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Feminist Manifestos: A Global Documentary Reader
A wide-reaching collection of groundbreaking feminist documents from around the world
Feminist Manifesto s is an unprecedented collection of 150 documents from feminist organizations and gatherings in over 50 countries over the course of three centuries. In the first book of its kind, the manifestos are shown to contain feminist theory and recommend actions for change, and also to expand our very conceptions of feminist thought and activism. Covering issues from political participation, education, religion and work to reproduction, violence, racism, and environmentalism, the manifestos together challenge simplistic definitions of gender and feminist movements in exciting ways. In a wide-ranging introduction, Penny Weiss explores the value of these documents, especially how they speak with and to each other. In addition, an introduction to each individual document contextualizes and enhances our understanding of it.
Weiss is particularly invested in how communities work together toward social change, which is demonstrated through her choice to include only collectively authored texts. By assembling these documents into an accessible volume, Weiss reveals new possibilities for social justice and ways to advocate for equality.
A unique and inspirational collection, Feminist Manifestos expands and evolves our understanding of feminism through the self-described agendas of women from every ethnic group, religion, and region in the world.
Feminist Manifesto s is an unprecedented collection of 150 documents from feminist organizations and gatherings in over 50 countries over the course of three centuries. In the first book of its kind, the manifestos are shown to contain feminist theory and recommend actions for change, and also to expand our very conceptions of feminist thought and activism. Covering issues from political participation, education, religion and work to reproduction, violence, racism, and environmentalism, the manifestos together challenge simplistic definitions of gender and feminist movements in exciting ways. In a wide-ranging introduction, Penny Weiss explores the value of these documents, especially how they speak with and to each other. In addition, an introduction to each individual document contextualizes and enhances our understanding of it.
Weiss is particularly invested in how communities work together toward social change, which is demonstrated through her choice to include only collectively authored texts. By assembling these documents into an accessible volume, Weiss reveals new possibilities for social justice and ways to advocate for equality.
A unique and inspirational collection, Feminist Manifestos expands and evolves our understanding of feminism through the self-described agendas of women from every ethnic group, religion, and region in the world.
704 pages, Paperback
Published April 3, 2018
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November 5, 2024
ok buckle up 0 (zero) people who read my reviews this is another massive one (in my defence this is a 700 page textbook with 150 unique pieces of writing!!)
can’t believe i was lucky enough to find this for $10??? i loved it even more than i expected to - i thought it might be a bit dry - but it was so so interesting and covered SUCH a breadth of topics (i will say, it did get a bit repetitive at points though but i think that's unavoidable!) and different groups of women across so many different locations.
reading in chronological order was really interesting, as it allowed me to see how ideas and themes changed over time - originally a lot about religion, being ‘different but equal’ to men, trying to prove morality and intelligence to justify rights, fights for suffrage, respectability politics etc. over time, there’s a shift to greater intersectionality, the emphasis on dismantling rather than reforming systems, how different systems of oppression and issues around the world intersect, and topics such as internet and climate change become more prominent. at the same time, there continues to be a push for basic human rights, especially for the global south and marginalised groups.
i was also surprised by some rights women didn’t/don’t have - things like joining unions and being subjected to laws and taxes but not being able to vote/have a voice in parliament/equal employment access - just things i take for granted/don’t think about now. was also surprised by how radical some of the demands in the past were/how early demands (e.g., free childcare, shorter working weeks, maternity leave, violence against women, educational reform - less homework and not teaching religion to minors “since children accept everything without rational thoughts”). on the other hand, it was sad reading demands for so many things that we still don't have access to now, or have been reversed (e.g., valuing unpaid work, healthcare especially abortion, the taliban, the right to return and impact of war - not to mention how many basic human rights so many women continue to lack such as education, safe water and sanitation, food security)
there were also so many interesting issues discussed that i hadn’t expected and/or hadn’t considered/know about: a lot of demands for peace, women’s roles in participating in conflict resolution, and critiques about war and increasing militarisation; reproductive technologies; food sovereignty (found this particularly interesting!), groups of women/people and the specific issues they may face (kurds, dalits, iran, widows, rural women, farmers, romani, specific conflicts, feminist/queer rights being seen as western/bougie in south asia, migrant status, language abilities), testing and sales of unsafe contraceptives on/to poor women, sexual slavery in japan during ww2
equally, there were lots of issues that didn’t come up at all or as much as i expected and wish had come up more: disability, surrogacy, trans*, non-binary, and other gender non-conforming people, burqa/hijab etc, FGM, pacific islanders and first peoples in australia, caste, natural disaster responses, body positivity/fatphobia, eating disorders, different impacts on different ages, organ donation, lgbt rights in the global south (these manifestos were sadly very brief), lifelong education, problems that have come from the rise of the internet (e.g., manosphere) - but of course it’s impossible to cover everything!!
was also really interesting seeing some of the methods/pedagogies prioritised to create these documents and all the creative forms of resistance (again, something i’d have to loved to read more about but probably a bit beyond the scope of this book!) - standard things such as discussions and lack of hierarchy, but other examples like going to each communities to get permission/approval, the importance of balancing practice and theory, valuing of personal experience, accessibility
some other thoughts i had/manifestos that stood out to me:
**parts 1 and 2: the seventeenth, eighteenth, and nineteenth centuries**
- as i said above, so many mixed feelings seeing how far back feminist activism goes - so inspiring/humbling/saddening seeing how much we have achieved and now take for granted but how much work is still to be done. but also just to see all the hard work and how clever and motivated and strong women are
- some interesting questions raised regarding what makes the seneca falls convention considered to be the start of the women’s rights movement (especially given the earlier anti-slavery conventions)? though reading the declaration, i can see why it is seen as so seminal and powerful - i really felt its power and emotion
- the way women were dismissed in their early requests and the fact that women subjected to taxes and laws but not allowed to vote or have a voice in parliament - how did women not just explode with rage every day goddd
- was interesting seeing the early discussions regarding race - just how early intersectionality emerged!! e.g., the first anti-slavery convention of american women “refusing to discuss ‘better’ and’ worse’ treatment of the enslaved, since dehumanisation is common to all ‘ownership’ (1837!)
- sojourner truths ‘ain’t i a woman’ speech is so so powerful to read every time - i hadn’t read this expanded version much so was nice to read it and i also didn’t know that her speech was well received at the conference which is good to know - also liked the part where she questions why intellect is equated with rights - rights do not need to be earned by virtue of some quality!! (and interesting seeing this as a broader theme/shift in women’s rights movement)
**part 3: 1900-1949**
- first and second international conferences of socialist women (1907 and 1910): recognising intersections of class: suffrage is more valuable to women with less class power
- first international feminist congress of argentina (1910) - had so many radical ideas! “should expanded qualified suffrage come before universal suffrage?reduced homework, leave for periods , adapting education to suit kids, against purely charitable institutes - should be integrating women instead, prison conditions, alcoholism, prostitution, given seats to work
- australian women’s conference for victory in war and victory in peace (1943) - very comprehensive and i think interesting to me personally as i am australian to see from the perspective of my country and what was seen as most important etc. - wages for housework, women’s role in peace, rights for nurses, a lot about health and housing, viewed it important to increase the birthrate, specific recognition of country and aboriginal women
**part 4: 1950-1980**
- the manifestos started getting more exciting from this point!
- daughters of bilitus mission statement (1955) - just a v important group!!!
- red stockings manifesto (1969) - have seen the term ‘bluestockings’ before but didn’t know it was a derogatory term for smart women! thought reclaiming it + red for radical was v cool haha; recognising importance of systems of oppression but who does the oppressing: “institutions alone do not oppress; they are merely tools of the oppressor” and “gives men the excuse that they are forced to be oppressors”; “we identify with all women. we define our best interest as that of the poorest, most brutally exploited woman”
- the woman-identified woman (radicalesbians, 1970) - such an interesting topic that i am still working out my opinions on!!! i think there is a thin line between a queer person claiming lesbian as a political identity versus a straight women doing this for example - and i think in the 70s it was more the latter (?) whereas now it is more the former?? raises interesting points about how liberation will result in the loss of many identities/these identities can only exist whilst oppression continues (i.e. by defining lesbian as defying traditional gender roles, it can’t exist if gender roles don’t exist… but do we want the loss of these identities, what does the loss of them mean?? similar issues with labels such as masculinity for example); the notion of d*ke and f*ggot as both slurs linked to a dislike of women wasn’t something i’d considered before; the concept of the fear of being labelled a lesbian (ie not a real woman) prevents connection among women i think is very important!!
- female revolt manifesto (italy, 1970) - “woman must not be defined in relation to men… equality is an ideological attempt to subject woman even further” - this idea ended up popping up a bit but not something i’d considered before - the idea of rejecting assimilation/being like men - as to assimilate/be like men implies acceptance that men are superior as we are striving to be like them. we shouldn’t have to prove our equality to men. we have our own value. stop trying to justify equality etc. we deserve rights and freedom from oppression for no reason
- radicalqueens manifesto #2 (1973) - raised similar ideas - “radical queens are not men, we are non-men. we are not women. we do not accept the attributes of femininity, that is, the passivity, non-aggressiveness, fragility etc., things which our sisters in the women’s movement see as oppressive and undesirable traits socialised into women. we do not accept the traditional role of women as any alternative to the oppressor role of the male. both role are inventions of the oppressor, both are oppressive to those who accept them” and “being homosexual is not the answer to being oppressors. men have been raised to e the oppressor. all men. we of radical queens will not be the oppressors”
- wages for housework (1975) - another important piece but i know there have been some critiques of it that i want to look into. like the idea it includes affecting and reproductive labour, “challenges the idea that women working in the home are somehow outside social production and the capitalist market” and “understood how much damage a refusal to do unwaged labour could inflict on a capitalist system”. also had a lot of very powerful language e.g., “our wombs are not government property any longer”
- combahee river collective’s “a black feminist statement” (1977) - another really powerful to read that i got a lot from - why they reject lesbian separatism; unique reasons feminism may be threating to black people, clarification of identity politics (“we believe that the most profound and potentially the most radical political comes directly out of our own identity, as opposed to working to end somebody else’s oppression”), rejection of violence/destruction acts in the names of “achieving ‘correct’ political goals”, the need for “self-criticism”
**part 5: 1981-1999**
- third congress of the anarchist federation of norway’s anarchfeminist manifesto (1982) - interesting questions regarding the tyranny of the structurelessness - how is this reconciled with anarchism?? lack of structure obscures informal/unaccountable hierarchies -> thus perhaps formal hierarchy or democracy is better….
- south asian feminist declaration (1989) - a lot about militarisation and nation-states; presenting each country as a monolith/national religious identity prevents solidarity between countries as is seen as betraying national interests; how issues are exacerbated by IMF conditionality and structural adjustment programmes; links between militarisation and climate change; critiques about there being enough money for defence spending but not social services; “feminists have been called western, bourgeois”
- bikini kill’s riot grrrl manifesto (1991) - another iconic manifesto and a movement i really want to learn more about. the power of the girl. written so powerfully with so much feeling: “we are unwilling to let our real and valid anger be diffused and/or turned against us”; “i believe with my wholehealthmindbody that girls constitute a revolutionary soul force than and, can will change the world for year”; “we don’t wanna assimilate”
- lesbian avengers’ dyke manifesto (1994) - another iconic one with so much emotion and feeling: “we’re wasting our lives being careful. imagine what your life could be”; “women dont have patience for polite politics” - fuck respectability; loved the emphasis on actually just getting shit done - direct action and visibility - “no abstract theoretical discussion”
- international women’s health coalition delegation - women’s declaration on population politics (1994) - want to look into more as i don’t know if i fully grasped everything being argued in this - but i think is basically saying how women are expected to carry responsibility and burden of population size/growth (ie their behaviour is blamed not men's - for the impact on climate change etc) but not given decision-making. controlling women and their fertility is seen as the solution rather than addressing poverty/inequity which will empower women to make informed choices themselves. also a very important point: “population polices and programmes have typically targeted low-income countries and groups, often reflecting racial and class biases”
**part vi: the twenty-first century**
- a lot of prostitution/porn/the sex industry in this section (others being and ‘coalition against trafficking in women’s survivors of prostitution and trafficking manifesto: who represents women in prostitution’ (2005) and ‘our porn, ourselves’ pro-porn principles’ (2010) - which as i’ve said, i’m still figuring out my thoughts on (can feminist porn exist? can we ever separate sex work and porn from patriarchy? but if not, how do we reconcile this with women’s empowerment? etc etc) - but interesting seeing the variety of perspectives across the different manifestos! i found indigenous women against the sex industry’s manifesto (canada 2014) particularly interesting in its discussions of the issues of racism and colonialism in the industry, something i don’t often see discussed, as well as its rejection of harm reduction
- black women’s rape action project and women against rape - “letter to women legislators of the coalition of the willing: neither blood nor rape for oil” (england 2004) - “in war rape is inevitable… once killing is acceptable, rape is hardly a moral problem. and during a period of mass slaughter, rape is even less likely to be taken seriously”; “what are the implications for the families of officers, soldiers, and mercenaries who are trained to rape, murder and torture… how often do they face rape and the violence at the hands of these same men?”
- widows for peace through democracy “widows charter” (england 2005) - another group id never really thought about - interesting learning about all the issues this group faces - inheritance, complete poverty, seen as evil or bad luck, forced to re-marry, “honour killings”, rape
- feminist initiative (feministiskt initiativ) election platform (sweden, 2014): “we challenge the image of sweden and europe as the paradise of gender equality… it is an image that is used by nationalists wanting to portray women’s oppression as a foreign problem that originates in other parts of the world. women’s rights are then hijacked in racist rhetorics that aims to close borders”
- canadian council of muslim women’s position statement: femicide (canada, 2014): such an important one!! about the problems with the use of language such as ‘honour killings’ in terms of making the root cause (gendered patriarchal violence) invisible by framing as a cultural issue: “what is the motivation to name these specific killings? how does this help the women as victims? besides being racist, what is the purpose in separating these murders from other murders? who is defining them? is it the perpetrators who seek to legitimise or dignify the murder, or is it done for racial or religious discrimination to separate some women from the sisterhood of all women?… naming some murders as honour-based, makes these murders exotic, foreign and alien to western culture as if the west is free from all forms of patriarchy” - not sure if i agree with this 100% - i definitely do agree but also i think the cultural context/reasons for these murders can’t be ignored - whilst still recognising they are rooted in broader gendered violence and the need to recognise the way such terms can perpetuate racism etc.
- the girls in emergencies collaborative’s statement and action agenda (2015) - the importance of adequate disaster prevention and relief, especially given the increasing severity and number of disasters: “an emergency begins as an “event’ and transforms into a lifetime”. interesting seeing the unique needs/vulnerabilities of adolescent girls in this context (lack knowledge, money, least prioritised in being given resources but often expected to provide, marry, trade sex etc)
- intercultural women’s centre of trama di terre’s manifesto for a migrant feminism (italy 2016): “confronts the question of how to capture and address the situation of women coming from one set of gendered societies and religions to differently gendered ones… without buying into neoliberalism’s versions of “progress”
a lot of manifestos about food sovereignty, rural and indigenous women, and climate change which i found really interesting!!
- a lot of emphasis on how climate change and environmental degradation not only causes massive loss of land and livelihoods, but is also tied to issues of sovereignty and loss of culture - “what is at stake are questions of territorial and political sovereignty and identity of the [indigenous peoples]. what does sovereignty mean when your ancestral territory is lost?”
- also a recognition of indigenous women specifically - their important knowledge (e.g, food production and medicine), roles and skills - as well as the ways they are disproportionately impacted (e.g, safe water, food, livelihoods, maternal health outcomes, disease)
- hunger is due to political will not food shortage: “worsening hunger is the result of cost inflation, not any absolute food shortage. in fact, the world produces more food than the global population can consume”
- women produce 80% of food but often dont even have right to own land or seen as farmers - unable to access programs to help with training, funding etc.
can’t believe i was lucky enough to find this for $10??? i loved it even more than i expected to - i thought it might be a bit dry - but it was so so interesting and covered SUCH a breadth of topics (i will say, it did get a bit repetitive at points though but i think that's unavoidable!) and different groups of women across so many different locations.
reading in chronological order was really interesting, as it allowed me to see how ideas and themes changed over time - originally a lot about religion, being ‘different but equal’ to men, trying to prove morality and intelligence to justify rights, fights for suffrage, respectability politics etc. over time, there’s a shift to greater intersectionality, the emphasis on dismantling rather than reforming systems, how different systems of oppression and issues around the world intersect, and topics such as internet and climate change become more prominent. at the same time, there continues to be a push for basic human rights, especially for the global south and marginalised groups.
i was also surprised by some rights women didn’t/don’t have - things like joining unions and being subjected to laws and taxes but not being able to vote/have a voice in parliament/equal employment access - just things i take for granted/don’t think about now. was also surprised by how radical some of the demands in the past were/how early demands (e.g., free childcare, shorter working weeks, maternity leave, violence against women, educational reform - less homework and not teaching religion to minors “since children accept everything without rational thoughts”). on the other hand, it was sad reading demands for so many things that we still don't have access to now, or have been reversed (e.g., valuing unpaid work, healthcare especially abortion, the taliban, the right to return and impact of war - not to mention how many basic human rights so many women continue to lack such as education, safe water and sanitation, food security)
there were also so many interesting issues discussed that i hadn’t expected and/or hadn’t considered/know about: a lot of demands for peace, women’s roles in participating in conflict resolution, and critiques about war and increasing militarisation; reproductive technologies; food sovereignty (found this particularly interesting!), groups of women/people and the specific issues they may face (kurds, dalits, iran, widows, rural women, farmers, romani, specific conflicts, feminist/queer rights being seen as western/bougie in south asia, migrant status, language abilities), testing and sales of unsafe contraceptives on/to poor women, sexual slavery in japan during ww2
equally, there were lots of issues that didn’t come up at all or as much as i expected and wish had come up more: disability, surrogacy, trans*, non-binary, and other gender non-conforming people, burqa/hijab etc, FGM, pacific islanders and first peoples in australia, caste, natural disaster responses, body positivity/fatphobia, eating disorders, different impacts on different ages, organ donation, lgbt rights in the global south (these manifestos were sadly very brief), lifelong education, problems that have come from the rise of the internet (e.g., manosphere) - but of course it’s impossible to cover everything!!
was also really interesting seeing some of the methods/pedagogies prioritised to create these documents and all the creative forms of resistance (again, something i’d have to loved to read more about but probably a bit beyond the scope of this book!) - standard things such as discussions and lack of hierarchy, but other examples like going to each communities to get permission/approval, the importance of balancing practice and theory, valuing of personal experience, accessibility
some other thoughts i had/manifestos that stood out to me:
**parts 1 and 2: the seventeenth, eighteenth, and nineteenth centuries**
- as i said above, so many mixed feelings seeing how far back feminist activism goes - so inspiring/humbling/saddening seeing how much we have achieved and now take for granted but how much work is still to be done. but also just to see all the hard work and how clever and motivated and strong women are
- some interesting questions raised regarding what makes the seneca falls convention considered to be the start of the women’s rights movement (especially given the earlier anti-slavery conventions)? though reading the declaration, i can see why it is seen as so seminal and powerful - i really felt its power and emotion
- the way women were dismissed in their early requests and the fact that women subjected to taxes and laws but not allowed to vote or have a voice in parliament - how did women not just explode with rage every day goddd
- was interesting seeing the early discussions regarding race - just how early intersectionality emerged!! e.g., the first anti-slavery convention of american women “refusing to discuss ‘better’ and’ worse’ treatment of the enslaved, since dehumanisation is common to all ‘ownership’ (1837!)
- sojourner truths ‘ain’t i a woman’ speech is so so powerful to read every time - i hadn’t read this expanded version much so was nice to read it and i also didn’t know that her speech was well received at the conference which is good to know - also liked the part where she questions why intellect is equated with rights - rights do not need to be earned by virtue of some quality!! (and interesting seeing this as a broader theme/shift in women’s rights movement)
**part 3: 1900-1949**
- first and second international conferences of socialist women (1907 and 1910): recognising intersections of class: suffrage is more valuable to women with less class power
- first international feminist congress of argentina (1910) - had so many radical ideas! “should expanded qualified suffrage come before universal suffrage?reduced homework, leave for periods , adapting education to suit kids, against purely charitable institutes - should be integrating women instead, prison conditions, alcoholism, prostitution, given seats to work
- australian women’s conference for victory in war and victory in peace (1943) - very comprehensive and i think interesting to me personally as i am australian to see from the perspective of my country and what was seen as most important etc. - wages for housework, women’s role in peace, rights for nurses, a lot about health and housing, viewed it important to increase the birthrate, specific recognition of country and aboriginal women
**part 4: 1950-1980**
- the manifestos started getting more exciting from this point!
- daughters of bilitus mission statement (1955) - just a v important group!!!
- red stockings manifesto (1969) - have seen the term ‘bluestockings’ before but didn’t know it was a derogatory term for smart women! thought reclaiming it + red for radical was v cool haha; recognising importance of systems of oppression but who does the oppressing: “institutions alone do not oppress; they are merely tools of the oppressor” and “gives men the excuse that they are forced to be oppressors”; “we identify with all women. we define our best interest as that of the poorest, most brutally exploited woman”
- the woman-identified woman (radicalesbians, 1970) - such an interesting topic that i am still working out my opinions on!!! i think there is a thin line between a queer person claiming lesbian as a political identity versus a straight women doing this for example - and i think in the 70s it was more the latter (?) whereas now it is more the former?? raises interesting points about how liberation will result in the loss of many identities/these identities can only exist whilst oppression continues (i.e. by defining lesbian as defying traditional gender roles, it can’t exist if gender roles don’t exist… but do we want the loss of these identities, what does the loss of them mean?? similar issues with labels such as masculinity for example); the notion of d*ke and f*ggot as both slurs linked to a dislike of women wasn’t something i’d considered before; the concept of the fear of being labelled a lesbian (ie not a real woman) prevents connection among women i think is very important!!
- female revolt manifesto (italy, 1970) - “woman must not be defined in relation to men… equality is an ideological attempt to subject woman even further” - this idea ended up popping up a bit but not something i’d considered before - the idea of rejecting assimilation/being like men - as to assimilate/be like men implies acceptance that men are superior as we are striving to be like them. we shouldn’t have to prove our equality to men. we have our own value. stop trying to justify equality etc. we deserve rights and freedom from oppression for no reason
- radicalqueens manifesto #2 (1973) - raised similar ideas - “radical queens are not men, we are non-men. we are not women. we do not accept the attributes of femininity, that is, the passivity, non-aggressiveness, fragility etc., things which our sisters in the women’s movement see as oppressive and undesirable traits socialised into women. we do not accept the traditional role of women as any alternative to the oppressor role of the male. both role are inventions of the oppressor, both are oppressive to those who accept them” and “being homosexual is not the answer to being oppressors. men have been raised to e the oppressor. all men. we of radical queens will not be the oppressors”
- wages for housework (1975) - another important piece but i know there have been some critiques of it that i want to look into. like the idea it includes affecting and reproductive labour, “challenges the idea that women working in the home are somehow outside social production and the capitalist market” and “understood how much damage a refusal to do unwaged labour could inflict on a capitalist system”. also had a lot of very powerful language e.g., “our wombs are not government property any longer”
- combahee river collective’s “a black feminist statement” (1977) - another really powerful to read that i got a lot from - why they reject lesbian separatism; unique reasons feminism may be threating to black people, clarification of identity politics (“we believe that the most profound and potentially the most radical political comes directly out of our own identity, as opposed to working to end somebody else’s oppression”), rejection of violence/destruction acts in the names of “achieving ‘correct’ political goals”, the need for “self-criticism”
**part 5: 1981-1999**
- third congress of the anarchist federation of norway’s anarchfeminist manifesto (1982) - interesting questions regarding the tyranny of the structurelessness - how is this reconciled with anarchism?? lack of structure obscures informal/unaccountable hierarchies -> thus perhaps formal hierarchy or democracy is better….
- south asian feminist declaration (1989) - a lot about militarisation and nation-states; presenting each country as a monolith/national religious identity prevents solidarity between countries as is seen as betraying national interests; how issues are exacerbated by IMF conditionality and structural adjustment programmes; links between militarisation and climate change; critiques about there being enough money for defence spending but not social services; “feminists have been called western, bourgeois”
- bikini kill’s riot grrrl manifesto (1991) - another iconic manifesto and a movement i really want to learn more about. the power of the girl. written so powerfully with so much feeling: “we are unwilling to let our real and valid anger be diffused and/or turned against us”; “i believe with my wholehealthmindbody that girls constitute a revolutionary soul force than and, can will change the world for year”; “we don’t wanna assimilate”
- lesbian avengers’ dyke manifesto (1994) - another iconic one with so much emotion and feeling: “we’re wasting our lives being careful. imagine what your life could be”; “women dont have patience for polite politics” - fuck respectability; loved the emphasis on actually just getting shit done - direct action and visibility - “no abstract theoretical discussion”
- international women’s health coalition delegation - women’s declaration on population politics (1994) - want to look into more as i don’t know if i fully grasped everything being argued in this - but i think is basically saying how women are expected to carry responsibility and burden of population size/growth (ie their behaviour is blamed not men's - for the impact on climate change etc) but not given decision-making. controlling women and their fertility is seen as the solution rather than addressing poverty/inequity which will empower women to make informed choices themselves. also a very important point: “population polices and programmes have typically targeted low-income countries and groups, often reflecting racial and class biases”
**part vi: the twenty-first century**
- a lot of prostitution/porn/the sex industry in this section (others being and ‘coalition against trafficking in women’s survivors of prostitution and trafficking manifesto: who represents women in prostitution’ (2005) and ‘our porn, ourselves’ pro-porn principles’ (2010) - which as i’ve said, i’m still figuring out my thoughts on (can feminist porn exist? can we ever separate sex work and porn from patriarchy? but if not, how do we reconcile this with women’s empowerment? etc etc) - but interesting seeing the variety of perspectives across the different manifestos! i found indigenous women against the sex industry’s manifesto (canada 2014) particularly interesting in its discussions of the issues of racism and colonialism in the industry, something i don’t often see discussed, as well as its rejection of harm reduction
- black women’s rape action project and women against rape - “letter to women legislators of the coalition of the willing: neither blood nor rape for oil” (england 2004) - “in war rape is inevitable… once killing is acceptable, rape is hardly a moral problem. and during a period of mass slaughter, rape is even less likely to be taken seriously”; “what are the implications for the families of officers, soldiers, and mercenaries who are trained to rape, murder and torture… how often do they face rape and the violence at the hands of these same men?”
- widows for peace through democracy “widows charter” (england 2005) - another group id never really thought about - interesting learning about all the issues this group faces - inheritance, complete poverty, seen as evil or bad luck, forced to re-marry, “honour killings”, rape
- feminist initiative (feministiskt initiativ) election platform (sweden, 2014): “we challenge the image of sweden and europe as the paradise of gender equality… it is an image that is used by nationalists wanting to portray women’s oppression as a foreign problem that originates in other parts of the world. women’s rights are then hijacked in racist rhetorics that aims to close borders”
- canadian council of muslim women’s position statement: femicide (canada, 2014): such an important one!! about the problems with the use of language such as ‘honour killings’ in terms of making the root cause (gendered patriarchal violence) invisible by framing as a cultural issue: “what is the motivation to name these specific killings? how does this help the women as victims? besides being racist, what is the purpose in separating these murders from other murders? who is defining them? is it the perpetrators who seek to legitimise or dignify the murder, or is it done for racial or religious discrimination to separate some women from the sisterhood of all women?… naming some murders as honour-based, makes these murders exotic, foreign and alien to western culture as if the west is free from all forms of patriarchy” - not sure if i agree with this 100% - i definitely do agree but also i think the cultural context/reasons for these murders can’t be ignored - whilst still recognising they are rooted in broader gendered violence and the need to recognise the way such terms can perpetuate racism etc.
- the girls in emergencies collaborative’s statement and action agenda (2015) - the importance of adequate disaster prevention and relief, especially given the increasing severity and number of disasters: “an emergency begins as an “event’ and transforms into a lifetime”. interesting seeing the unique needs/vulnerabilities of adolescent girls in this context (lack knowledge, money, least prioritised in being given resources but often expected to provide, marry, trade sex etc)
- intercultural women’s centre of trama di terre’s manifesto for a migrant feminism (italy 2016): “confronts the question of how to capture and address the situation of women coming from one set of gendered societies and religions to differently gendered ones… without buying into neoliberalism’s versions of “progress”
a lot of manifestos about food sovereignty, rural and indigenous women, and climate change which i found really interesting!!
- a lot of emphasis on how climate change and environmental degradation not only causes massive loss of land and livelihoods, but is also tied to issues of sovereignty and loss of culture - “what is at stake are questions of territorial and political sovereignty and identity of the [indigenous peoples]. what does sovereignty mean when your ancestral territory is lost?”
- also a recognition of indigenous women specifically - their important knowledge (e.g, food production and medicine), roles and skills - as well as the ways they are disproportionately impacted (e.g, safe water, food, livelihoods, maternal health outcomes, disease)
- hunger is due to political will not food shortage: “worsening hunger is the result of cost inflation, not any absolute food shortage. in fact, the world produces more food than the global population can consume”
- women produce 80% of food but often dont even have right to own land or seen as farmers - unable to access programs to help with training, funding etc.
November 26, 2024
Read for Women & Gender Studies class.
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