This article investigates the development of Islamic and Arab feminism as frameworks for constructing women’s identity in the 20th and 21st centuries. It distinguishes between Islamic feminism, which operates through the reinterpretation of sacred texts such as the Qur’an and Hadith, and Arab feminism, which is more often embedded in secular, nationalist, and postcolonial discourses. It explores how Arab women writers have negotiated between religious tradition and feminist agency, producing hybrid models of identity that bridge the personal and the political. Tracing the evolution of feminist thought through four historical waves, the research highlights thematic developments such as legal rights, education, intersectionality, and digital activism. Particular attention is given to the reinterpretation of patriarchal concepts like qiwāma, the reclamation of religious authority by female scholars, and the role of literature in amplifying women’s voices. The article argues that both Islamic and Arab feminisms challenge hegemonic Western feminist narratives by offering culturally embedded alternatives rooted in lived realities and theological introspection. These feminist movements do not reject religion but instead aim to harmonize faith with gender justice, making them powerful vehicles for societal transformation. This study contributes to global feminist scholarship by presenting a nuanced, interdisciplinary approach to identity construction, one that foregrounds agency, tradition, and transformation in equal measure.

This article explores how transfeminists and TERFs understood the relationship between trans identity and trans medical procedures in the US Second Wave feminist movement of the 1970s. Building off of recent historical research on transfeminists involvement in the Second Wave, as well as the theoretical development of “transnormativity,” this article expands the conversation to explore how trans and anti-trans actors contributed to the creation of a transnormativity in which sex reassignment surgeries were central to trans identity itself. This is explored through historical source analysis and close reading of various articles from 1970s feminist publications a long with an analysis of Janice Raymond’s The Transsexual Empire. Through this I argue that both trans activists and TERFs of the Second Wave espoused a limiting view of trans identity and experience in which the trans subject is only a creation of medical procedures.

This study examines Asma Barlas's thoughts on the rereading of the Qur'an text as a form of liberation of women from patriarchal interpretation. Using a descriptive qualitative approach and a literature review, this study examines Asma Barlas' main works, especially Believing Women in Islam: Unreading Patriarchal Interpretations of the Qur'an, as well as secondary literature relevant to gender interpretation and Islamic feminism. The study's results show that Asma Barlas rejects the notion that the Qur'an is patriarchal. He emphasized that gender bias in interpretation is a historical and social product of male mufasir who live in a patriarchal system. Using historical and hermeneutic arguments, Barlas constructs an epistemology of egalitarianism rooted in the concept of monotheism, in which there is no hierarchy of power between men and women. His reinterpretation of verses such as Q.S. An-Nisa [4]:34 and Q.S. Al-Baqarah [2]:228 affirms that the terms qiwamah and "male degree" do not confer legitimacy or superiority, but rather entail functional social responsibility. Thus, this study confirms that the Qur'an contains the values of justice and gender equality, which can serve as a theological foundation for women's liberation in contemporary Islam.

Patriarchal structures have historically relegated women to subordinate positions, prompting the emergence of feminist movements that contest these norms and advocate for gender equality. The Instagram account @Magdaleneid functions as a digital platform that consistently addresses feminism, social justice, and human rights from an intersectional and educational standpoint. This study employs Teun A. van Dijk’s critical discourse analysis, focusing on the dimensions of text, social cognition, and social context. Data collection involved observation, literature review, and documentation of @Magdaleneid posts exemplifying feminist representation. This study identified three primary dimensions that influence feminist representation. The text dimension analyzed linguistic structures in posts, including narratives that contest patriarchal authority and hashtags such as #MeToo and #PerempuanBersuara. The social cognition dimension encompassed the perspectives of both the account administrator and the audience with a focus on gender equality and critique of sexual violence, particularly in high-profile cases involving women. The social context dimension demonstrated how @Magdaleneid’s posts affect patriarchal culture in Indonesia and illustrate the role of social media in feminist advocacy. The account regularly addresses issues such as femicide, women’s reproductive rights, and solidarity campaigns, providing alternative narratives that challenge prevailing perceptions of women.

This article aims to present a discussion on the trajectories of black women in paid domestic work from an intersectional perspective. The study was conducted through ethnography, using participant observation and interviews as methodological fieldwork strategies. The reflection reveals the lived experience of a domestic worker, reflecting countless other trajectories of black Brazilian women, based on their daily lives and work history, in a country that was late to recognize domestic workers as part of the working-class and entitled to rights. The results suggest that, even with the changes achieved within a decade of the Domestic Workers Constitutional Amendment (BRASIL, 2013), stigma and invisibility persist in a dimension of inequalities that intersect and overlap with disparities of race, gender, class, and generation. The final considerations explain that the articulation of domestic workers with the black, union and feminist movements instituted a decolonial project, through political solidarity among black women who, when integrated into group action in domestic workers' unions, are driven to fight for the realization of rights and emancipation.

Abstract This paper examines the relationship between feminist manifestos and constituent power, focusing on the Chilean feminist movement. Manifestos have long been an influential political tool in shaping political identities and claiming power. However, they are often overlooked in constitutional law. This paper addresses this gap by exploring feminist manifestos, which have been pivotal in denouncing historical exclusion, forming political groups and asserting constituent power. Drawing on the work of Ruth Houghton and Aoife O’Donoghue, the paper investigates how feminist manifestos challenge traditional notions of constituent power. However, it argues that their performative conception of power overlooks the vital role of political representation. The paper argues that political representation is crucial for a fully realised theory of feminist constituent power, as it enables collective action and democratic participation. By looking at the Chilean feminist movement’s involvement in the 2019–2022 constitution-making process, the paper demonstrates how feminist movements, through strategies such as manifestos and strikes, can influence constitutional change, while also highlighting the limitations of excluding political representation from the conversation. Ultimately, the paper asserts that feminist manifestos can reimagine constituent power, but their full potential is limited without a comprehensive understanding of political representation.

Anne-Charlotte Leffler (1849-1892) was a pioneering Swedish writer renowned for her bold depictions of female sexuality, her critique of gender roles, and her advocacy for women’s emancipation. A contemporary of August Strindberg and Ellen Key, she emerged as a central figure in Sweden’s literary and feminist movements during the Modern Breakthrough of the 1880s. Leffler challenged societal norms by writing candidly about desire, love, and marriage, often exposing the moral double standards imposed on women. In works such as Sanna kvinnor [True women] and Kvinnlighet och erotik II [Women and Sex II], she portrayed women exploring sexuality outside the confines of marriage, frequently suggesting that free love could be more ethical than traditional unions. Characters like Aurore in Aurore Bunge and Alie in Kvinnlighet och erotik II navigate desire, class expectations, and social judgment with a sense of agency that was exceptionally rare for female protagonists of the time. Her audacity sparked both scandal and admiration, ultimately establishing her as an icon of the “New Woman” in feminist discourse. Leffler’s narratives often reversed conventional gender roles, not only championing female liberation but also interrogating constructs of masculinity. Her male characters frequently expected women to center their lives around them—a dynamic she critically examined and subverted. Leffler’s literary career evolved from early realist plays such as Skådespelerskan [The Actress] (1873) to more symbolist and modernist works like Sanningens vägar [The Ways of Truth]. Despite personal hardships—including an unhappy first marriage and her controversial remarriage to Italian nobleman Pasquale del Pezzo—she remained committed to depicting authentic emotional and erotic experience. Her legacy endures for its radical critique of social norms, its nuanced exploration of gender and sexuality, and its unwavering insistence on equality—not only in politics and economics, but also in love and desire.

Abstract This paper addresses the disparity between Chinese feminist ideologies and the lived experiences of Chinese youth through a postdigital feminist perspective. Drawing on in-depth interviews and reflective fieldnotes with four Chinese college students, I explore the discursive-material discourses and (negative) affective intensity of the feminist label in China. I argue that feminisms in China have formed as compressed (post-)feminism —a mode of political expression and struggles deeply shaped by the geo-politico-techno conditions of the glocally postdigital contexts . The findings reveal that China’s state-sanctioned, top-down ‘gender equality’ discourses—combined with neoliberal individualism and the emotionally charged visibility of digital feminist movements—produce an ambivalent affective terrain for young people. Their aspirations for gender equality are non-intersectional and depoliticised, and often coexisting with unease towards feminist identification and affective subjectivity. Through a feminist ‘eclectic’ approach, this paper highlights the intra-action of gendered power structures, postdigital infrastructure, internalised misogyny, and the colonial legacies of feminist theory in shaping the meanings, feelings, and exclusions attached to feminism among Chinese youth. The findings offer new insights into the more-than-digital conditions of feminist activism, urging a re-imagining of postdigital feminist education in the Chinese context.

On January 21, 2017, the Women’s March in Washington, D.C., produced a striking protest image: two women standing shoulder to shoulder, fists raised, holding signs that called for solidarity across race, ability, gender identity, and class. Echoing a 1971 portrait of Dorothy Pitman Hughes and Gloria Steinem, the image gained significant traction online—celebrated, critiqued, and debated across social media platforms. This paper introduces the concept of a “collective space” to describe the emotionally charged digital arenas, such as comment sections, where feminist discourse unfolds in real time. Drawing on Sara Ahmed’s theory of emotional stickiness and the frameworks of transnational feminism, I analyze 168 social media comments responding to this image, coding them for emotional tone and thematic patterns. The analysis reveals solidarity, critique, and identity negotiation occurring simultaneously, as users wrestle with feminism’s historical exclusions and its evolving intersectional commitments. By tracing these interactions, I show how collective spaces both foster belonging and reproduce exclusion, mirroring the tensions embedded in the broader feminist movement. These digital arenas are not incidental noise but vital sites of feminist praxis—spaces where emotions, histories, and politics collide, shaping the possibilities and limits of solidarity in the twenty-first century.

This research paper investigates the Sindhyani Tehreek (Women's Movement of Sindh) as a pivotal grassroots feminist initiative that took root in 1982 under the broader political umbrella of the Awami Tehreek. Focusing specifically on the two-decade span from 1982 to 2000, it meticulously scrutinizes the methods through which rural Sindhi women mobilized to confront the interlocking systems of entrenched feudal oppression, rigid patriarchal customs, and the severe political authoritarianism imposed by the Zia-ul-Haq military regime. Utilizing a methodological approach grounded in oral histories, primary archival records, and extensive secondary scholarly literature, this paper systematically reconstructs the movement's complex ideological evolution and assesses its enduring socio-political significance. The Sindhyani Tehreek is intentionally situated within the broader global discourse of South Asian feminist resistance, highlighting its unique and decisive emphasis on securing agrarian justice, universal education, and the implementation of genuine participatory democracy. This analysis posits that, unlike several contemporaneous urban feminist organizations that predominantly framed women's rights through relatively narrow legalistic and class-based lenses, the Sindhyani Tehreek strategically grounded its protracted struggle in genuinely indigenous idioms of resistance. These idioms were profoundly informed by the deep-seated tradition of Sufi egalitarianism and an assertive articulation of Sindhi cultural identity. By consciously bridging the local lived experience with the macro-political sphere, the movement successfully articulated a distinct and powerful feminist consciousness fundamentally rooted in the harsh, material realities of rural women's lives. Its rich and complex legacy continues to critically inform contemporary debates surrounding gender equity, democratic governance, and profound social transformation within Sindh and Pakistan as a whole.

Abstract This article examines education as a contentious field where feminist movements and anti-gender actors in Italy clash over the role of sexuality education. Feminists advocate for educational reforms to dismantle gender stereotypes and promote equality, framing education as a cornerstone of democratic principles and human rights. Conversely, anti-gender actors portray such initiatives as an imposition of “gender ideology,” threatening traditional family structures and moral values. Drawing on Critical Frame Analysis, this study analyzes the competing narratives employed by feminist and anti-gender actors, highlighting their divergent views on the role of state intervention, the relationship between democracy and family, and the interpretation of gender. Overall, the article argues about competing discourses on sexuality education as crucial factors that reshape democratic governance, and that sexuality education embeds larger cultural and social implications which can either enhance or undermine democracy.

ABSTRACT This article gives vignettes describing some key aspects of the medical, social and peace work of five women doctors prior to World War One – Anna Kuliscioff, Madeleine Pelletier, Aletta Jacobs, Alice Hamilton and Maria Montessori. Their activities gathered around feminist, political and social reform approaches in trying to combat the exploitation of working-class women, advocating for social and political equality, improving their education and in trying to reduce the phenomena of war and militarism. Because they were women, they faced considerable obstacles in pursuing their careers as doctors, but this is why they sympathized with the emerging feminist and socialist movements of their time and often played a leading role in them. Their attempts to prevent World War One, to bring about its early end, as well as their peace initiatives after 1918, can be seen as a logical continuation of their professional work: the prevention and alleviation of human suffering and misery. Their work as women, doctors and peacemakers can still be inspirational today.

In recent years, Latin America has seen the rise of ultraconservative movements that seek to delegitimize the achievements of feminist movements in favor of equality and against gender violence, promoting discourses against feminism and sexual minorities. This phenomenon is accompanied by political, social and cultural campaigns that attack key notions such as femicide, the most extreme expression of gender violence. This article examines the production and circulation of images in digital media and social networks in emblematic cases of femicide in Chile, with the goal of understanding how these visual representations contribute to the delegitimization of this phenomenon and the erosion of feminist advances by different ultraconservative actors. Methodologically, a discursive-visual analysis was conducted, integrating critical discourse analysis with analytical techniques from the arts, focusing on three emblematic cases of femicide in Chile. These cases were selected from a systematic review of 117 images related to this extreme form of gender-based violence between 2018 and 2024. Through this interdisciplinary approach, three predominant discursive-visual strategies are identified: the predominance of pain, the erosion of the social context, and the decontextualization of the aggressor. The results show that these images reinforce a privatized representation of femicide, weakening its understanding as a social and structural phenomenon, favoring conservative discourses that obstruct advances in gender justice.

Abstract Public servants' social media use has been subject to considerable debate, which often focuses on the potential conflict between duty of loyalty and free speech. Similarly, digital feminism has presented both opportunities and challenges for feminist activism, facilitating increased awareness and connections, while also inviting harassment, potentially silencing particular groups. In this article, we situate GBA+ at the nexus of these phenomena, suggesting that social media offers a new mode of representing GBA+ in a networked context, implicating shifting meanings and practices that go beyond debates about public service values. We reveal three distinct uses of X: 1) to “make sense” of GBA +; 2) to build connections and relationships; and 3) as a tool to amplify their voices as employees. We highlight how femocrats' use of X represents new terrain for not only challenging and potentially transforming core public sector values but also for forging new opportunities for feminist governance.

Leaders play an important role in social change efforts by influencing individuals to work together towards a collective goal through the construction of a shared identity. However, the external conditions in which a group is situated can facilitate or constrain leaders' identity strategies, which, in turn, may affect the success of the group's social change objectives. Using the feminist movement as a case study, we employed qualitative surveys to examine how leaders (N = 39) in Australia, the United Kingdom, and the United States constructed and communicated group identities that were inclusionary of transgender women, and the challenges they faced when doing so. Results from a reflexive thematic analysis showed that leaders created trans-inclusionary feminist identities by developing value-aligned coalitions with transgender groups, ingroup policies and inclusive symbols and slogans. These group identities were challenged by unsupportive policies, funding requirements and outgroup backlash. Feminist leaders responded in various ways, including altering the shared group identity or reaffirming the identity. From these findings, a cyclical relationship is proposed between leaders' identity strategies, the challenges posed by their groups' external environments and how leaders navigate these challenges in maintaining and communicating group identity.

This research aimed to determine whether the use of social media as a public sphere influenced the development of feminism in Nigeria, the extent to which Nigerian Feminism uses social media as a public sphere for shaping and reshaping Feminism, and whether there are additional ways in which social media platforms as a public sphere can be used to promote and reshape feminism in Nigeria. One theoretical framework served as the basis for this study: Media dependency theory. A qualitative research strategy was employed to elicit primary data for a comprehensive understanding of the study. Using a purposive sampling technique, a questionnaire was used as the design instrument to recruit 656 respondents from Nigeria's six geopolitical zones. Findings show that social media has evolved into a new and effective public sphere that fosters and promotes Nigerian Feminism and feminist activism. It is suggested that Nigerian feminists should seek more opportunities to engage with the public sphere of social media to stimulate and propagate Nigerian Feminism and make it more equitable and sustainable. Nigeria must bridge the ever-widening digital divide and illiteracy gap, contributing to the underrepresentation of feminists and marginalized women in Nigeria's social media public sphere.

As Michael Cronin and Karin Littau highlight in their seminal studies on materiality and translation, “translation without tools simply does not exist.” In recent years, there has been growing interest among translation scholars in the material aspects of translational phenomena, approached from various interdisciplinary perspectives. The present study explores the role of objects in the translation process, particularly during the analogue era, through the letters written by Julia Dickstein-Wieleżyńska (1881–1943) to her friend and academic mentor, Raffaele Pettazzoni (1883–1959), a prominent Italian scholar of the history of religions. The extensive collection of her previously unpublished letters is preserved in Pettazzoni’s archive, now housed at the public library “Giulio Cesare Croce” in San Giovanni in Persiceto. Dickstein-Wieleżyńska was a scholar of literature and philosophy, a poet, journalist, educational and feminist activist, and a literary and scientific translator, working from multiple languages into Polish and from Polish into Italian. The letters frequently reference the material elements and the technosphere of her translation work. Operating in a relatively provincial academic center like Warsaw, she contended with the absence of an established tradition in Italian studies. Additionally, she faced disruptions due to political upheaval, which caused shortages of various goods and hindered international intellectual exchange. Drawing on the aforementioned archival material, this article will analyse the role of translation tools and their accessibility for translation work (Paper), the entanglement of humans and objects in translation through assemblages and networks (Machine), and the ergonomic and bodily conditions affecting a translator’s work (Eye).

Gender Psychology and the Three Feminist Movements in History

ABSTRACT This paper examines the recent developments in Islamic feminism and its role in advocating for gender equality in contemporary Indonesia, with a particular focus on Islamic feminist activism supporting the ratification of the Sexual Violence Eradication Bill (RUU PKS). Employing social movement theory, this paper analyzes how Islamic feminist actors and organizations mobilize resources and employ strategic framing to advance their objectives. It is especially important to examine the model of Islamic feminist activism that contributed to the successful ratification of the bill. This paper argues that while the success of the advocacy for the bill cannot be reduced solely to the achievements of Islamic feminism, their contribution has been highly significant, particularly in countering opposition from conservative Islamic groups and influencing the legislative process.

Through the Escape the Corset Movement (ECM), the essay explores the impact of social media on feminist consciousness, discourse, and activism in South Korea. Founded in 2016 and prominent nationwide in 2018, ECM urged women to discard the patriarchal model of beauty and reassert bodily control by cutting their hair, not wearing makeup, and throwing away beauty products. Drawing on concepts from digital activism and feminist media studies, the paper maps the historical transition from conventional to digital media in Korean feminist movements and reveals how online platforms changed modes of participation and communication. With hashtags like #EscapeTheCorset, social media operated as a public sphere where stories, community, and the development of collective identity could take place. The text analyzes how digital narratives and graphical confrontations as forms of protest challenged Confucian gender norms and re-considered femininity in modern Korean culture. Finally, the paper demonstrates how ECMs discourse played a role in economic and cultural resistance, with efforts to resist the pink tax as well as the #Women_ShortCut_Campaign, demonstrating social medias potential to reproduce and sustain activism. However, the study does emphasize critical constraints: platform hierarchies, online harassment influenced by gender, and entrenched patriarchal structures that inhibit transformational initiatives. ECM embodies, in the end, the emancipatory and structural possibilities of digital feminism, exposing how social media can become a force behind social change, but also remain rooted in unequal power relations.