Feminist Demands Research Articles

Africanness and Britishness Pedigree and Research of African English literature

As an intersection of African literature and English literature, Afro-British literature has become a common carrier of “Africanness” and “Englishness”, not only upholding the thick tradition of African local culture, but also powerfully supporting and expressing “Africanness” through its potential discourse of resistance and emancipatory demands. Not only does it hold on to the thick African local cultural tradition and strongly support and speak of “Africanness”, but it also intervenes in, subverts and reshapes “Britishness” through its potential discourse of resistance and demand for liberation. Afro-British literature has made an important contribution to the mutual understanding and appreciation of the two literary traditions and to the connection of cultures, ethnic groups and societies in two different regions across the oceans, providing an excellent and realistic blueprint for the construction of culture in the post-imperial and post-racial era, and shaping a paradigm for the construction of community in the context of globalization and pluralism nowadays.

Memeing back at misogyny: emerging meme-feminism, visual tactics, and aesthetic world-building on Iranian social media

ABSTRACT In this article, I examine the emergence of “meme-feminism” on Iranian social media, which adopts innovative tactics to combat gendered hate online. I propose the concept of “memeing back” at misogyny and numerous gendered inequalities as not only a unique feminist tactic but also a political and satirical world-building practice. With a detailed analysis of theorizations of (digital) feminist activism and mediated visual humor, I demonstrate how the adoption of memes can, through anonymity and visual community-building, extend beyond dominant forms of popular feminism to combat the pervasion of anti-feminism on Iranian social media. I further unpack how this tactic mobilizes feminist memes by utilizing shared aesthetic visualization, a feminist politics of exposure, and visual nagging as embodied and mediated interventions to critique socioeconomic inequalities impacting women-identifying individuals in Iran. On this basis, I argue for the significance of online memes and the “memeing back” tactic in advancing feminist demands under suppressive, violent, and capitalist states.

Strong Political Liberalism

Public reason liberalism demands that political decisions be publicly justified to the citizens who are subjected to them. Much recent literature emphasises the differences between the two main interpretations of this requirement, justificatory and political liberalism. In this paper, I show that both views share structural democratic deficits. They fail to guarantee political autonomy, the expressive quality of law, and the justification to citizens, because they allow collective decisions made by incompletely theorised agreements. I argue that the result can only be avoided by changing public reason’s role in collective decision-making. Instead of incompletely theorised agreements, we should demand agreement both on the public reasons themselves and on the other premises that justify political decisions. In this way, it is always possible to point to a procedure-independent reason that justifies democratic decisions, and the reasoning of the state is public and contestable. Finally, I explain how this, in turn, implies that only political liberalism can be rescued—by accepting what I will call strong political liberalism. Modifying justificatory liberalism in the necessary way will inevitably open the door to an objectionable form of perfectionism.

The discursivity of the covers of The country of women, by writer Gioconda Belli on utopia and dystopia

Nicaraguan author Gioconda Belli, born in the city of Managua on December 9, 1948, wrote the novel The Country of Women. In addition to being an activist and militant, she is a writer who brings to her literary productions love for her country and the search for gender equity in public and private spaces. This article provides a brief discursive analysis of the covers of this novel, from the perspective of utopia and dystopia. The problem presented is: what is the discursive nature of the covers of O País das Mulheres about utopia and dystopia in the context of contemporary feminist critical theory in Latin America? The general objective is to reflect on the aspects of utopia and dystopia on the covers of the aforementioned book, observing whether they corroborate feminist critical theory and cultural studies in Latin America, reflecting on the discourses of utopia and dystopia. The methodology used for theoretical and analytical production is of a bibliographic nature, as authors of feminist literary criticism and utopia and/or dystopia were used. For the analysis, covers of the book O País das Mulheres were collected on the public domain website – Google Images – for analysis and discussion purposes on how the structure of patriarchy is deconstructed on these covers. From this approach, it was understood that the social roles of men and women are redefined in a utopian characteristic of equity and in a plan of hope and transformation, widely discussed and claimed by feminist literary criticism, in addition to also bringing dystopian moments necessary for the deconstruction of patriarchy. It is believed that this work is fundamental for thinking about Latin American feminist demands, as it brings up struggles that sister countries also experience in contemporary times, involving gender politics between men and women.

Alienation and Violence in Beatriz Cabur’s Plays

In the last decades of the 21st century, the growing interest in legitimising contemporary Spanish female playwrights is evident in the context of contemporary feminist theories. This research explores Beatriz Cabur's plays, published and performed nationally and internationally, insofar as they respond to some of the current feminist demands regarding trauma. This study delves into the need for appropriate critical and analytical models for the study of theatrical experimentalism, which, in addition to its academic value, addresses current feminist demands. The development of this study is supported by clear thematic links that are established, from which it is possible to delve into the implicit and explicit feminisms of contemporary Spanish theatre, as well as the shaping, development, and legitimisation of contemporary feminine identities.

A Conversation on Feminism, Ableism, and Medical Assistance in Dying

This article explores the recent expansion of Medical Assistance in Dying (MAiD) in Canada and its negative implications for women with disabilities. In 2021, the government extended MAiD to people with disabilities who are not dying, which the authors contend is a modern form of eugenics. Structured as a conversation and deploying a systemic, equality-based feminist analysis, the article tracks the shifts in scope and justification for MAiD through judicial and legislative developments, the overwhelming opposition by organizations representing people with disabilities, and the failure of feminist organizations to support their disabled sisters. The authors articulate a feminist response to the expansion of MAiD to address this troubling silence. After Isabel Grant sets out the foundations of Track 2 MAiD, Janine Benedet develops a critique of the concepts of autonomy, choice, and privacy as used by MAiD expansionists to justify these premature deaths. Elizabeth Sheehy explores some of the structural issues that affect the impetus for MAiD: women’s poverty, the medical profession, the gendered nature of caregiving, and men’s violence. Isabel Grant demonstrates the particular dangers for women of the extension of MAiD on the basis of mental illness, as evidenced by data from other countries. Catherine Frazee describes what a truly intersectional feminist approach to MAiD demands of more privileged feminists and concludes the conversation with a call for feminist solidarity.

Scaling student feminisms

Abstract Ethnographically informed, this article examines the recent transnational feminist uprising by focusing on the Spanish student movement. Drawing on the contributions of the sociolinguistics of globalization and the pragmatics of scale, it gives an account of how feminist demands acquire intelligibility in the political agenda of the student movement based on a Madrilenian university, vis-a-vis the institutionalization of gender equality policies at university. Thus, by tracking the (un)making of political alliances over time between various coexisting centring institutions – spanning from university official authorities to forms of student grassroots institutionality – the article delves into the valuation processes of feminist scales and their competing logics of value-production, paying attention to how these processes get inscribed in the semiotic landscape.

Explaining Feminist Movement Impact: Provincial Abortion Policies in the Wake of Decriminalization, 1988–2018

AbstractFocusing on four jurisdictions where abortion facilities and providers faced violent attacks following the Morgentaler decision of 1988, this study compares provincial government responses to core feminist demands in the area of women's reproductive health: enhanced hospital access, public funding of clinic abortions and safe zone protections. Consistent with previous research on childcare and anti-violence policies, the study finds that in neoliberal times, the presence of left governing parties in Alberta, British Columbia and Ontario generally favoured abortion rights interests while conservative regimes disadvantaged them. The article contributes valuable new insights in revealing (1) the importance of centrist leaders in Ontario and at the federal level to pro-choice policy changes, (2) the significance of feminist critical actors to these outcomes, and (3) major variation among New Democratic Party provincial governments on abortion policy. The conclusion discusses implications of these results and proposes directions for further research.

Türkiye’de Dijital Feminist Aktivizm: Uzun Süredir Beklenen Dördüncü Dalga Feminizm Geldi mi?

Throughout different waves of feminisms, women have called attention to sexist political and social norms across countries. Starting from the first wave feminist demands of suffrage to third wave’s intersectional feminist politics, women activists have struggled to achieve gender equality in different contexts. With an emphasis on intersected identities, fourth wave feminism, also called digital feminism, endeavours to implement third wave’s concepts in the digital space, via blogs, websites, social media platforms. In Turkey, in the second decade of the 2000s, women have started to extensively use social media to combat patriarchy, particularly violence against women and femicide, and to increase communication and solidarity among women in line with the political opportunity structures in the country. Through digital platforms, women stimulate political change by exposing gendered discourses. However, due to government’s increased control on digital spaces, activists’ capacity to alter the social gendered structure has been limited. Nevertheless, digital spaces still have a great potential to work as counterpublics for marginalised groups, such as women.

Domination, social norms, and the idea of an emancipatory interest

Domination, social norms, and the idea of an emancipatory interest

Feminism in India: Then and Now

Since Women Are Taught To Depend On Males Exclusively And Are Partnered With The State In Addressing Needs, Feminists Have A Particular Critique Of Social Security And State-Run Programmes. There Are Two Fundamental Principles For Designing Any Socialist Welfare Programme In A Capitalist Society: (1) Improvements Are Feasible; And (2) Breakthroughs That Would Disrupt The Relationship Between Capital And Labour Are Not Achievable Under Capitalism. The Feminist "Disaggregation" Campaign Is A Promising One In This Perspective. Men Should Understand That Feminist Demands Are At The Core Of Any Socialist Approach To Social Policy, And That Feminist Campaigns Require Labour Within And In Alliance With Many Existing Groups.

#justiciaparatodas en América Latina: visibilidad algorítmica de las demandas feministas de justicia en Twitter

Este trabajo aborda la visibilidad de las demandas feministas de justicia en Twitter a través de una selección de 927 tuits generados en países latinoamericanos, recolectados y procesados con técnicas digitales. Se encontró que de 96 casos totales, la mayor parte corresponde a feminicidios sin resolución, pocos logran una alta visibilidad, caracterizada por la inmediatez, la popularidad y el contenido multimedia. Se concluye que existen posibilidades para posicionar las demandas de justicia insatisfechas, pero dificultades para el acceso a la visibilidad, lo que resta fuerza a la presión de las acciones digitales sobre las instituciones.

Working Mothers and "Machos Completos" - Gendered Modernity in Fertility Surveys in Colombia (1960s to 1970s)

Durante las décadas 1960 y 1970, médicos colombianos se mostraban preocupados ante el crecimiento demográfico – la denominada “bomba de población” – dirigiéndose a mujeres y hombres colombianos como sujetos que debían aprender a querer limitar el número de sus hijos. Las así llamadas “encuestas de fecundidad” se consideraban como clave para comprender las actitudes del pueblo colombiano frente al control de la natalidad. Además, los resultados de las encuestas fueron usados por los médicos para convencer a dirigentes políticos de que tenían que implementar programas de planificación familiar. Más allá de este uso estratégico, el presente artículo analiza las ideas sobre mujeres, hombres, sexualidad y relaciones maritales implicadas en las encuestas y la interpretación de sus resultados. De esta manera, el artículo sitúa este conocimiento médico-demográfico en un contexto más amplio de los debates acerca de desarrollo y modernización en el Colombia de la época. Los médicos podían ser aliados de las demandas feministas por el acceso de mujeres a oportunidades educativas y laborales. También abrieron espacios para hablar sobre la educación sexual y se unieron a la amplia coalición que proponía una paternidad responsable. Al mismo tiempo, los médicos-demógrafos planearon la distribución de métodos anticonceptivos considerando poco la salud de las mujeres que los usaban. Al mostrar estas tensiones, el artículo contribuye a la historia compleja de género, medicina y salud en América Latina.

Do Women Make More Protectionist Trade Policy?

Women have more protectionist trade preferences than men do. We assess whether this well-documented relationship between gender and protectionism in the mass public carries over into a relationship between women’s political representation and (a) party platforms, and (b) governments’ trade policy choices. Looking across countries and over time, we demonstrate that with an increase in women’s representation, political party trade policy positions become more protectionist. For government trade policy choices, we identify more nuanced results. The protectionist effect of women’s representation is limited to the most visible products: consumption goods. Women’s representation has no effect on intermediate inputs, where firm demands for trade liberalization are more pronounced and policy makers are thus constrained in implementing a protectionist agenda. These findings contribute to scholarship on the descriptive–substantive representation link, add a new dimension to our understanding of trade politics, and demonstrate the importance of applying a gendered lens to international political economy research.

Histórias de vida de mulheres Sem Terra: divisão sexual do trabalho na agroecologia

Abstract: In this article, we analyse the sexual division of labour in the agroecological work of women living in Agrarian Reform territories in Paraná. Research data point to women’s increased autonomy, ‘agency’ and active subjectivity. However, we identified the persistence of patriarchal sexual divisions of labour. This leads to longer working days and exhaustion of women’s bodies. In addition, we identified reduced socio-political organization and migration to the realm of agroecological production and trading. These inequalities are reduced by generational factors, schooling, gender education, and countryside-city transience. Given this scenario, the feminist demand for an egalitarian sexual division of labour is relevant in the political struggle for gender, land, agroecology and decoloniality.

Kant’s political enlightenment: Free public use of reason as self-discipline

According to recent scholarship, Kant’sAn Answer to the Question: What is Enlightenment?and the introductory section toThe Conflict of the Facultiesare masterpieces of philosophical rhetoric. The philosophical significance of these texts lies in establishing the free public use of reason as a tool to discipline political power through pure practical reason, and the rhetorical mastery consists in presenting the free public use of reason as a means to satisfy the ruler’s pragmatic practical reason. Elaborating on this interpretation, I flesh out three further aspects of the writings in question. First, I examine the four types of arguments that Kant crafts in defence of the public use of reason and show how their pragmatic practical character is fully in keeping with the foundation of politics on pure practical ideas. Second, contrasting Kant’s notion of the public use of reason with the classical liberal conception of free speech, I argue that the distinctive character of Kant’s notion of the public use of reason consists in adding to the liberal demand for freedom from state censorship the requirement of the self-discipline of the participants in the public use of reason. Third, I contend that Kant’s notion of the public use of reason goes beyond a mere non-coercive discursive procedure and conclude that, to qualify as public in the distinctive Kantian sense, publicly presented positions must uphold theoretical and moral criteria informed by critical philosophy.

Karijera, kuhinja, konferencija: žene u hrvatskom društvu šezdesetih

Based on an analysis of Communist Party (i.e., League of Communists of Croatia/Yugoslavia) documents, as well as the women’s, academic, student and youth press, this article explores the status of women in Croatian society during the 1960s. It opens perspectives for the study of “the role and status” of women in communism, with emphasis on the under-researched 1960s, in comparison to scholarship on the Antifascist Front of Women (Antifašistička fronta žena, AFŽ) of the 1940s and 1950s and the second wave of feminism (neo-feminism) of the 1970s and 1980s. The 1960s saw a marked rise in women’s education and employment, which was not accompanied by an increase in their “visibility” in society nor in their political representation (in the period after the abolition of the AFŽ in 1953). Similarly, there was no reformulation of the “women’s question” prior to emergence of the first feminist demands in the form of criticism of or dissent against the state in the 1970s. The first part of the paper defines the problem of the declarative “solution” of the women’s question with the introduction of legal gender equality. Alongside demands for reform, the 1960s witnessed evidence of political, societal and economic crisis during which women, regardless of their ever-growing level of education and qualifications, could not find an unobstructed path to leading positions. Subordinating the women’s question under the class question hindered genuine change in the social status of women, because the place of women in society was an indicator of the failure of the state monopoly over issues pertaining to women. The second part of the article analyzes women’s participation in the student movements of 1968 and 1971, but also their involvement in the emerging civic initiatives of the same period. Criticism of the invisibility of women as active participants in student, youth and academic endeavours correlates to examples of misogynist attitudes that permeated society during the 1960s.

The plurinational cycling revolution in Santiago de Chile: demands for mobility justice

ABSTRACT The Plurinational Cycling Revolution in Santiago de Chile is a social movement that brings together cyclists in large numbers. Using the prism of mobility justice, we identify and analyse four ranges of demands of the Plurinational Cycling Revolution. It first calls for recognition of cycling as a mode of transport in its own right. It is also a vehicle for political, environmental and feminist demands and participates in the protest that has resonated across Chile since October 2019. We show that these demands relate to several crises of mobility. They highlight inequalities in the ability to move in the city according to social class, gender, sexual orientation, national origin or mode of transport. They critique the structures – the political system, neoliberalism, the patriarchy or the automobile system – that perpetuate these inequalities and crises of mobility. The bicycle appears to be a resilient mode of transport in the context of the crises experienced by Chile and its capital. By focusing a multiplicity of demands, it is used as a vector for systemic change in Chilean society.

Shattered glass piling at the bottom: The ‘problem’ with gender equality policy for higher education

Since 2014, gender equality has gained momentum in Irish higher education. Feminist organising and media attention resulted in an ‘almost-perfect storm of pressure’ to which the state responded by developing an ‘ambitious and radical’ policy. Employing Bacchi's methodology (WPR), this article demonstrates the problem of gender inequality has been gradually narrowed to address the lack of ‘women’ in senior positions. Competing problematisations were marginalised. The unequal distribution of care work in and out of higher education was ignored, silencing the gendered experiences of academics and non-academics, particularly precarious and outsourced staff. The policy machinery is found to reduce gender transformation to state-led stages and sideline feminist demands, highlighting the need to investigate the role of gender expertise and national statistics. The focus on the glass ceiling (a trend across Europe) is a form of ‘gender branding’ drawing on and reproducing neo-colonial progress-scales while stalling intersectional agendas.

Impact of Financial Development, Financial Liberalization and Economic Growth on Financial Instability: Evidence from Panel Data

Financial instability refers to the situation when financial system faces some disturbances and volatility. There are some important factors that can have a significant influence on the stability or instability of the financial sector. The main objective of this study is to examine the impact of financial sector development, financial liberalization, and GDP growth rate on financial instability. Using data from 53 countries from 2000 to 2016 and employing a battery of estimation techniques consisting of fixed effect, random effect, dynamic panel, and system GMM, the study finds that financial development and financial liberalization accentuate financial instability. The study also finds that economic growth dampens it. Furthermore, the relationship is robust to a variety of controls like monetary independence index, exchange rate stability, law and order, and government expenditure. The policy implication is straightforward that financial development and financial liberalization demand a caution.