Women's Movement Activism in Authoritarian States

Lessons from the Global Feminisms Project

Bibliographic Data

ID2229657
AuthorsA J Stewart (0000-0003-4736-0815, University of Michigan), Shelly Grabe (0000-0002-2158-4995, University of California, Santa Cruz), Wei Zheng (0000-0002-3339-5606), Zheng Wang (0000-0003-0758-2202, University of Michigan), Wang Zheng (0000-0001-5950-5159)
Year2024
Volume49
Issue2
Pages385-409
Publication date2024-01-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueSigns: Journal of Women in Culture and Society (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0097-9740 • E-ISSN: 1545-6943
PublisherUniversity of Chicago Press (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1086/726643
OpenAlexW4388742585
LanguageEN
Citations received5
References cited31

In this article we examine three transnational women’s movements in countries currently led by dictators—Nicaragua, Russia, and China—to uncover lessons they might offer feminist activists across the world as authoritarian regimes increase in the context of globalization. Although the rise in feminist action within these countries paralleled social movement mobilization elsewhere, what distinguishes feminist activism in these three countries is the national political context in which they each operated: a demonstrably repressive turn in which feminist activities became dangerous. In the three countries under investigation, the leaders’ rise to power included feminist repression. To understand how these three different states could evolve from encouraging feminist action to engaging in strategic repression a decade later, we examine oral history interviews with feminist activists in Nicaragua, Russia, and China that were recorded as part of the Global Feminisms Project. Thus, we had thirty-seven unique first-person accounts of the period in question from the perspective of feminist activists. Our analysis suggests that these states employed three mechanisms that disempowered the women’s movement over time: suppression of the international flow of ideas and funding, state control of the media, and public criminalization of dissent and activism. We focus on the first as critical to transnational feminism and review the other two as enhancing the effort to suppress the flow of ideas, people, and funding. Among other implications, the conclusion suggests that to protect feminist activism, we directly work to protect the free flow of ideas and funds across national boundaries, as well as a freely operating media that conveys accurate information, and freedom of protest and dissent where they currently exist

Authoritarianism · China · Context (archaeology) · Democracy · Feminism · Feminist movement · Globalization · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Social movement · Sociology · Gender Politics and Representation · Gender Studies · Gender, Security, and Conflict · Historical and Contemporary Political Dynamics · Law

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