Transnational Feminist Activism and Movement Building

Abstract

This chapter begins with an overview of types of transnational feminist activism and some key transnational feminist networks (TFNs), along with campaigns, examples of movement building, and policy achievements. It also provides an overview of the literature on transnational feminist activism and distinguishes between feminist activism and women’s activism, providing a definition of TFN. The chapter then discusses the interface of international women’s NGOs and international organizations and situates the growth of contemporary transnational feminist activism in the global and regional changes of the 1980s and the issues that resulted in movement building. It presents a typology of transnational feminist activism and provides examples of campaigns, coalitions, and strategies that have contributed to movement building and to policy achievements at the global, regional, and local levels, including feminism in the World Social Forum and the Arab Spring.