislative changes, and conduct civic education. This chapter looks at some of the characteristics of women's organizations and then examines some of the challenges that they face. It looks at the ways in which the authorities challenged women's associational autonomy. It shows how women's associations expanded their focus from developmental issues to the inclusion of more explicitly political concerns, to advocacy, and to demands for female leadership and representation. The chapter then identifies ways in which women's collective action is distinct from that of other interest groups. These differences lie not only in the goals of women activists but also in their inclusiveness across ethnic and party lines. As discussed in the previous chapter, most organizations were formed after 1990, coinciding with the emergence of new democratic openings.