Transcending polarization? Strategic identity construction in young women's transnational feminist networks

Abstract

This article explores the phenomenon of young women organizing in and building “youth-only” transnational feminist networks. Qualitative data gathered during a 2010–2011 study of activist women under 30 years old in the MENA region, Central and Eastern Europe, and North America suggests the choice to organize as “youth” is often presented as strategic, with members of young women's transnational feminist networks advancing two interlinked claims. The first is that young women in global social justice movements have similar experiences in feeling marginalized when compared to their male and older-generation counterparts. The second is that coalescing in response to this “universal” marginalization creates opportunities for young activist women to transcend the “identity politics”, class divides and philosophical differences historically plaguing transnational feminist organizing. Ultimately, study participants argue this strategic choice of organizing as youth will enable the building of a more democratic transnational feminist movement.