Suchergebnisse

In the context of state-society relations in the US, the establishment, development, organization, & activities of the Women's Bureau (WB) are reviewed. The WB, a permanent agency for women's policy issues housed in the Dept of Labor & established in the 1970s, influenced policy on equal rights for women (1966-1972), pregnancy discrimination (1970-1978), & job training (1975-1992). The WB has not been associated with any particular stream of feminism, but has focused on training for displaced homemakers & women offenders, child care, problems of minority women, & nontraditional jobs for women. Contrary to its mission, the WB has inadequate resources to function as a member of top government policy-making teams for social planning. Organized women's groups must still seek their own way into policy networks in education, welfare, crime, etc. M. Pflum

Feminists in Ireland faced a particularly patriarchal state, which has essentially relegated women to the domestic role. Under some pressure from feminists, three state agencies for women have been formed in the last two decades: the Employment Equality Agency in 1977, the Ministry of State for Women's Affairs (MSWA) in 1982, & the Joint Oiteachtas Committee of Women's Rights (JOCWR) in 1983. The origins, organization, activities, role in the policy process, & linkages to women's organizations of the MSWA (1982-1987) & the JOCWR up to 1993 are described. Reports & legislation produced by the MSWA & the JOCWR underline the important role these policy structures have played in Ireland in expediting social change for women. However, major issues such as divorce & abortion remain outside their scope. M. Pflum

Explores the application of a postmodern feminist perspective to women's lives in the anglophone Caribbean, focusing on Barbados. It is shown that the postmodern perspective explains many political actions taken by Anglo-Caribbean women, without employing the universalist or hegemonic tendencies of the more liberal or social feminist frameworks that misinterpret or even ignore such actions. Moreover, in that it stresses diversity, difference, & positionality, the postmodern approach is taken to recognize women's agency, the power of women's knowledge, & the tradition of resistance among Caribbean women much more than alternatives. The postmodernist perspective is described as a challenge to Caribbean feminists to build feminist theories from the bottom up on the basis of indigenous experience & knowledge of those they are purporting to assist. D. M. Smith

Introduces a Vol of nine Chpts (each abstracted) by providing a theoretical & political context for issues raised by recent changes in & challenges to the political project of feminism. The central idea of a shared oppression uniting women in their struggle for liberation informed second-wave feminism of the 1960s & 1970s, which tended to concentrate on social structures that universally disadvantaged women, regardless of class, race, or sexual differences. This ignorance of difference eventually led to the assertion of radical difference in postmodernist & poststructuralist feminist thought. These new strands of theory were anchored in a wider challenge to Western philosophical thought that revealed the gendered nature of the dichotomies that structure it. Two particular claims were stressed by poststructural feminists: that all knowledge was partial & relative to the social construction of experience. Thus, recent feminist work is described as emphasizing the local & cultural variability of gender in all its forms. Others have focused on the nature of power as ambivalent & negotiated rather than imposed from one group onto another. With a focus on identity issues in the context of practicing feminism, contributions address the significance of women's agency & sense of active subjectivity as well as notions of identity construction in power relations. 85 References. D. M. Smith

The organizations, activities, & responsibilities of Denmark's Equal Status Council (DESC), created in the 1970s, are described. DESC is the focus for feminist operations in the state, & the dominant agency for legislation on gender equality. DESC grew out of great controversy about women's role in society as homemaker vs worker, so in composing DESC, multiple sides of the debate had to be represented. The strategies & ideology of DESC have largely been influenced by women's organizations, especially since 1988. Even though these organizations are rivals in attracting members, they share similar perceptions of the tactics for embracing women's interests. The outcomes for DESC have been ambiguous; they have increased gender equality, but other areas vital for women's status & well-being have remained outside their scope. M. Pflum

The Dept for the Coordination of Equality Policy (DCE) is the most important Dutch government agency for women's policy. The DCE's 1978 establishment, organization, role in policy formation, & relations with Dutch women's movement are reviewed. Because of the influence of Dutch feminist ideology, the DCE is relatively informal & nonhierarchical in comparison to other agencies. Its ability to initiate new policies on its own is limited; it serves more of a coordinating role. The three-sided network envisioned by feminists -- the "iron triangle" composed of the DCE, the women's movement, & a strong government advisory body -- has never materialized, & the DCE itself is now weakening due to the policy of integration of agencies. M. Pflum

Party politics in GB has impeded networking across government agencies to promote women's policies, so only two state agencies devoted to this topic exist. The Equal Opportunities Commission (EOC) opened its doors in 1975 to enforce & develop equality legislation, following passage of the Sex Discrimination Act. Women's interests are also addressed by the small advisory agency, the Women's National Commission. The origins, organizational structure, activities, & influence of the EOC 1975-present are described. After years of ambivalence, the EOC changed course in 1988 to mainstream sex equality policy, but inequalities in pay scales, occupations, child care provision, & welfare continue. The EOC had some early failures, & has excluded certain feminist organization policy making, so there is pressure for the establishment of a Ministry of Women apart from the EOC. M. Pflum

The establishment, organization, role, policy influence, & relations with women's organizations of the Equality Ombudsman (JAMO) in Sweden are reviewed. JAMO was established as an independent state agency in 1980 to eliminate sexual inequality at work. A significant autonomous feminist movement in Sweden has largely been absent, so JAMO has set its own agenda on work-related inequities. It has regulated women's labor, but has had little power to effectively intervene in the workplace in areas such as sexual harassment & violence against women. Inequality still persists, which may in fact be because state intervention inhibits the development of more innovative policies that would eradicate male privilege. M. Pflum

The influence of Algerian settler society & of the elaboration of Algerian nationalist discourse on the formation of gender identity in Algeria is examined through analysis of French settler colonization of Algeria, 1830-1962. Analysis centers on the experiences of the European settler &, Jewish, Arab, & Berber ethnic/racial groups, & emphasizes four dimensions of the settler experience in Algeria: (1) the ethnic & class structure before & during colonization & the impact of the interwoven & mutually reinforcing elements of class & ethnic divisions & alliances on the struggle for political & economic power; (2) the colonizers' definition of citizenship & the impact of racial & religious dichotomies on the construction of collective identities & different national projects; (3) the impact of women's subjectivity/agency on their resistance or reproduction of ethnic, religious, class, &/or racial role expectations; & (4) the impact of precolonial, colonial, & postcolonial diversities on the women's movement. 26 References. D. Generoli

Italy lagged somewhat behind the rest of Europe in setting up offices to promote equal status for women. The solution Italy chose in the 1980s was a plurality of agencies rather than a single department or ministry, so that there would be better focus on the different issues within each agency. Equal Status & Equal Opportunity National Commission (ESONC) was charged with promoting equal opportunity for women in the fields of communication, culture, politics, & power positions. The Equal State Committee for the Implementation of Equal Treatment & Equal Opportunities for Men & Women in the Workplace (ESC) focused on equality in the workplace. The establishment, organization, & activities of these two agencies & the interaction between women's political machinery & the women's movement in Italy are reviewed. ESONC has had a cultural impact, but limited influence, on policy making. ESC has recently been important in affirmative action labor legislation, but has not yet infiltrated the collective bargaining process. M. Pflum

In the context of consciousness & identity formation, subjective & cognitive aspects of feminist political action are explored, drawing on participant observation, interviews with 35 women, & media representations of the Women's Peace Camp at Greenham Common, England, which drew several hundred thousand women into feminist & antimilitarist activism in the 1980s. The media tended to characterize the camp as, at best, a form of maternalist & essentialist politics &, at worst, an antifeminist threat to women's liberation. However, it is argued that the actions of women at this camp constituted a powerful challenge to hegemonic constructions of women. Greenham is described as an arena in which alternative conceptions of women were practiced, & a sense of individual & collective agency was formed. The construction of lesbian identities & their unique role at the camp are considered in terms of their identities & the positive meaning attributed to lesbianism. It is concluded that the new identity of woman created at Greenham was closely connected to the possibility of new identities as lesbians. 32 References. D. M. Smith