Personal Feminist Journeys

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The European Feminist Forum: a Herstory (2004-2008)

Dütting, G.; Harcourt, W.; Lohmann, K.; McDevitt-Pugh, L.; Semeniuk, J.; Wieringa, S.

Publication date 2009 Document Version Final published version

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Citation for published version (APA): Dütting, G., Harcourt, W., Lohmann, K., McDevitt-Pugh, L., Semeniuk, J., & Wieringa, S. (2009). The European Feminist Forum: a Herstory (2004-2008). Aletta Institute for Women’s History. http://europeanfeministforum.org/IMG/pdf/EFF_Herstory_web.pdf

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A Herstory (2004–2008) Gisela Dütting, Wendy Harcourt, Kinga Lohmann, The European Feminist Forum Feminist The European Lin McDevitt-Pugh, Lin Joanna McDevitt-Pugh, Semeniuk and Saskia Wieringa

The European Feminist Forum A Herstory (2004–2008)

All rights reserved, including those of translation into foreign languages. The information in this document is freely available to all and may be cited, using the citation text: “(chapter author) 2009, in The European Feminist Forum, A Herstory, 2004-2008, Aletta – Institute for Women’s History, The Netherlands”.

Copy editor: The Write Effect, UK Lay-out: Trees Vulto DTP, The Netherlands

Aletta – Institute for Women’s History (formerly IIAV) Obiplein 4, 1094 RB. Amsterdam, The Netherlands www.aletta.nu Tel: +31 20 6651318 Email: [email protected] Contents

Introduction Lin McDevitt-Pugh 5 describes the vision informing the process of setting up the European Feminist Forum

Personal Feminist Journeys Gisela Dütting, Wendy Harcourt, Lin McDevitt-Pugh, Kinga Lohmann, Joanna Semeniuk and Saskia Wieringa 9 gives the contributors’ ‘personal are political’ stories in their journeys as European feminists, as a way of mapping out how they see European feminism today

THEME ONE From Solidarity to Affinity and Feminist Communal Identities Saskia Wieringa 29 introduces theoretically the different histories of feminism in Europe, with a focus on issues of solidarity and affinity and communal identities

THEME TWO Feminist Resource Mobilization and Building Political Power Kinga Lohmann 39 describes and analyses movement building, funding, accountability, NGO-ization and organizing, through case studies and accountability

THEME THREE Economic Change and Migration Gisela Dütting 53 presents the economic issues, migration, precarity and entrepreneurship for feminists in Europe and as they emerged in the European Feminist Forum

THEME FOUR Sexual and Bodily Integrity Wendy Harcourt 73 analyses the debates around body politics and sexuality issues in Europe such as heteronormativity, transgender and intersexual debates

THEME FIVE Intersectionality and Intergenerational Dialogues Joanna Semeniuk 87 contextualizes the feminist buzz words of intersectionality/intergenerational movement building by looking at new ways of feminist organizing in the European Feminist Forum

Conclusion Saskia Wieringa, Gisela Dütting and Wendy Harcourt 99 pulls out some of the main issues that the European Feminist Forum process raised

Bibliography 103 A Herstory...... 4 ...... Section 0 Introduction

Lin McDevitt-Pugh

In 2004 a group of European feminist activists Forum, which had promised to bring together and funders decided to engage in a dialogue with all European social movements, was not a space notable European feminists, in order to take a where the new face of feminism was being dis- fresh look at the focus of women’s movements in covered, discussed, evolved or engaged. The Europe. Three of the five authors of this mono- dominant feeling in the room was that in order graph were at that meeting, held at the offices of to engage in these large international and Euro- women’s funding agency Mama Cash in Amster- pean agendas we first had to rediscover what our dam. It was a year before the 10th anniversary European feminist identity was for us to make an of the United Nations (UN) Fourth World Confer- impact in Europe, in the world and ultimately in ence on Women in Beijing, and many of those at our own communities. the meeting were involved in national activities to monitor government progress on the Beijing We left that meeting with the resolve to see how promises. The participants at the meeting were to bring together our organizations and networks concerned that governments were far from ful- to engage in a broad discussion on twenty-first filling the promises made in Beijing, that fund- century European feminism. ‘Europe,’ we posited ing had not been made available to support the in a message to our networks, ‘is living through a institutions tasked with putting the Platform for phase of rapid change and transition due to mul- Action into action, and that the UN was not plan- tiple forces both within and outside Europe. The ning any follow-up conference to take the work to process of European enlargement, the decline the next level. of the national state, the emphasis of market and consumerism, the growing poverty, social At the meeting we reviewed another UN agenda: and political inequalities and insecurities within the five years of the Millennium Development Europe and outside in the face [of] neo conser- Goals (MDGs – the eight key goals that The Mil- vatism and dominance of the UN all demand a lennium Declaration, adopted by 189 States at the response. Many gains made by women’s rights UN’s Millennium Summit in 2000, identified for movements are under threat as the state retreated 2015 http://www.un.org/millenniumgoals/). Our and new forms of fundamentalisms appeared in Amsterdam meeting was just before heads of the guise of appeals to the family and the care state were to meet at a World Summit in Septem- economy.’ ‘Can we,’ we wondered, ‘identify our- ber 2005. While the agendas focused in part on selves as European feminists? Can we craft a dia- women, it was clear that these UN agendas were logue that is multi-faceted, multicultural perhaps not what inspired our work as Europeans and as even multi-political and inspire a much needed feminists. Even the agenda of the Europe Social economic and social transformation in Europe?’

A Herstory...... 5 ...... Introduction (An Invitation to join the European Feminist Forum, agreed to host the process, leading the fundrais- 15 December 2004). ing endeavours and supporting the project staff.

In that message Wendy Harcourt (WIDE), Esther Interestingly, the IIAV is a different kind of organi- Vonk (Mama Cash), Ireen Dubel (Hivos), Kinga zation from the others in the Steering Committee. Lohmann (KARAT Coalition), Wanda Nowicka It is a ‘bricks and mortar’ library and archive, with (ASTRA), Malin Bjork (European Women’s Lobby), a huge online offering. It is also activist, and sees Malgorzata Tarasiewicz (Network of East-West information and knowledge as pivotal in advanc- Women), Gisela Dütting and I, representing the ing the position of women. The EFF gave it the International Information Centre and Archives opportunity to play a role in bringing to light the for the Women’s Movement (IIAV)1 invited people diversity of opinions, convictions, struggles and to participate in a broad and inclusive European programmes that characterize women’s move- feminist discussion. We envisaged a discussion ments in Europe today. Hosting the EFF gave the along two paths. One was a European Feminist IIAV an unprecedented opportunity to listen to the Forum (EFF) in cyberspace. Envisaged as a space many voices of women in Europe and be part of for brainstorming, it was to be a way to scope out the process to have those voices heard despite what ‘European’ feminists are doing and to build language and geographical distinctions. a sense of our interests, our political positionings and our ‘voice’ on key issues. The second was an The EFF was envisioned as a large-scale conver- EFF in real time, its programme defined by the sation between hundreds of feminists, each repre- online discussions. Our goal was to hold this event senting part of the spectrum of feminist activism at the end of 2006 or beginning of 2007. in Europe in the twenty-first century. We wanted to nurture new ways of thinking about feminist After bandying the idea around in our organiza- goals and organizational approaches. We wanted tions and networks, face to face and via email to build on new insights through an organic pro- lists, a number of us continued to touch base at cess of bringing individuals together who would various international conferences. We pondered not normally be working together, either because on whether there was there a large enough group of their geography or their activist focus, through of feminists out there to carry this conversation a set of Affinity Groups. We aimed to create a net- forward. Were others sharing our idea that the work of these Affinity Groups in order to cross- time was ripe for a large-scale European discus- pollinate each other’s ideas; as each idea devel- sion, leading to a new feminist agenda? In 2006 we oped and was shared on our interactive website, took the plunge and put this new form of organiz- others would capture it in their activities and keep ing to the test. We set up a Steering Committee, the idea growing under the auspices of a differ- consisting of European feminist network leaders, ent debate. By the time the people and ideas came who committed to guiding the progress of the together in a face-to-face EFF, the ideas they EFF process. After considerable discussion the shared would have already been influenced by Amsterdam-based women’s archives, the IIAV, each other’s thinking, without the individuals ever having met.

In the end, the networking happened, but the 1 In August 2009 the name IIAV was changed to Aletta – face-to-face event did not. The organizers had to Institute for Women’s History. Throughout this monograph stop preparations when it became clear that we the institute will be referred to by the correct name in the historical context, IIAV. could not raise enough money to physically bring

A Herstory...... 6 ...... Introduction people together. That is when we decided to share the project were in some ways in competition with our experience in this monograph. There were so the resources needed for our groups and organi- many new thoughts formulated, so many ideas zations. At times we had to balance the immediate generated, that we felt they should be shared as needs of our own organizations with the poten- part of the continuing herstory of European femi- tial long-term benefits of a collective endeavour. nism. We engaged in political and strategic disagreements. And, as the timeframe stretched beyond Looking back, the original concept of the EFF the original commitment each of us made to this remains powerful, but did we really have the project, the ability of Steering Committee mem- means to pull off this huge sharing of ideas, apart bers to continue to be involved was put to the test. from the money issues? As we advanced through Meanwhile, questions surfaced around who has the process of writing this herstory it became the legitimacy to call for such a meeting, and how more and more clear to the authors that the to ensure that ‘Europe’ is understood as the wider technology of advancing the various discussions, Europe, whatever that actually is. distilling them and developing new insights may not yet have been invented. This process of listen- The organization of this herstory is based on a ing and re-creating calls for an intensely reflec- shared consensus of what, according to par- tive activity and one that needs times to ripen. It ticipants in the EFF, the major feminist issues in is also a highly personal activity in which people Europe are. At a meeting of the Steering Commit- very purposefully take the time to share ideas tee and several representatives of Affinity Groups together, then reflect, then come together again held in Warsaw in 2007, using a synthesis by months later to explore together the new paths Gisela Dütting of all the materials that had been the exchanges have created. The democratic developed to date in the Affinity Groups, we deter- notion that a large number of feminists in Europe mined three main issues: body politics, economy could shape a conversation of the magnitude and and our movement.2 From the starting point of intensity we intended was ambitious. There is these three issues, the authors came together on nothing wrong with ambition. Without it we could three separate occasions to discuss the publica- not have made a start on the project. But more tion, share our findings, comment on each other’s ambition is needed to continue the process, to findings in the light of our own feminist journeys, create a feminist Europe. and rewrite our contributions.

This herstory tells the story of vision, conflict, We learned through our discussions that to com- struggle and courage, as an increasingly expand- plete our writing we had to go back to the docu- ing group of people engaged in debate and orga- ments the Affinity Groups had provided, and seek nizing the EFF. The participants had to step out- out the ideas of important thinkers in the field we side their normal working environments to com- were discussing. The act of writing this herstory municate with each other. Small feminist groups became an act of testing the ideas the Affinity working with local struggles brought their issues into broader international contexts, and groups working across borders engaged with grass- 2 The categories were entitled ‘Economic change in roots activists they may never meet again. For the Europe: changes in the economy, the labour market, migra- organizers, we had to struggle with prioritizing tion and feminist alternatives’; ‘Women’s physical and sexual integrity: women’s bodies, abortion and the politics of our project in our own working lives, while at the ending violence against women’; and ‘Our movement: femi- same time realizing that resources we needed for nist resource mobilization and building political power’.

A Herstory...... 7 ...... Introduction Groups had created against current academic than just what is going on now. We are attempting and activist thinking, and bringing to that our own to understand who Europe is in the world. unique reflective process. As such, we believe the herstory brings a new and unique understanding We have not given up the idea of a European real- of the major European feminist issues at the end time feminist confabulation. We think that our of the first decade of the twenty-first century, and efforts have brought such an event closer, and we a taste of the challenges facing European feminist feel that this herstory will help the builders of a organizers. new EFF process to reach deeper into the heart of European feminism with greater clarity. But to The most recent editorial meeting was in Rome, build we need new tools, including new ways of in an ornate meeting room adjoining the offices engaging with each other to explore the present of the Society for International Development day reality of injustice and disparity and creating where Wendy Harcourt works. For two days we whole systems to replace this reality. talked and argued around a huge oak table, our laptaps out of place, looking past each other to The editorial team wishes to acknowledge and old wall and ceiling frescos that admittedly need thank the hundreds of feminists that have con- a repair job no NGO could afford. In the evenings tributed to this initiative, often on a voluntary we walked through Rome, feasting our eyes on basis. We acknowledge the members of the ancient crumbling buildings and exquisite stat- Steering Committee and the network organiza- ues and fountains. Whether we had been in Rome tions they represent – The Polish Federation for before or not, we all knew the buildings; we had Women and Family Planning, Babaylan - Philip- known them all our lives from our history books. pine Women’s Network in Europe, IFOR’s Women I felt acutely aware of being in what I had been Peacemaker’s Program (WPP), KARAT Coalition, taught was a cradle of civilization. This is Rome; The Network of East-West Women (NEWW-Pol- this is Europe; this is the culture I call my own. ska), the Joint Roma Women’s Initiatives (JRWI), I asked my colleagues whether they too had a Network Women in Development Europe (WIDE) sense of being at their own cultural source. And – for their continuing commitment to the success indeed, no matter where we were from – Austra- of this process. We acknowledge the interns and lia, the Netherlands, Italy or Poland – we shared staff at the EFF Secretariat for their vision, enthu- a sense of being in a cultural space that was our siasm and willingness to make a difference. We own. Is this then what it is to feel European? Those acknowledge the staff and Board of the Interna- born in Europe, those colonized by Europe, those tional Archives for the Women’s Movement, who colonized by the colonizers that were originally were willing to take risks and who understand European – is there any person that has enjoyed that to be an information-sharing organization a ‘Western education’ anywhere in the world that requires participating in communities of prac- can avoid feeling European? Yet European nations tice and who hosted the EFF Secretariat. We also define themselves by their borders, and their peo- acknowledge our many funders: Cordaid, Global ples engage in a constant conflict about who is in Fund for Women, Hivos, Mama Cash, Open Society and who is out, within these borders. Our efforts Institute and Oxfam Novib. They too are visionar- to develop a shared understanding of European ies and committed to a feminist future in Europe. feminism can, in the light of these discrepancies, be seen as a brave attempt to make sense of more

A Herstory...... 8 ...... Introduction Personal Feminist Journeys

Gisela Dütting, Wendy Harcourt, Lin McDevitt-Pugh, Kinga Lohmann, Joanna Semeniuk and Saskia Wieringa

Introduction To begin our herstory we first share our personal Inside the Dutch women’s movement, class issues feminist journeys to explain why we engaged in were difficult to discuss and connections with the European Feminist Forum (EFF). In our per- marginalized ‘others’ seldom made; only the les- sonal stories we share our reflections on what it bian groups were sufficiently organized to make means to us personally to be European feminists claims and to challenge. Occasionally, fault-lines and how we have experienced changes in Euro- appeared in the feminist circles I moved in: when pean feminist agendas over the years. And most I had to work (I only had a minimal loan and no of all, we seek to explain what in our personal scholarship), and I spent too little time to be feminist trajectories led us to engage in creating counted as a serious activist; when I noticed that an EFF. writing had a higher status than organizing; when the things I had learned on the street were considered of no value; when the translating work I did Gisela Dütting Researcher and for male migrants was considered ‘unfeminist’. feminist activist, based in Amsterdam, the Netherlands I left the Netherlands in 1983 to do anthropological fieldwork; I found the opinions of peasant In the Netherlands, the second wave of feminism women and men in Swaziland very similar to what had its highpoint in the 1970s and early 1980s. As I was used to at home. After many years abroad I a student in the 1980s, I was just in time to be an returned in 1991 to the Netherlands as coordinator active feminist, in the last strong phase of the of the Women’s Global Network for Reproductive women’s movement, with topics such as access to Rights. In this period collaborating networks and legal abortion and demonstrations against rape. organizations seized the opportunity to mobilize At all meetings, I was one of the youngest pres- through the UN processes and to hold their own ent. As a student, I was also active in the squat- governments accountable. These were the years ters’ movement, and an active participant in many when women’s rights became human rights and local and international activities: the feminist the UN affirmed at least some sexual and repro- Washing Machine collective, the Students’ Rent- ductive rights. Control Group, solidarity work with Mozambican women trade unionists and doing Embassy work At the UN meetings feminists were always aware for Amnesty International. I was a typical cross- that spaces of power could be found in the Euro- movement activist, with a feminist analysis that I pean headquarters of multinational companies; had picked up at university. in the European governments, that often domi-

A Herstory...... 9 ...... Personal Feminist Journeys nated outcomes in the IMF and World Bank, and organizing and mobilizing. They understood what increasingly in the WTO; and in the (bureaucra- I thought of as feminist, as democratic. They were cies of) the European Union (EU). However, few very pragmatic – no political nit-picking allowed feminists were seriously working at the Euro- – and high tech. Internet and mobile phones were pean level or focused on issues in Europe. When I indispensable during demonstrations with police decided to understand the mechanisms of the EU, brutality (such as the anti-G8 demonstrations in and systematically studied pan-European devel- Genoa, and the EU demonstrations in Gothenburg). opments (always from an international perspec- ‘Feminist’ exercises and principles were easily tive), I found little recent feminist work. accepted. Direct action preferred. This openness faltered and nearly disappeared when formal In 1997 I resigned from my job so I could spend organizing was necessary for the European Social more time, even if unpaid, on developments in Fora. Back on the stage were the (older) political Europe. Together with a large conglomerate of and trade union activists, and here women had to Dutch NGOs, networks and groups, feminists fight for a space once more. That was disappoint- worked in the Platform towards a Different ing, and also showed the fragmentation and the Europe, campaigning for political alternatives and weakness of women’s organizations/movements. a different European collaboration. The initiative was related to the upcoming Treaty of Amster- During debates in this period (early 2000) with dam, and linked up with trade unions, NGOs, students of Political Science at the University of activists and groups from all over Europe. Very Amsterdam, it was clear that feminist analysis diverse groups in the Netherlands invited me to was not sufficiently updated to answer questions speak on Europe and EU politics. The demand or voice a feminist position on migration in Europe, was overwhelming, and there were so few people precarity and flexibilization of labour, and access who could or were willing to do it. During all these to housing – all issues that concerned many young speaking tours and invited stints, political contro- people in Europe, male and female. The only topic versies emerged. I remember that I was invited by that remained a solid feminist topic was sexual the Students’ Union at the Technical University of and reproductive rights. Universities in Europe Eindhoven to speak about gender and women in were all teaching Gender/Women’s Studies, but the EU. To the relief of many (European) students the students did not translate that knowledge into present, I spoke about gender politics in the EU, feminist activism. but I was also the only one, to the discomfort of the male panellists, with a very critical view on In 2004 I jumped at the chance offered by the the EU and a power analysis. EFF initiative to re-discuss feminist analysis and re-politicize the feminist movement in Europe. This work morphed into the alter-globalization The timing was right: there were new groups of movement, although I also joined the Board of young and queer feminists in Central Europe, Women in Development Europe (WIDE), which young women in Western Europe were organizing focused on the gender, trade and development (although seldom as feminists), the EU had gained nexus. I kept my focus on Europe. New groups political momentum and at the same time alien- across Europe were organizing. It was partly a ated many citizens, and new pressing issues such return to activism and demonstrations, where this as precarity, impoverishment, migration, impunity time I was among the oldest. But the times had of the elites, corruption, and insecurity appeared changed. Among the younger activists, I found a in the headlines of European newspapers. Many very open attitude and a hunger for knowledge on people – activists or not – were looking for inspir-

A Herstory...... 10...... Personal Feminist Journeys ing alternatives that would make sense in today’s my university years, when I had scholarships and Europe. For me, this initiative followed logi- could travel and spent time in the UK and Italy, cally from all the other activities that I had been though I was mostly a student in Australia. As a involved in. I was very pleased to see that many student, being a border crosser was somewhat women and men across Europe immediately confusing, and I found myself having to be differ- jumped on the potential of the EFF. I was proud ent people almost at the same time. At the Aus- that together we managed to pioneer new forms tralian National University, where I did my PhD, of organizing, in the form of Affinity Groups. This I was in a very male History department, trying organizing gave maximum space for self-defini- to be the first Women’s Studies PhD. I was on a tion and self-organization. In all its diversity, the state PhD scholarship but was also trying to live EFF took a lead in renewing the political debate, collectively as a socialist feminist in a communal from strong roots in feminist analysis and diverse group of eight women. We shared resources and political activism. campaigned together in three Australian states. On my visits to the UK I was a Greenham Com- Within the EFF and outside, I focused on economic mon environmentalist living with women in tents justice as a main topic in Europe, and I initiated on the weekend while attending during the week an Affinity Group on entrepreneurship. This is one one of the most elite universities in the world, of the themes where feminist analysis has not Cambridge. And in my personal life I was both the been developed further. It is not only an academic daughter of a well-known academic and political analysis that is lacking but also a quest for new family and also a bisexual married non-monog- strategies in the feminist movement and queries amously to a homosexual. My political organizing about new mobilizing possibilities. I am convinced on feminist issues was also about border cross- that for a growing number of people in Europe, a ing: I was doing violence against women in aca- decent living, a sustainable livelihood and dignity demic contexts, feminism in environmentalist will propel the quest for new political constella- contexts, sexuality in socialist feminist contexts, tions and economic and social justice. and anti-capitalism in radical feminist contexts.

Eventually I found all these combinations for a Wendy Harcourt Editor of young woman in her 20s (though I would not have Development, Society for International ever called myself young then) too much, basically Development, based in Rome, Italy unhappy in love and burnt out. I moved to the UK to salvage my PhD. I made the choice to leave my I can proudly claim to be a third-generation femi- collective living with women and see what Europe nist on my mother’s side; but, less easily, I have holds. Ever the romantic, as in fact I think many to admit that I have spent most of my life cross- feminists are, I found love in Italy, both with the ing borders of one kind or another. I have always male partner with whom I now have two daugh- found myself not quite fitting a specific identity, or ters and with Italy itself. I became the Australian sexuality, or place, or political focus, or academic living in Italy, miraculously finding a job where interest, or way of life. my PhD, knowledge of women’s organizing, and editing skills could be put to good use. However, To begin with where was home? I have moved I was again crossing borders, as the organiza- since a child between Australia and Europe, so tion was not a women’s organization but rather I was the little English girl in Australia and the an international NGO, the Society for International little Australian in the UK. This continued into Development. I became the new young thing with

A Herstory...... 11...... Personal Feminist Journeys a mission, to bring women’s issues, which later for women professionals and activists working in became gender issues, into the Society with the solidarity with women in other countries. I also support of older women, most of whom were was able through SID’s status with the UN to be professors or leaders of the UN. Given that men- part of a series of UN conferences, where I could toring, my strong background in advocacy and join and caucus with women around the world. I personal determination to cross those borders, I was part of Italian women’s groups preparing for managed – and still do, as I continue to work for those conferences but was, despite the fact I lived SID as Editor and Senior Advisor. in Rome, perceived as the international voice.

But in the process of moving to Italy and in the At the international meetings, however, I was part search to find my place as a feminist there, I of the European advocacy groups. I found myself found Italian feminism somewhat elusive. The working more outside Italy as I became part of influence of the Catholic Church and the struggle the WIDE Steering Group. Although I also helped for abortion I could follow. But the internal divi- to organize a local WIDE platform, it was again sions related to geographic regions and political as the foreigner who could adjudicate among the parties were very different from my Australian different Italian positionings, and in WIDE I found way of thinking about feminism. I was used to myself called on to facilitate differences within people identifying as socialist feminist, as radi- Europe. cal feminist, as ecofeminist, as liberal feminist. In Italy feminism seemed very strongly linked to WIDE at the time took on many issues, working engrained party political divisions and personali- with migrants in Europe, reproductive health and ties rather than determined by a women’s move- rights, environment, economics and trade. In the ment agenda. Indeed, it was extremely difficult early 1990s there was already within WIDE a ten- to work across those party lines and for young sion between the role of working in solidarity with women, especially foreigners, to find a voice in women and working with a European agenda. the scene. At the same time, it felt like identity WIDE was challenged by partners to be clear politics was just not the same as in Australia. No about what European women were doing working one cared if you were lesbian, bisexual or straight, in and for the South. Where was our feminism? if environmentalism, peace or domestic violence What were our European issues that we should was your issue; rather, you were part of different bring to the international table? In those days we party factions and jostled for power, which for the were not sure; the challenge and opportunity of life of me seemed to be beside the point of being post-1989 was there, but the dialogue between feminist. East and West had not yet begun in earnest.

So, my early attempts at being an active feminist Working in SID I also had to face a strong cri- in Italy were not successful. I tried to organize tique of international development by activists meetings across divisions, which led to some and others. Did development address poverty or lively, heated debates and not much else. In the did it simply shore up the interests of the North? end I found my only role was to work in the Euro- The more I worked with women and men in the pean and international domain. In the early 1990s South the more I felt that the real problem was I became engaged in the newly formed network, the North. I did several research projects which Women in Development Europe (then based in turned into books and journal issues that took Ireland but which moved to Brussels), donating up a critical feminist perspective on develop- my time and SID’s resources to provide a bulletin

A Herstory...... 12...... Personal Feminist Journeys ment and on Europe’s positioning in international our own. Our energy and our funding resources development. had been directed at women and places outside of Europe. Why? When feminism was still needed in In the months leading up to the Fourth World a rapidly grown and unequal Europe? We felt the Conference on Women in Beijing in 1995, which need to redefine global feminism outside the UN’s remains well over a decade later one of the most reaches and also with the rapidly changing geo- important reference points for stated interna- politics and economics of Europe. Our solidarity tional commitments to women’s rights, I found had meant reaching out to others, but perhaps I was unexpectedly pregnant. Having children that reaching out was obscuring the problems meant I had to cut down on my voluntary activism, we ourselves as Europeans were facing. Some and I stopped working actively in WIDE. of us lived with shame at being the white, rich European women, but when we looked around we So, although I continued to write and do research, wondered if indeed we were all so white or rich, it was not until my younger daughter was five and, indeed, what was ‘European’? Perhaps even years old that I thought again I could contribute what did it mean to be a woman in a world that to feminism in Europe. For my paid work I did recognized transgender and the heterosexism of do quite a bit of travelling (with the kids), in par- our biological categories? As feminists living in ticular in South Asia. As I engaged in debates in Europe were we not catching ourselves out if we different places in South Asia (and elsewhere did not have our own agenda clear before we could in the South) I was continually challenged about work actively with others? What was Europe going where was my place? Was it Europe? Australia? to offer to international feminism apart from a The world? Where were my roots? All this border debilitating apology for being colonialists? crossing continued to confuse people – and not a little myself. Was I an activist or academic? How At that meeting and as we began to organize could I be an international feminist, at times part for the EFF I felt I had found a place that I could of the UN scene and yet so critical of the UN and claim my own as a European feminist living all the development? How was I a mother and yet travel- changes of the last 20 years, globally and on my ling for work continually? How was I an Australian own skin and body. I, like others, wanted a pro- yet living in Italy, a gender advocate yet employed European nuanced agenda, not one that made us by what many including myself saw as an old boys’ donors, or apologetic of our heritages. Rather, network? one that could help us to explore what it meant to be European feminists now. So, fortuitously, I found myself invited to a meeting by Mama Cash in Amsterdam in 2004, just at The EFF started there for me, and coincidentally the moment when I was looking for my place and also my re-engagement with WIDE, a dual re- the way to put my experiences of the last years to entry into European feminism which I have juggled work again for feminism. At that meeting I found over the last four years, bringing the EFF agenda there were others that wanted to form a proactive into WIDE and vice versa. Most of all I found that European feminist agenda built on our differences living in Europe and defining myself as feminist across the East and West and South and North of was all that was required to be part of the EFF. I Europe, accepting migrants and others in Europe. did not need to identify as any particular cluster of We spoke honestly with each other, recognizing feminists; the EFF was open to all ages, sexuali- that our European feminist agenda was weak, and ties and nationalities and was beyond party poli- many of us knew more about other places than tics.

A Herstory...... 13...... Personal Feminist Journeys The EFF has given me a chance to see what is of crucifixes hanging in almost all public spaces, new in Europe, to try to understand the overlap- including the Parliament. As an atheist accus- ping agendas of women from such different back- tomed to a secular Polish state during my youth, grounds and histories, to trace where the old I perceived these two phenomena as part of the agendas are shifting and what new ones are on enormous backlash and a return to a religious the horizon. It has also given me the opportunity state with a strong Catholic Church influence and to explore again what it means to say the personal power over women. Both my experience of living is political and in the process to redefine solidar- outside Poland and my deep distrust of the pub- ity and affinity in my feminist activism. lic discourse dominated by the Catholic Church’s view, particularly concerning women and their role in the society, prevented me from re-identi- Kinga Lohmann Founder and Director fying with the country. of KARAT, based in Warsaw, Poland I also struggled to find employment in a Polish My ‘adventure’ with the women’s movement and labour market transformed by the free market feminism started at the beginning of 1995. It was a economy. I felt strongly discriminated against as period of mobilization of Polish women in relation a woman over 40, considered by employers in this to the international conference on women in Bei- new labour ‘landscape’ to be ‘old’. jing. It coincided with my return to Poland after 17 years of living abroad. At that time Poland was To find my place in Poland in the middle of the undergoing a dynamic transformation after an 1990s was a real challenge. Despite the vibrant overthrow of totalitarian regime by the Solidar- environment of democratic development in public ity movement and a decade of relatively peace- and political life there was no space for the voices ful struggle between Solidarity and communist of civil society or women. Instead, this space was power that culminated in the roundtable of June dominated by people and organizations associ- 1989. I was enthusiastic about these changes and ated with the Catholic Church. In opposition to the ending of the rigorous state control of citizens’ the mainstream official public discourse I found movement abroad, of opening borders even with a burgeoning social movement which was bring- visas being still required for European and other ing new approaches and methods to tackle issues countries. I was delighted by the sense of freedom of human rights and justice, discrimination and demonstrated by the media, which although far exclusion. Feminism flourished here as a pro- from being perfect, demonstrated itself through gressive voice in its fight for reproductive rights a shift from the language of misinformation and for women, rights for lesbians and gays, and in its propaganda to a diversity of opinions. And there support for other progressive movements strug- was a significant improvement in access to com- gling for the rights of different minorities and modities (such as food, clothing and cleaning vulnerable groups, and for a secular state. Pol- products); less queuing made everyday life eas- ish feminists were linking with the international ier. But I also realized the promises of democratic women’s movement, and their involvement in and economic transformation were not necessary the UN processes helped to broaden the politi- translated into positive changes as far as women cal debates in Poland. It was here in this exciting were concerned. Polish feminist movement that I found a space as both a subject and leader of changes. I was astonished in 1993 by the passing of the anti-abortion law in Poland and the appearance

A Herstory...... 14...... Personal Feminist Journeys My first task in the movement was in the prepa- caucuses were pitched, there were tents for North ration for the Beijing conference in 1995, where I America and Western Europe, tents for other geo- coordinated the production of the first civil soci- graphical UN regions, but there was no tent for ‘my’ ety ‘shadow’ report on the situation of women in Europe. In the following years, contacts and col- Poland. From that period until 2000 the Polish laboration with European feminists and activists women’s movement was strongly influenced by (from EU countries) were taking place mostly at the international women’s movement’s mobiliza- the UN level within the Beijing follow-up process; tion around the UN Beijing process. The Polish however, it did not contribute to the integration women’s movement mobilized around the imple- of women from Western Europe and Central and mentation of governmental international commit- Eastern Europe and the Commonwealth of Inde- ments related to women’s human rights (Beijing pendent States (CEE/CIS – a division introduced by Platform for Action, CEDAW). the UN Economic Commission for Europe) and to further cooperation at the European level outside I enjoyed the work, but I was used to more diverse the UN. Yet, close links and cooperation between cultural perspectives, having lived in West Africa CEE/CIS and American feminists and the global for 14 years – in Ghana and Ivory Coast – and three movement were established. years in Turkey. I found the point of view of only one country dominated by one culture and reli- At the time of the EU accession process of eight gion too narrow and oppressive, with a tendency Eastern European countries I decided that Europe to strong polarities. I felt deprived of the right to should be a priority in my further work. One of the my own analysis, judgement and opinions, as well reasons was that the EU was a strong political as to calling myself a feminist, as most feminists and economic power which transforms the whole were academics. I was attracted to cooperating of Europe, both positively and negatively, which with women from other European post-commu- demanded feminist attention. Another motivation nist countries to make our voice – women from was to change the ambiguous status of my part Central and Eastern Europe – heard in the inter- of Europe, and to overcome divisions between the national arena. From the Beijing process I was countries and within our societies. And a third drawn to the challenge of building such collabo- reason was to be a part of a pan-European femi- ration in a multicultural and multinational envi- nist movement with a European identity. I wanted ronment. This resulted in my establishing KARAT to express in my feminism my affiliation to a mul- Coalition, a women’s NGOs network from Central tinational European community. and Eastern Europe and post-Soviet countries, at the beginning of 1997. I wanted the events and experiences of Central and Eastern Europe to contribute to this pan-European My sense of being European resulted from the fact feminism. I was impressed by the strike in 2001 of of being a citizen who was born, grew up and had Polish nurses. It made me realize that women’s parents and grandparents from a European coun- NGOs did not know how to face these economic try. It was also linked to my involvement in the and social problems, how to gain women’s trust international women’s movement at the European of women outside the feminist movement and level. The more I worked at the European level the how to support them in their fight, and finally how more aware I was that I was not part of the ‘real’ to include the economic concerns of women in Europe. Already, during the NGO Forum in Houai- our activities. A legal aspect of gender equality, rou which accompanied the Beijing conference, numerous publications addressing gender equal- in the area where the tents assigned for regional ity directives and policies produced by women’s

A Herstory...... 15...... Personal Feminist Journeys and feminist organizations during the period of EU on building a feminist Europe without exclusion, accession were certainly useful but did not give all separation, hierarchy or patronized approaches, the answers. Social and economic justice was far overcoming national or regional borders and thus from being on the dominant feminist agenda, and creating a new feminist European reality. every criticism of free market economy or arguments for social provisions were perceived as ret- rograde and harking back to the previous regime. Lin McDevitt-Pugh Director of Marketing, Communication and Project My feminist agenda was also shaped during the Development, Aletta – Institute for Women’s increasingly frequent contacts with the feminist History (until August 2009 known as IIAV), and social European (EU) movement as the date (1 based in Amsterdam, the Netherlands May 2004) of eight Central and Eastern European countries joining the EU approached. I was invited Participating in the EFF is a recent step in my to various seminars/debates in different countries evolving feminist activist life. The journey began (such as Germany, Austria, Belgium, Denmark, many years ago. My feminist activist identity Sweden) to present a Eastern European perspec- emerged when I was 13. I lived in a small rural tive on various issues in relation to gender equal- town in south-east Australia and did not under- ity, the impact of EU enlargement on the situation stand why, in our professional-oriented stream of women etc. The priorities and assessments in high school, only girls learned to cook while of the main processes of those days – from glo- only boys learned to work with wood and met- balization, on the one hand, to political/economic als. It made more sense to me that we all learned transformation on the other – were so diverse the same skills. I argued passionately for equal that a common platform of interest was hard to learning opportunities for boys and girls, and establish. I built closer relations with European mine became the first class in a new curricu- (EU) women’s networks. Women in Development lum in which boys learned to cook meals and Europe (WIDE), based in Brussels, offered a room girls learned to make their own pencil boxes. I for newcomers to influence and shape its agenda completed high school in Port Moresby, in the (for example, on the impact of EU enlargement), period before Papua New Guinea became inde- and offered an open, friendly and honest envi- pendent of its ‘keeper’ Australia. Papua and New ronment for cooperation. Its focus on economic Guinea was then a UN Trust Territory. My friends issues from a gender perspective was an impor- were Papuans; many were students of the newly tant advantage for building up my approach and established University of Papua New Guinea and analysis on feminist economic justice, despite the destined to be leaders of the country on indepen- fact that WIDE focused on economy in the context dence, in 1975. of development and not in the context of Europe. I read politics and history at Melbourne University The vital need both for a feminist debate on Europe in the early to mid-1970s. In my first year I took and to create a space for such debate were the to the streets in a demonstration demanding the main reasons why I joined in creating the EFF. The age of universal suffrage be lowered from 21 to integration of feminists from the whole of Europe 18, and by the time I turned 18 I had won the right was a timely initiative. My agenda within the EFF to vote. From an early age it seemed that I could was focusing on diverse social and economic divi- speak out on causes I thought unjust, or issues sions in Europe, migration and mobility of East- I thought important, and that what I said made a ern Europeans. At the same time I was focusing difference. I read all the feminist books as part

A Herstory...... 16...... Personal Feminist Journeys of my studies, and the ideas resonated with me. in 1977, we started the group Women Against Feminism struck me as a very real analysis of the Nuclear Energy. I continued with WANE and the injustices I had been aware of all my life. It hit a Movement Against Uranium Mining while embark- home chord on the subject of violence against ing on a career as a teacher. We co-organized ral- women. In my first two years at University I was lies against uranium mining, bringing in speakers sexually harassed three times. On none of the from the trade union movement, peace movement, occasions did the authorities take the issue seri- Aborigine land rights movement and environmen- ously or punish the perpetrators in any way. The tal movement. We set up blockades at Melbourne offenders were free to continue their studies in Port, thwarting ships carrying uranium from Syd- peace, while my peace, and my body, had been ney and beyond from stopping on their way to the violated. Discussing feminism was a major pas- uranium centrifuge factories in the Netherlands, time, and in demanding women’s rights where we the UK and Germany. We joined the protesters at saw they were needed became a second nature. Sydney Harbour, helping them to stop the ship- It wasn’t all hard work. One story is that in those ments of uranium being loaded. Activism had a days many pubs didn’t allow women to drink in the cold, scary, uncomfortable side, especially when bar with men. Women could drink with men, in the the police carried out a horseback charge, but it Ladies Lounge. Whenever my friends and I heard was also fun. In the end the campaign was suc- about a pub that would not allow women to drink cessful, and the Australian government commit- in the bar, a group of us would jump on a tram, ted to stopping uranium mining for 20 years. find the bar and order drinks. Inevitably the police would come and insist we leave, threatening I enjoyed the activist life, but I didn’t find living in arrest for disturbing the peace. By the time I had Melbourne or Australia easy. I was angry that the a degree I had learned that if I wanted freedom causes I took as being so logical and right had to from gender-related violence in the classroom be fought for. Outside my narrow activist environ- or on the streets, or the freedom to stand where ments I lived in a hostile world, hostile to me as an men stand, I was violating the peace of men. I had activist and hostile to me as a person just discov- learned that the powers that be, such as univer- ering her lesbian identity. Australia is known for sity authorities or the police force, truly believed its culture of ‘mateship’, which I experienced as a they were working for a peaceful community, but I culture of exclusion. By the time I turned 23 I had saw the peace they were protecting was the peace lived a part of my life in rural Australia, another of men. As a woman I didn’t have the right to enjoy part in Papua New Guinea and five years in Mel- peace. I became dedicated to working for peace, bourne. None of these felt like home, and I was which for me means a world where there is jus- urgently looking for a place I could call my own. tice for all. I was bursting to visit Europe. I identified the Euro- The further I got in my studies, the more causes pean culture as my cultural heritage. I had been I supported as part of my vision for justice and a colonizer all my life and wanted to go to ‘the peace. I worked with environmental campaigns, mother country’ – Great Britain – to experience not Aboriginal land rights campaigns and played a being out of place. I also wanted to visit my sister, leading role in the anti-nuclear campaign. Aus- now married to one of Papua New Guinea’s lead- tralia has vast reserves of uranium. A number of ing young political leaders and stationed in Brus- friends and I declared uranium mining a feminist sels. Moreover, I wanted to meet the anti-nuclear issue, and, inspired by the German anti-nuclear activists in the Netherlands, the UK and Germany activist Petra Kelly during her visit to Melbourne with whom I had been corresponding. I wanted to

A Herstory...... 17...... Personal Feminist Journeys build bridges between the Australian anti-nuclear of ISIS: Women’s International Bulletin dedicated to movement and the European movements. I flew to the anti-nuclear movement. I edited monthly and Europe in 1977, with a three-month return ticket quarterly journals. I spoke at international gath- in my pocket. Petra Kelly, who at this point was erings. I was active as a European networker and founding the German Green Party, connected me an international networker. up to the leaders of the anti-nuclear movements throughout Europe. For weeks I toured the capi- I was exhilarated by the freedom Amsterdam tals of Europe, taking in the art and history by day offered. In 1982 my partner and I had a baby, and and meeting movement leaders in the evenings. even though we knew of no other lesbian couple Petra then invited me to an international anti- that had built a family by one of them getting nuclear conference in Amsterdam, in February pregnant, we found Amsterdam to be very accept- 1978. This was the founding meeting of the World ing. The media were interested, intrigued, and Information Service on Energy (WISE) and my first positive. International newspapers covered our visit to Amsterdam. story, and gradually we saw more lesbian families around us having babies. Again I experienced the I was struck by the beauty of the town and of its passionate drive of feminism – the freedom in this people. The women seemed strong and free; case of women to make their own choices – giv- the men seemed willing to share the stage with ing us new ways of thinking, new ways of being in women. I was struck by colour: I saw men wearing the world. I still find the freedom that the Neth- colourful trousers. I saw women holding hands. I erlands offers to women loving women and men saw a lot of people laughing. These first impres- loving men a source of peace, and I am proud to sions starkly contrasted with the Melbourne be part of the movement that made that possible. I had left behind. So when I was invited to work for WISE I jumped at the opportunity. I wanted I felt at home, but I felt like an outsider. My focus to discover whether Amsterdam was offering was on the international arena, and my limited what I thought it was offering: sanctuary. Would Dutch language skills kept me from feeling part this prove to be a place where I could build a life of the local Dutch community. I thought that get- with greater freedom than I thought was possible ting a local job and improving my language skills in my home country? Could I experience peace would help me feel more part of the immedi- here? These are the questions many migrants ate world around me. In 1983 I was offered a job ask. My answers reflect those of many migrants. coordinating the Amsterdam rape crisis centre. Amsterdam seemed like a better place for me to In retrospect it is quite remarkable that I was fall in love and start a family. I had more exciting offered the job: it required a lot of political lobby- job prospects than I had at the time in Australia. ing, negotiating and interacting with legal, medi- Weighing these up against the impossibility of cal and other professionals, and managing 100 finding housing, the challenge of learning a new volunteers. My Dutch was far from perfect, but I language and the impediments thrown up by the didn’t make that a reason for not engaging fully. government in negotiating a work permit and a It worked, and for seven years we ran a 24-hour residence permit, the advantages far outweighed telephone service, consciousness-raising groups the disadvantages. for women who had been raped or sexually abused, and groups for incest survivors, while I became involved in international networking. At at the same time educating the public about the the WISE Secretariat I built a career as a feminist need to change the laws on rape within marriage, anti-nuclear activist, including editing an edition fighting court cases demanding women have

A Herstory...... 18...... Personal Feminist Journeys the right to walk where they want without being The initiative turned into the EFF. I was ready for accused of ‘invoking’ rapists, and working with it. I had lived in Europe for 28 years, but if this the health care services to improve their services was ‘the mother country’ it didn’t recognize me for rape victims. The positive acceptance of me as its offspring. Although I had found a space I as a foreigner did not extend to other non-ethnic called home, I felt I would always be a foreigner. Dutch people at the rape crisis centre. A group I wanted to explore with other migrants what it of us set up a ‘Foreign women’s group’ (this was is to be European. I wanted to explore with other before it was politically correct to refer to ‘black feminists what our collective vision of the feminist and migrant women’) to develop an improved ser- agenda for Europe could be. Feminism had come vice for non-ethnic Dutch women, as well as job a long way since the 1970s, when the major femi- opportunities within the organization. Our group nist treatises of our time were written. Women’s met with strong resistance, and my interpretation organizations campaigned across European bor- was that the ethnically Dutch women experienced ders on single issues, and I wanted to explore our plan as either competition or not really nec- whether we could campaign across borders on essary, rather than as a necessary expansion of shared issues. It will take more than this one EFF the scope of the organization. This was the first to develop a cohesive agenda, but I believe the time I recognized institutional marginalization of ground we are treading will make a difference in migrants within feminist organizations. Europe.

By 1997 I was ready for a new challenge, and I was invited to organize an international conference of Joanna Semeniuk Student and women’s information specialists. Having no pre- feminist activist, based in Amsterdam, the vious knowledge of how to organize a conference, Netherlands I was able to ignore convention and develop a conference that brought together over 350 people When I studied Philosophy in my home town, from 86 countries, firstly in online spaces and Wrocław, in Poland in 2001, the only accessible crowned by a three-day face-to-face conference feminist group was the Interdisciplinary Gender that one journalist called the most important Studies Group, a self-study group of students and post-Beijing international women’s conference to academics. Even though Gender Studies had been date. I was able to convert my one-year contract to established in Warsaw since 1995, in my city, one of organize a conference into a permanent contract the biggest in Poland, Gender Studies is not taught to develop projects that would leverage the power at any formal university. In my official course fem- of information in feminist strategies. In 2004 I inism was not mentioned even once in five years of was working at the International Information a joint Bachelor’s and Master’s programme. Centre and Archives for the Women’s Movement (IIAV). I was invited to a meeting of women’s fund- I thought it was due to the fact that feminism, ing organizations at the offices of Mama Cash, in understood as (post-)Marxist feminism, was a vic- Amsterdam, where the participants launched the tim of the ban on everything associated with the idea of finding out whether the time was ripe for past communist regime and, therefore, off aca- a European dialogue on the twenty-first century demic curricula. In addition, universities had for feminist agenda. I was invited to help establish years had been out of touch with Western knowl- the communication network that would facilitate edge trends, so there was no university staff that this group to think through the issues of a pos- could teach Gender Studies, and there were few sible European feminist dialogue. Polish translations of critical literature.

A Herstory...... 19...... Personal Feminist Journeys Staff and students seemed to accept the hier- what the models of participation are, what a social archies imposed. There was ongoing debate on movement is, and how it all works. Moreover, all women’s reproductive rights at the time in the the stereotypes worked strongly against taking media, but social studies students showed no up a feminist label; it wasn’t ‘cool’ among friends, interest in these debates. Our student self-study and my family did not condone feminism. groups read Foucault, Derrida and Bourdieu. A revived left started to emerge, around the jour- I was able to become more involved, at first nal Krytyka Polityczna (‘Political Critique’) created though feminist/queer conferences and festivals in 2002, and Zieloni 2004 (‘Greens 2004’), a politi- such as Lesbians, Gays and Friends (organized in cal party, emerged with a strong feminist stance. Wrocław since 2003) and Feminist Groups Meet- Feminist activism became more visible through ings organized by Women’s Association Konsola Manifa marches on 8 March, organized since in Poznań. I liked the way the postmodern attitude 2000. These demonstrations countered the old- of deconstructing one’s positions and ‘no truth style Soviet International Women’s Day, where claims’ worked, opening up the dialogues. in each workplace women were celebrated as work comrades, mother and wife in one. The first Poland joined the EU in 2004. Everyone who didn’t female Polish Prime Minister, Hanna Suchocka, want to be seen as xenophobic and anti-demo- abolished the formal celebrations of Women’s Day cratic had to be ‘Euroenthusiast’. The Poles were in 1993. With the re-birth of the feminist move- happy to be ‘in Europe again’, full of expectations. ment in Poland after 1989, the 8 March Manifa was For the young people entering the market, and a highly political march linked to 10 December, low-skilled workers, EU citizenship (however, only the last day of the ‘16 days against violence’ cam- UK, Ireland and Sweden opened up their labour paigns. The main themes of the Manifa have been markets in 2004) plus huge unemployment meant political participation of women, women’s soli- emigration. There are still no data on the scale darity, reproductive rights and labour rights, sex- of Polish emigration, since it is difficult to trace ism in the public sphere, violence against women, mobility within the EU, but the estimates are that homophobia, and the demand for a secular state. several million Polish workers moved to work in other EU countries. However, I found it difficult to be part of feminist or gender theory and activism. My male colleagues In the summer of 2005 everyone I knew was get- would ‘naturally’ take the lead in our study groups; ting on the buses to the UK. I got my ticket too, to as a result, feminist critique was not included in Scotland. I was in London on the bus full of Pol- the progressive critical philosophy must-reads. ish workers-to-be on 7 July 2005, later known as The Gender Studies group was very academic, and the 7/7 bombings. The bombings killed 52 com- people who would organize events seemed, from muters and the four suicide bombers, injuring 700 the outside, to be a closed group. For a long time I people. I was terrified. London was stuck. Radio was more an observer and participant than activ- was broadcasting the agitated journalist report- ist. It seemed to me that the ‘real’ activists and ing sheer chaos. I saw people in front of hospital ‘real’ feminists are the ones that are on the other shielding their injured faces with white tissues side of the line, who are more active, who read with holes for eyes and nose. When I arrived in more than I did. I saw many similar young people Edinburgh it was a night after the G8 anti-capital- to me, who were sympathetic and interested, but ist protests. It looked apocalyptic as well. People were not able to take a step further. There was were sleeping in sleeping bags on the streets. little awareness of what it meant to be involved, Trash everywhere and nests of police tape.

A Herstory...... 20...... Personal Feminist Journeys So, I arrived from the neo-liberal-loving, NATO Movement. The first thing that thrilled me was and EU fresh ethos country into what NATO and that is was such an old institution; it was so differ- the EU brought as well – suicidal bombings by ent from the discontinuity of the movement in my ‘Islamists’, an alter-globalist response to Europe home country. I applied for another EU scholar- playing the global leaders game. ship to work at the IIAV as an intern. Here I was introduced to the EFF. I discovered, first, a com- Moreover, overnight from a middle-class student plex world of feminist employment and profes- I became a lower-class immigrant worker, on a sionalization (from my student feminist experi- production belt in a food factory. For the first time ence in Poland the idea of being paid for feminist I felt I was a class and ethnic ‘other’. I experienced activism never even crossed my mind) and, sec- the irritation of the British to the huge scale of the ond, the world of big feminist networks, interna- new migrant group, and the racism of my fellow tional NGOs and transnational initiatives which countrymen – the Poles, a new migrant group I did not know existed. I stayed on as a Project – who tried to locate themselves between the Assistant. grid of existing minorities (‘I’m better than other migrants because I’m white.’). The EFF really was a movement initiative. It sur- prised me how widely feminists are intercon- This experience is crucial to my view of feminism nected, however very often in a sense that many – feminism, anti-racism, economic rights, anti- people know each other but don’t necessarily classism, anti-militarism, all became my issues. work together. If they are indivisible within one personal experience, they can’t be divided in the theory and orga- During the EFF, a Young Feminist Activists Net- nizing either. work took shape, driven by a group of young women involved in the EFF. The issue of genera- When doing my Socrates Erasmus study year in tion was what many of them wanted to discuss. Rotterdam, the Netherlands (Erasmus is a EU The problem was that there is not really a ‘young student exchange programme, highly popular feminist’ identity, but in the feminist movement among students and, in my experience, one of young women are often marginalized on the the EU’s best ideas), I lived among international basis of their age (old women are being margin- students and saw how little difference there is alized too) and at the same time are expected among European young people who study. In that to be continuators of the feminist heritage. We city there is the highest rate of migrant popula- came together to find out whether there is any- tion in the Netherlands – but in the university you thing more substantial than our date of birth to would rarely see young ‘local’ Turkish, Moroc- unite us. We found out that we share some com- can or Surinamese. I met many people like my mon problems (for example, economic and social flatmate, an established IT specialist in his 30s, exclusion and precarious life conditions for many born in Turkey and who had lived in the Nether- young women), we get involved in a similar man- lands since he was a child, but in his vast circle of ner (lots of voluntary work and involvement in friends there was not even one ‘originally’ Dutch more than one movement), and we enjoy similar person. I had to confront my ideal of the ‘multicul- feminist gigs (such as Ladyfests). tural’ Netherlands with reality.

I heard about the existence of the International Information Centre and Archives for the Women’s

A Herstory...... 21...... Personal Feminist Journeys A Herstory...... 22...... Personal Feminist Journeys Saskia Wieringa Professor and the trade in the Colombia committee, which I left Director, Aletta – Institute for Women’s when I discovered that Colombian male peasants, History (known as IIAV until August 2009), though worthy of our solidarity as they were very based in Amsterdam, the Netherlands poor, nevertheless were such sexists that they refused to discuss women’s issues. So I joined the In 1968 I arrived in Amsterdam to start my stud- Cuba solidarity committee and, in 1976, went with ies at the university. These were exciting days. In the European Brigade to the island to build exist- Paris the student revolution was in full swing, and ing socialism, in the form of apartments. To my it soon spilled over to Amsterdam, with the occu- surprise the bathrooms I was tiling belonged to pation of the central administrative building of the the same kind of nuclear family spaces as I had university, the Maagdenhuis. Male students took just fought against in Amsterdam, in the riots the lead; the women present started to feel very opposing the construction of the Bijlmer, a lower- uncomfortable with the role assigned to them: class neighbourhood full of high-rise buildings. providing food and sex to the male leaders. Soon In the meantime I had also studied the proceed- after that the first radical feminist group tied ings of the Cuban Women’s Federation and found pink ribbons around male public toilets, point- out that socialist democracy was a very top-down ing out there were no such facilities for women, affair and that my anarchist and feminist opin- and bared their bellies in Parliament, to demand ions would be deeply frowned upon by the leading abortion rights. I gradually joined the growing ladies of the Federation. social movements, walked in students’ and women’s demonstrations. But for a long time I could By that time in the Netherlands radical lesbian not decide where I belonged. The fights for social, groups preached the sexual revolution, squatted women’s and sexual justice seemed never to con- the Amsterdam women’s house and set up wom- verge, and all these separate groups demanded en’s cafes, bookshops and other cultural centres. one’s full attention, body and soul solidarity. I badly injured my hand when building the stage for the First Women’s Festival in the Vondelpark Solidarity, however, proved a selective phenom- in Amsterdam and, though my voice betrayed the enon. A major battle was waged between those same amateurish quality as my carpenters’ skills, women who decided they were socialist first I joined the lesbian cabaret and toured the coun- and only then feminist, and those who wanted to try. In the end I was happy to co-found the les- reverse the order. I joined the latter denomina- bian journal Lust & Gratie. I had progressed in my tion and ultimately, together with a group of fellow anthropological career, and the first short stories anthropologists, we edited an issue of the SocFem in which I reported on my ‘discoveries’ of various Journal.3 I was also deeply interested in issues lesbian communities in developing countries, par- of developing countries, and collaborated with odying Orientalist discovery voyages, appeared on various solidarity groups. I learned the ropes of the pages of that journal. Activism, in the 1970s and early 1980s was almost a full-time career, and most of that effort was made voluntarily. There were always demonstrations to join, debates to 3 In describing my personal journal I refer to several attend, pamphlets to stencil. It was a way of life – published sources written by me and other colleagues. Please see the Bibliography for more details: (Wieringa intense, but also rife with tensions and fights. 1977, 1981, 1987, 1988, 1995, 1999, 2002, 2003, 2007, 2008; Lycklama à Nijeholt, Vargas & Wieringa (eds) 1995; Vargas From the early 1980s onwards I withdrew from & Wieringa 1997; Blackwood and Wieringa 1999 and 2007; van der Klein & Wieringa (eds) 2006). Dutch activism. I started teaching Women’s

A Herstory...... 23...... Personal Feminist Journeys Studies at the Institute of Social Studies in The the founding president, Sukarno. I laid bare the Hague and coordinated a large research proj- gendered and sexual workings of one of the most ect on women’s movements in developing coun- effective mass campaigns of destabilization after tries. Both theoretically and through the action the Second World War. Women and young girls research project in several countries in the South belonging to socialist organizations had been I reflected on the central concepts we had used in accused of seducing, raping, castrating and ulti- the beginning of the movement, such as solidar- mately murdering a number of top generals. In ity. Solidarity with whom, we asked? I remember reality these generals were killed by hot-headed resting at the foot of the monument at the Dam, younger colonels. General Suharto and his allies Amsterdam’s central square, with a bunch of les- invented these gruesome lies to associate com- bians, after another demonstration for abortion munism with sexual perversion of its women, rights. Why, we asked ourselves, were we fighting and to instigate the Muslim masses to slaughter for the right of abortion for heterosexual women? their socialist neighbours. Between one and three What did we need abortion for? Were hetero- million people were murdered and many thou- sexual women rallying around sexual rights and sands imprisoned and horribly tortured. Women’s supporting lesbian women with as much enthu- political agency had become suspect, and the siasm as we showed on their behalf? Migrant and stage was set for a military takeover, building an black women in the Netherlands and women from authoritarian patriarchal regime, one of whose developing countries asked themselves similar pillars was women’s sexual, social and political questions. We concluded that ugly forms of white subordination. heteronormative, bourgeois superiority were hidden under those seemingly innocent concepts of After I hit my head hard against the glass and pink ‘sisterhood’ and ‘solidarity’. We gradually real- ceiling of the ISS I decided to pursue my lifelong ized that rainbow coalitions based on flexibility research interest into women’s same-sex rela- and affinity, rather than on totalitarian forms of tions. By necessity this had always been a mar- unity which presupposed some vanguard posi- ginal interest, as it was never possible to get sta- tion of one group of another, reflected better our tus or funds for this type of work. Fortunately the diverse interests. Foundation of Gay and Lesbian Studies managed to get a few professorial positions at Dutch uni- With Virginia Vargas, Geertje Lycklama and oth- versities, and in 2006 I became the first chair of ers we reflected on the difficulties of translating Gender and Women’s Same-Sex Relations at the the demands of women’s movements into sound University in Amsterdam, for one day a week. gender policies. Gina Vargas and I thought that the best way forward was when there would be a The previous year I had become the director of fruitful coalition between the women’s movement, the IIAV, the International Information Centre and academia (Women’s Studies) and policymakers. Archive for the Women’s Movement in Amster- We called this the ‘triangle of women’s empower- dam. After all those years working in developing ment’ and set off enthusiastically to maximize the countries I had returned to my city of birth. There I effectiveness of the triangles we could help build. found the women’s movement greatly changed. My generation was no longer marching the streets; My own PhD research in Indonesia in those years a younger, multicultural generation was trying to focused on the unravelling of the reasons why the find its own ways using different methods. So what Indonesian women’s movement had become so did I encounter when I came to the IIAV? weak after General Suharto had taken over from

A Herstory...... 24...... Personal Feminist Journeys To my amazement I found that the word ‘femi- did not incorporate our main demands. In spite of nism’ had almost been discarded. It had become a national strike by housewives, abortion remains associated with ‘complaint feminism’, angry, within the penal code, and ultimately med- unsmiling, unattractive women without a sense ics decide, not women. In the 1970s wars raged of humour. This was not how I remembered my around the porn industry. Porn cinemas and porn days of almost full-time involvement in the mani- shops were attacked. All feminists opposed the fold socialist and feminist forms of activism in the sexploitation of women, but there was disagree- 1970s. Sure, we were angry – we were discover- ment around pornography itself: was all pornog- ing the extent of sexual and domestic violence raphy bad, or was it possible to imagine a woman- against women, incest and the sexism of politi- friendly type of pornographic titillation? The wide cal leaders and managers. But we also had great circulation of pornography on the Internet has fun, redefined sexual pleasure and, in the case of made this debate even more relevant. What kind lesbian women, found each other very attractive. of effect does the ‘pornofication’ of society have That pleasure had partially gone. Many prominent on women and, particularly, young girls? What feminists had become incorporated in state poli- does it do to their self image when women with cies. Though the long march through the institu- perfect bodies who are giving in to male desires tions had yielded many gains, such as the equal are portrayed all over? Are they strong enough rights law of 1994, the heavy hand of the state had to withstand the pressure of this ‘bimbo culture’ resulted in a narrowing down of the agenda. We of empty-headed sexually available porno dolls? wanted the feminist revolution in the 1970s. We Though the site of this struggle is new (focusing dreamed of goddesses, a violence-free and just on the web), the issue is very similar to what my society, in which women defined their own bodily generation of feminists were discussing in the pleasures and set out to get them, in which assets 1970s. Another novelty on the scene is the wide- such as wealth and political power were shared spread use of medical technology to build that equally with men who enjoyed the company of perfect body: lip, breast, thigh and vulva correc- women as their equals. Our utopia was a universe tions are generally available. If we in the 1970s of light, humour and sparkling debates. Instead, had to make do with our bodies and learned to be the few feminists who had gained some mea- proud of it with all its imperfections, now there sure of power were bogged down with work and is ostensibly no need to make do with a less than worries, fighting every inch to improve arrange- perfect body. Instead, those who refuse to line the ments so paid work and childcare could be bet- pockets of unscrupulous medics are made to feel ter combined. By women, that is, for men were guilt and shame. still very reluctant to share in the labour of care. Dutch women had become champions of part- The women’s culture we built in the 1970s and time labour; the glass ceiling had become almost 1980s was based on voluntary labour and the wide impenetrable, apart from in politics. In the aca- enthusiasm for our cause. In the course of the demic world, for instance, the figures were dis- 1980s we managed to get state funding for many mal: the Netherlands hovered between Senegal of our activities – for instance, in the women’s and Botswana at the bottom of the scale in rela- health movement. On the one hand, a measure tion to the percentage of female professors. of professionalization was made possible that could never have been achieved on the backs of As far as sexual rights are concerned, abortion over-exploited part-timers; on the other hand, the has long been shifted off the agenda, though the state now set the agenda. When state funds dried abortion law that had finally been passed in 1980 up many of those initiatives folded. Though lip

A Herstory...... 25...... Personal Feminist Journeys service was paid to the ‘mainstreaming’ of their With the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 and the end activities in the regular health care movement, of the Cold War the international panorama of the much expertise was lost and many important solidarity movement changed. At present only services for women were no longer available. Our very few solidarity groups with particular devel- archive is filled with the remains of many of these oping countries or causes exist. Globalization has groups, such as the women’s legal aid bureau, replaced imperialism as a scare word, and the Clara Wichmann, the documentation centre for activists rally in the World Social Forum, dream- black and migrant women, Flamboyant, and ing of other worlds with sustainable economies. several women’s health centres.4 Our women’s Apart from that the South has come to the Nether- archive was also much affected. On the one hand, lands, in the form of a sizeable population of ‘new we became much more professional; on the other Dutch’ men and women. In the popular right-wing hand, our academic aspirations that our prede- media the stereotype of these newcomers is that cessors had harboured since its inception in 1935 of backward Muslim peasants from the Middle were defined away. East and his uneducated import bride. It is conve- niently ignored that there are many migrants with From the late 1970s onwards I had helped build a background in the former colonies (Surinam Women’s Studies in the universities of both only gained its independence in 1975), and that Amsterdam and Nijmegen. In 1982 I became the there are many highly educated migrants. Racist convenor of the Women’s Studies programme laws have been promulgated which put the Neth- at the Institute of Social Studies in The Hague. erlands in the frontlines of Fortress Europe. Most Since then I have helped set up Women’s Stud- attention of activists is centred around the strug- ies in the Caribbean, Namibia, Yemen, the Sudan gle to counter the growing Islamophobia, on the and Bangladesh. In all those cases demands one hand, and the new sexual crimes and injus- from the women’s movement and issues affect- tices that have become part of our formerly hege- ing grassroots women had inspired both the monic Christian society, such as honour crimes, research and the teaching agenda of those cen- arranged marriages and genital mutilation. As a tres of programmes. However, postmodernism Muslim anthropologist with an extensive back- and post-structuralism, with their shattering of a ground in Indonesia, this is familiar terrain for stable truth claim and their increasingly abstract me, and I am happy to join in these two debates. discourses, had slowly caused a rift between academic Women’s Studies, on the one hand, and the In short, a new generation of activist women has women’s movements in the countries I had been stood up, who rally around various causes, some working in, on the other hand. To bring closer familiar to feminists from the older generation. together these legs of the triangles that Gina Var- Not all of them call themselves feminists, and gas and I had formulated, I co-founded the Kartini they employ a different style of organization. A Asia Network in 2003. Back in the Netherlands I successful initiative is, for instance, Women Inc, found that the gap between Women’s Studies and a women’s festival, with a newsletter and debates the various new initiatives of various women’s preceding it by a group of women who avoid the groups was still very big. term feminist. The use of web-based techniques is prevalent.

When, as Director of the IIAV, I was approached 4 For the rise and demise of the women’s health move- to support the initiative to host the Secretariat ment, see the documentary film made by Grietje Keller and Josien Pieterse, produced by the IIAV. of the EFF at our institute, I was at first hesitant.

A Herstory...... 26...... Personal Feminist Journeys This promised to be a huge project, difficult to distinction between Eastern and Western Europe manage in a Europe that was still so divided. Our still relevant? Or between Northern and Southern budget was very tight. Would we be able to take Europeans? Or should we refer to levels of eco- such a big risk? However, when I understood that nomic development? How strong was the impact the EFF would be organized along Affinity Groups of the EU enlargement on feminisms after 2004? setting their own agendas and using web-based Can we talk about a European feminist agenda? technologies, I became enthusiastic. This would allow us to practise the lessons I had learned in Despite the diversity there are some commonali- the previous decade, and implement what I had ties. We have all had experiences that moved us been teaching about for so long. I envisaged that out of the space of the nation state into which we this might be a new initiative to strengthen the were born; some of us moved at a later age into triangle of women’s empowerment, this time in the confines defined as the EU at the moment. Europe. Likewise, in the Affinity Groups which formed the backbone of the EFF the borders of ‘Europe’ were I am convinced that at this moment in time the contested. Those who identify as European do not organizational model of the Affinity Group is best all belong to the fictional space created by the suited to the fragmented, multiple realities we gates of Fortress Europe. European civil society are confronted with. I stimulated the Youth Forum thus queries the boundaries of the administra- of the Kartini Network of Gender and Women’s tive unit that the EU is. This also means that ‘the Studies in Asia to experiment with this model other’ against which we find our self-definitions in our all-Asian conference in November 2008. as ‘European’ is a contingent phenomenon. If bor- The Asian Youth Forum was held, and it made a ders don’t confine us, then what does? big splash in the Asian feminist movement; the face-to-face meeting of the EFF unfortunately We present now some of the main themes that didn’t. But we will find other ways of organizing emerged spontaneously and helped shape the and of strengthening the European triangle of EFF, among women from diverse ages, cultures, women’s empowerment. I am fully convinced that organizations and networks, academic learning a women’s movement that is supported by solid and political interests and identities: academic analysis, and Women’s Studies that • From Solidarity to Affinity and Feminist Com- are inspired by the issues the women’s move- munal Identities; ments rally around, together can set the triangle • Feminist Resource Mobilization and Building in motion, enthuse thousands of women and men Political Power; and effect much-needed transformation. • Economic Changes and Migration in Europe; • Sexual and Bodily Integrity; and Conclusion • Intersectionality and Intergenerational Dia- As these different stories show, we all identify as logues. feminists, of whatever hue. We are comfortable with our differences as feminists, and the plural- ity of our feminist voices. But it seems somewhat more problematic to decide what is ‘European’ feminism. Is national identity still the primary locus of identification? Do we refer to geography, citizenship or culture? How do we understand differences between European feminists? Is the old

A Herstory...... 27...... Personal Feminist Journeys A Herstory...... 28...... Personal Feminist Journeys Theme One From Solidarity to Affinity and Feminist Communal Identities

Saskia Wieringa

Introduction sion. Solidarity was then proposed to replace the The backbone of the EFF were the Affinity Groups. call for sisterhood, in a bid to incorporate women What does ‘affinity’ mean in the context of social with diverging interests. movement theory, and how did it replace earlier organizational models based on sisterhood and From the 1990s onwards postmodern thinkers solidarity? Is it possible to overcome the inherent criticized the essentialism upon which both these problems of European feminism, its fragmenta- concepts were based. In its turn many feared, tion and its lack of a strong common stand, and myself included, that the postmodern emphasis to build a stable and sustainable European wom- on the conditionality of truth claims might under- en’s movement on the affinity group model? More mine the whole feminist project: how to build a particularly, has it been possible for the different strong political movement when the ‘truth’ of any Affinity Groups to overcome their oppositional one position is never given? More recently the call identities and to start building a communal femi- for feminist politics based on the principles of nist forum that can contribute to constructing a affinity is heard. Under what conditions can orga- Europe that is based on gender and social justice? nizing around the principle of affinity contribute to In the following I assess the experience of build- effectively strategizing against gender-based and ing the EFF by focusing on affinity as the basis for other kinds of oppression and injustice? How can organizing. a new Europe be built that is governed along principles of social and gender justice? Sisterhood and solidarity In the 1970s and 1980s two major debates domi- In the development in feminist thinking from nated feminism and particularly its potential to sisterhood to affinity and analyses there have mobilize resistance against women’s subordina- been several dilemmas, such as fragmentation tion: around sisterhood and solidarity. The concept and political powerlessness. Feminist commu- of sisterhood had become a key concept around nal organizing can be seen as a positive force of the beginning of the second wave of feminism but change, and it is here we can place the formation was soon criticized for its bourgeois, racist over- of Affinity Groups, which are built on resistance tones and for the totalitarian approach, based identities. The EFF can be seen as an attempt at on the interests of its protagonists. Because it feminist organizing based on the principle of affin- focused on the concerns of white middle-class ity, the Secretariat of which was located within the women, large numbers of women felt excluded International Information Centre and Archives for from the call to an all-women’s sisterhood, sup- the Women’s Movement (IIAV) in Amsterdam. posedly based on a similarly experienced oppres-

A Herstory...... 29...... Theme One Principles of the European Feminist Forum Women of colour charged that the notion of sister- The EFF was organized on the principles of orga- hood was grounded in a white bourgeois feminism nization from the bottom up and non-hierarchy. that disregarded issues of race and class (Hooks Neither feminism nor Europe were presented as 1984; Mohanty 2003). They suggested the concept pre-defined concepts. Rather, individuals were of ‘solidarity’ was strategically more powerful. invited to advance the concerns they considered It rested, they argued, not on the assumption of important for a feminist and Europe-based forum. sameness of oppression and allowed for a greater The IIAV-based Secretariat mobilized all-Euro- differentiation (for instance, as far as class and pean Affinity Groups with the use of advanced ethnicity were concerned) of the roots of oppres- information and communications technologies sion. The inner bond that would naturally lead to (ICT), via video conferences, and an interactive solidarity was not a pre-given, stable phenom- website, built on 2.0 technology. However suc- enon, so they maintained, but should be con- cessful the Affinity Groups were (at some stage structed in practical political struggles. over 3000 people all over Europe participated in the dialogues), in the end it was impossible to Hooks claimed that solidarity cannot grow of itself hold the face-to-face meeting that was visual- but needs a sustained, ongoing commitment. ized from the beginning, as the required funds Mohanty, writing on transnational feminism, adds for this major event could not be raised. Thus the that solidarity should not be seen as a pre-given hundreds of self-defined European feminists in phenomenon but should be constituted in practice, the EFF did not convene in June 2008 to build a through the process of working together. Thus the feminist agenda for the EU. Was this a concep- challenge is ‘to construct the universal on the tual failure, pointing to the impossibility of form- basis of particulars/differences’ (Mohanty 2003: ing a feminist communal platform on the basis of 7). This opened up wide debates on differences resistance identities or did we just run up against between women and the possibilities of organiz- the practical limits of feminist organizing within ing around differences. What was needed was not the European context? a solidarity based on sameness, but action built on a coalition of ‘solidarity [constructed] among Theorizing sisterhood and solidarity strangers’, as Dean posited (1996). In the 1970s the burgeoning women’s movement in the West saw the need to stimulate the creation These views echoed concerns of other theorists of a feminist consciousness. It did so by stress- of social movements, such as Melucci (1989) and ing the commonality of women’s oppression in the Castells (1997). Melucci, coming from a back- family, sexuality, economics and politics. The fight ground of socialist organizing, denounces the against sexism and patriarchy, it was thought, ‘totalizing influence of integralist movements’, would only be won if all women would realize the with their ‘bigoted, judgmental’ attitudes (1989: common cause of these evils and act in solidarity 181). Castells focuses on the new identity-based with each other (Morgan 1970). Not only Western movements in what he calls the ‘information women, it was argued, but women the world over age’, who act in a networking, decentred form of suffered from similar forms of oppression and organization and intervention. He detects in these should act together based on the inner bond of networks of social change – ‘these back alleys of womanhood (Morgan 1984). society’ – the ‘embryos of a new society, labored in the fields of history by the power of identity’ Starting in the early 1980s an uneasiness grew (1997: 362). with the concept of sisterhood defined in this way.

A Herstory...... 30...... Theme One Postmodern critiques Thinking about feminist and sexual politics on the Many of these feminist and other thinkers on basis of affinity opens the ground for the build- social movements were influenced by the post- ing of rainbow coalitions, constructed on shifting modernist deconstruction of both the truth claims political practices. According to the political proj- of various modernist projects (such as Marxism ect at hand a coalition is erected around that proj- and liberalism) and of the supposed unitary sub- ect, of people and organizations who, from what- ject of these modern streams of thinking. It was ever position they stand, agree to collaborate on realized that the subject should be seen not as that issue. Thus the web of solidarity is cast much an essential entity with pre-given characteristics wider: one doesn’t have to ‘be’ a transgender, or and interests, but as a constructed one (Benhabib a lesbian, or a member of a minority ethnicity or 1992; Butler 1992). Rather than working within religion, to fight for a particular cause. This is a established theoretical traditions, postmodern- great step forward from the 1970s, when I remem- ist thinkers are thinking in terms of multiple truth ber that fights were waged as to who might enter claims and heterogeneous identities; they ‘think the Amsterdam women’s house that had recently in fragments’, as Flax lucidly wrote (1990). been squatted by us. Only ‘real’ women (whoever that might be), or also MTF transgenders? (Male- Contrary to those who worked from the idea of bodied plumbers or electricians were totally a sisterhood which is ‘always already there’ and banned; this had disastrous effects on the overall in which the feminist subject was constituted in condition of the house at a time when hardly any advance, the idea took root that individuals are women had entered those professions.) constructed through a process of interacting and associating with others. As Bourdieu put it, indi- Dead end? Challenges to ‘women’ as a viduals are socialized in their particular habitus, category which both organizes their behaviour and pro- But how to build a coherent political strategy on duces the emotions belonging to them, which the basis of multiple truths and fleeting identities? come to construct the ‘body knowledge‘ of an Many feminists assert that postmodern feminism, individual (Bourdieu 1980). Women, and for that which sees gender as a construction and chal- matter all subjects, are primarily discursively lenges ‘women’ as a category, is a dead end for constructed; their position or behaviour is not political feminism as a movement. Whelehan, for naturally given. This creates a dilemma for femi- instance, articulates one of the common critiques nist politics. As phrased by Haraway: if ‘there is of postmodern anti-essentialism (i.e. the absence nothing about being “female” that naturally binds of a unified, stable, universal subject) when she women’, then who should feminist movements notes that the postmodern feminist positioning represent (Haraway 1991: 155)? Haraway is the is politically self-defeating from the very start. first feminist author to discuss the possibilities Postmodern feminism describes itself as ‘merely’ of a politics of coalition-building built on affinity: one of many discourses, and this positioning pro- ‘This [postmodernist] identity marks out a self- vides no tools to defend itself against other ‘cur- consciously constructed space that cannot affirm rent materially and economically powerful politi- the capacity to act on the basis of natural identi- cal truth claims’ (Whelehan 1996: 198). Accord- fication, but only on the basis of conscious coali- ing to this argument, postmodern feminism is tion, of affinity, of political kinship’ (Haraway 1991: a useless political stance, as ‘without a shared 156). experience of oppression – an identity – political demands cannot be articulated in the first place’ (Lloyd 2005: 55). A second critique touches also

A Herstory...... 31...... Theme One upon anti-essentialism but approaches it from a political frontier between the ‘we’ and the ‘them’ different angle: it argues against the postmodern by the act of articulation: new subject positions understanding of identity ‘as unstable and thus need to be named and accounted for through the merely “strategic”’, and criticizes it for seeing negation of certain ‘them’, for example, as anti- identity ‘as either naive or irrelevant’ (Mohanty racism, anti-sexism, anti-capitalism. Thus new, 2003: 6). pragmatic and contingent political identities arise when a political conflict is voiced: so-called resis- Identities are thus an important basis for orga- tance or oppositional identities. nizing; they are neither unitary nor flimsy. But what kind of political identities are we talking There is no pre-given identity, neither of the ‘we’ of? Not the integralist, bigoted identity that only nor of the ‘them’, the enemy, previous to the pro- sees itself as truth. Do resistance or oppositional cess of articulation and differentiation. So the identities form a better vantage point from which issue of solidarity shifts, from the commonality to organize feminist politics? This seems indeed of oppression to having a common enemy. This most likely, but then the next question is how to process is deeply political and always entails the move from opposition, resistance, negation, to ethical responsibility of making decisions about positive demands? To an agenda for change? An unavoidable exclusions. Mouffe uses the Derrid- agenda that incorporates the manifold interests ian concept of deciding upon the ‘undecidable’ to of the multiple oppressions identified, and that is indicate the conceptual impossibility of overcom- valid for the widely divergent contexts of the EU? ing differences in the democratic system, which And sees building a more equal Europe as a gen- means that power, and therefore exclusion, con- dered process? stitutes every social system and every temporary consensus; that is why conflict is, and should be, The emergence of affinity constitutive to a truly pluralist democracy (Mouffe Does the concept of affinity and the practice of 2000: 136–7). building non-hierarchical, self-defined Affin- ity Groups provide a way out of this postmod- However, conflict, resistance and opposition ern conundrum? How was the concept of affinity are important in mobilizing people around com- deployed? The organizers of the EFF decided to monly defined individual causes, but the problem build a European platform in line with the notion remains how can these oppositional forces, once of affinity as used by Haraway (1991) and consis- mobilized, turn from resistance towards build- tent with Mouffe’s work on collective identities ing a community that can help shape a more just (Mouffe 2005: 2). Contrary to the idea of an iden- and equal future? This process of articulating tity based on solidarity, affinity does not have to the enemy other or mobilizing around common be founded on an underlying consensus among causes is a discursive process in the broadest members of the group; political identities are sense. Not only are subversive texts produced, formed in an act of negating the constructed at the same time oppositional practices also ‘them’ (Lloyd 2005: 163). It is thus not the com- emerge. The Affinity Groups that the EFF orga- monality of the ‘us’ that binds the affinity group, nizers mobilized could be seen as laboratories but rather the fight against a common – or at least of feminist web-based practices (to paraphrase commonly defined – enemy. The process of defin- Melucci), using new methods of communication, ing and thus constructing the enemy, be it racism, other ethics of congregation, struggling to find sexism or capitalism, binds the identity of those new concepts to define their interests. The major who decide to oppose it. There appears thus a challenge was how to create a communal identity

A Herstory...... 32...... Theme One out of these isolated interest groups. How to glue movement and the ways in which young people these diverse discourses together into a coher- get involved in social movements. ent entity able to envision a pathway to a future Europe? The European Feminist Forum5 The Amsterdam-based IIAV was among the ini- Prior to Haraway’s discussion of affinity the con- tiators of the EFF and took on the role of hous- cept was articulated in anarchist circles. The first ing the international Secretariat to facilitate the Affinity Groups were characterized by a commit- process. A number of leading European networks ment to direct action, close personal relation- were the EFF’s engine. These include the KARAT ships and an absence of hierarchical structure. Coalition, a network of women’s NGO’s from Cen- The idea of Affinity Groups comes from the anar- tral and Eastern Europe, the Network of Women chist and workers’ movements of late nineteenth in Development in Europe (WIDE) and ASTRA, the century Spain, who later fought against fascism Central and Eastern European Women’s Network during the Spanish Civil War. It spread to Latin for Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights. It America, where it was able to mobilize thousands is striking that initiatives and networks from Cen- of working women and men and continues to tral and Eastern Europe seem to have been better inspire activism (Villavicencio 1995). At the same represented than Western and Northern Euro- time that the Affinity Group model was being pean movements. adopted by the anti-war movement in the 1960s, small ‘consciousness-raising’ groups of women The IIAV preserves the history and cultural heri- were forming. These in turn were inspired by the tage of women’s movements and develops infor- Black Consciousness Movement in the USA (Wier- mation services to make historical and contempo- inga 2006). Thus action repertoires were imitated rary material regarding women’s lives and experi- and transformed to suit variously experienced ences accessible (Wieringa 2008). The IIAV’s inno- injustices. vative approach to using ICT for women’s movements worldwide (McDevitt-Pugh 2008) made a Feminist action repertoires went through various significant contribution to the EFF’s design, plac- phases. From the late 1960s onwards there was ing it in the vanguard of feminist organizing today. a ‘transformation of feminist notions of political Documenting and preserving existing knowledge intervention’ (Whelehan 1996: 8). Feminists were is a challenging undertaking, as is creating an breaking with ‘both traditional lobbying tactics environment where the knowledge that is needed and to some extent […] left-wing oppositional pol- to influence the future can be produced. This is itics’, which were dominated by men and offered why the IIAV offered to facilitate the EFF process: no space for women’s agendas (Whelehan 1996: to allow feminists of diverse national, profes- 8). Picking up methods and practices along the sional and activist backgrounds to network and way, feminist mobilizing was characterized by organize across a range of issues, forming new small consciousness-raising groups, large dem- alliances and setting up strategic new political onstrations, the building of a feminist counter cul- agendas to bring about change in Europe (Dütting ture, with its own media and centres, and lobby- & Semeniuk 2008). The various trajectories of the ing (the long march through the institutions). The Affinity Groups of the EFF are the latest phase in this process. They are inspired by reflections both 5 The following analysis of the EFF is partly based on the article by Dütting and Semeniuk (2008) in Wieringa (2008) on previous ways of organizing (around sister- and discussions with the authors and Lin McDevitt-Pugh of hood and solidarity) and on the anti-globalization the IIAV, as well as some internal documents.

A Herstory...... 33...... Theme One A Herstory...... 34...... Theme One organizers involved in this process, as presented wide resonance. Within one year the affinity group in the first section of this monograph, offer a fas- structure resulted in numerous events, articles, cinating insight into the diversity of experiences common plans for action, a website full of materi- that made all of us decide that this model of orga- als, and a vast network of committed people. All nizing would suit the present phase of European that time the organizers never once discussed feminist organizing best. who ‘women’ were or what ‘feminism’ was. They did not debate whether men could be part of femi- The EFF organizers’ idea was that a variety of nist movements, and, in fact, an Affinity Group of different groups could be formed – preferably male feminists was formed. They became a part groups that would cross national borders (IIAV of the EFF because they answered the initial open 2007). No agenda was set beforehand; issues call to get involved. In the call, the EFF organiz- were not defined previous to the call to form ers invited ‘all interested in a broad forum on key Affinity Groups. They also believed that the issues for feminists across Europe, however they groups could include participants who did not wish to define Europe’. Therefore, without dis- immediately identify as feminists. Therefore, alli- cussing what could be defined as ‘Europe’, Affinity ances would not require previous solidarity. The Groups were also based in Central Asia and the groups would use the affinity group model to start South Caucasus. By answering the call, a new a debate within the framework of the EFF. These Europe was defined (Dütting & Semeniuk 2008). Affinity Groups would be a meeting point for both organizations as well as individuals. It was felt The only way in which the organizers defined, that this type of loose organization would be close and in a sense arbitrarily ‘closed’, the forum was to the realities of European women’s movements when they named it the European Feminist Forum. today. Increasingly, political and feminist groups The Secretariat concluded that this name opened have scarce resources and little money. In West- up the subject more than it narrowed it, allow- ern Europe, the women’s movement has lost most ing for a redefinition of ‘European’ and ‘feminist’, of its funding over the last 15 years. Consequently, which is indeed what happened. A variety of peo- most feminists do not have financially sound ple accepted the invitation that previously might organizations behind them. Many feminists are not have been included in these categories, and employed outside the women’s movement and do new groups simply emerged, inspired by this open their feminist work on a volunteer basis. Recently, call.6 The groups started to work towards com- this process has also affected the Central and mon strategies and were looking for shared goals Eastern European countries that have joined the to enable them to unite forces to advance concrete EU (Lohmann 2007 and this volume). points on their agendas. But the non-event of the EFF did not make it possible to bring this process Does the affinity group model adopted by the to a temporary conclusion and to see whether organizers and the use of a postmodern theo- a defined ‘European feminist’ subject emerged retical framework stand up to the critique on in this process. So the outcome is not clear, and postmodern politics as articulated above? Who indeed the question emerges of whether it would were the subjects, and what were defined as the be at all desirable. The aim was to build alliances, dividing lines between ‘us’ and ‘them’ in organizing the EFF? The open attitude of the group, which decided it didn’t want to foreclose debates 6 An example is the formation of a network of Imazighen by defining beforehand who might be included or (Berber) feminists in The Netherlands who had not been what issues were considered important, had a previously organized.

A Herstory...... 35...... Theme One to create ideas, inspiration and energy, and to position is thus based on an almost essentialized enlarge the collective ‘we’ as European femi- subject position as the basis of identity-forma- nists (Dütting & Semeniuk 2008). Whether such tion. However, when identities are seen as being a loosely defined ‘European feminist “we”’ would constructed on a political, contextualized basis, have been able to build a communal feminist iden- Mohanty’s position become less relevant. This tity pushing towards an agenda to help transform was also the view of the organizers, who coun- Europe is another issues of debate. tered that there is no point in ‘eradicating’ the identities of those involved in the Affinity Groups. Reflecting on the praxis of feminist After all, the new European feminist identities that organizing they hoped might be formed would never amount Does this model of organizing stand up to Whele- to a single position, but would always be based on han’s and Mohanty’s critiques of the pitfalls of the multiple, sometimes contradictory, oppres- postmodern feminism? Does it allow for the for- sion the members of the EFF identified, but they mation of stable feminist identities able to make would nevertheless be experienced as ‘real’, and a political fist? Or does this form of postmodern- as so powerful as to warrant organizing on the ist feminism always remain virtually apolitical? basis of them. Chantal Mouffe defends the ability of this position to construct collective identities, by stating that They were aware that postmodern feminist political subjects are always necessarily collective thought is often criticized for originating in the subjects, constructed along the ‘we’/‘they’ binary. ivory tower of academia and having nothing to do By spotting the adversaries (‘they’), the political with everyday women’s struggles. Butler’s ‘per- ‘we’ emerges, from which ‘they’ are excluded. formativity’ theory, for instance, is often miscon- Mouffe recognizes that the political sphere is strued as pointing to identities as phenomena always governed by a hegemonic discourse of the that can be changed as one changes one’s set of most powerful group (Mouffe 2000: 21). However, clothes (Butler 1992). However, there is no con- she argues that every political ‘we’ desires such tradiction between the idea that identities are hegemony – even a ‘we’ defining themselves as constructed (and thus being open to transforma- postmodern feminists. To challenge the current tion) and the realization that identities thus con- hegemonic discourse and to struggle against structed affect women in real, often painful, ways. subordination, politically identified groups need Translated to the formation of Affinity Groups, this to enter the political sphere and challenge cur- meant to construct a European feminist identity rent interpretations of the principles on which the incorporating multiple oppressions. Conceptually political sphere rests. (Mouffe 2005: 150). Thus by then the affinity group model the EFF organizers definition the Affinity Groups are political entities, adopted looked attractive and was successful, as as in the process of constructing themselves they many thousands of self-identified European femi- articulate a common agenda against a particular nists joined the discussion fora, formulated their enemy, which is a deeply political process. The issues, organized themselves and put new issues question remains whether a politics based on on the agenda. these resistance identities is able to formulate a common agenda for change. Practically there were numerous obstacles that in the end brought the process to a premature end Mohanty’s critique is that postmodern relativ- and prevented the actual face-to-face meeting of ism renders identity-based politics irrelevant, the EFF from taking place. Apart from mobilizing as identities are seen as inherently unstable. Her so many women and men, the concrete end-prod-

A Herstory...... 36...... Theme One ucts of this whole experiment in feminist organiz- Not only does this result in a conflict between ing are now a youth forum, and this monograph working styles, it also leads to financial inequali- that synthesizes the process. What prevented the ties. A large part of the limited budget that was EFF from becoming a total success? A number raised was gobbled up by salaries at the IIAV, of barriers have to be mentioned: the diversity while the volunteers didn’t get paid. This led to of European languages and the large distances tensions. On the other hand, without the drive in Europe, the opposition between a professional and the time investment of the IIAV-funded Secre- organization such as the IIAV and the mostly tariat, the immense effort to organize such a far- unfunded, volunteer-based networks, and the reaching process could never have been made. limitation of the organizing efforts to those people with access to the Internet. A major problem for European feminist organizing is the diminishing support for women’s orga- The process of constructing Affinity Groups relied nizing at the national level, while at the European heavily on Internet-mediated communication, level there are hardly any funds available (and if with all its drawbacks. Access to ICT, like access there might be funding possibilities the prohibi- to other previously existing media for transmit- tive bureaucracy involved deters many groups ting and sharing knowledge, is far from universal. from going after it). In relying on it ‘there is a danger of sliding into the world divided between the info-poor and the Conclusion info-rich, with women, as we know only too well, The affinity model is attractive and has certain ending up at the gates of technology and infor- possibilities for creating resistance identities, mation’ (Arizpe 1999: 15). Limiting participation formulating feminist positions and facilitating to the ‘info-rich’ is a common failure of all social feminist organizing. In this information age the organizing in cyberspace. At present, access to affinity model is mobilizing large numbers of email is rather common, but the 2.0 technology people quickly and effectively using modern web- that was used by the Affinity Groups is still beyond based techniques. It allows for the open, flexible the grasp of many, particularly older and poorer formation of identities that are not bigoted and people. judgemental, working from rigid, judgemental (integralist) positions. The interests thus identi- A major stumbling block for the Affinity Groups fied are not pre-defined and closed. As the exam- was the limited organizational capacity of the ple of the EFF demonstrates, the Affinity Groups participating networks and organizations. They were able to do justice to the diversity of concerns all grappled with a lack of resources; this prob- that have been expressed, and new issues were lem prevented the growth of each group and con- raised. The model also allowed for a wide vari- strained the scope of activities that they were able ety of views and analyses on the issues brought to undertake. Most groups lacked the security forward. It created space for the incorporation of that sufficient funds, paid staff and available time very diverse local contexts, and it allowed a suf- make possible. Groups had to rely on volunteer ficient sense of ‘we’ to facilitate exchange and labour to keep the process going. They found it future action among diverse groups. This frame- difficult to branch out beyond their core group work has the possibility of overcoming the politi- (Dütting & Semeniuk 2008). The IIAV, on the other cal inertia that postmodernist feminism has cre- hand, is a professional organization with paid staff ated in many quarters, while it still draws upon and strict control mechanisms in place. postmodernism’s valid contributions on subjects and diversity.

A Herstory...... 37...... Theme One In addition, the Affinity Groups were non-hierar- ests. The thinking that goes with this should move chical and were able to build themselves in novel beyond closing ranks in opposition to constantly ways, gradually articulating their own positions differently defined enemies. The professionalism while focusing on what they opposed. They were required for dealing with complex organizational inclusive, not working from pre-established con- problems and huge amounts of funding needs cerns. The mobilizing power of the affinity model more stability than shifting identifications and is encouraging, particularly because of its flex- fragmented truths allows. ibility and openness. The use of new media makes it possible to have a wide exchange of ideas and to As the EFF experience was cut short, it is not pos- reach an audience that otherwise might not be so sible to assess whether the model itself would inclined to join a feminist network. have been able to transcend the resistance model of identity formation. It has not yet demonstrated The problems identified on the path towards the its capacity to form strong, sustainable networks face-to-face meeting of the EFF seem to be mainly based on communal feminist identities. The Affin- pragmatic: lack of funds, difficulties in commu- ity Groups can be seen as the laboratories from nicating due to language and distance barriers, which these identities may grow in the future. lack of time and organizational capabilities due to a volunteer-based model. But it would be an illusion to see these issues as merely practical. For they do point to a serious concern, namely the inbuilt instability of the model, its lack of sustainability and the inevitable contradiction between a professional way of organizing and a more spon- taneous, flexible one. With only a very small secretariat as its anchor it was not yet possible to move from the building of resistance identities to a communal feminist position able to make a dent in the armour of the huge moloch of EU bureaucracy. In fact, it is doubtful whether EU bureau- crats, even those dealing with gender issues, were aware of what was happening around the Affinity Groups.

A serious challenge is thus how to create an affinity group model that is sustainable. That is able to deal with the inevitable hierarchy of professionalization that funders require. And that yet remains flexible and transparent and able to mobilize the enthusiasm of diverse groups. This requires not only new theorizing along the lines of political mobilization that the affinity model allows, but also a new feminist politics: idealist yet pragmatic, professional, transparent, able to build alliances with diverse groups as well as established inter-

A Herstory...... 38...... Theme One Theme Two Feminist Resource Mobilization and Building Political Power

Kinga Lohmann

Introduction tions with other feminist groups in Europe and Does a feminist movement exist in today’s Europe? worldwide. If yes, what is its response to injustice and discrimination in Europe and around the world? And A pressing question for feminism in Europe has what is its proposal for social changes in Europe been around a lack of funds for women’s rights and worldwide? These are the questions feminists organizations in today’s Europe. Following the have been asking ourselves from global South Association for Women’s Rights in Develop- and global North, and the East. ment (AWID) debate (Kerr 2007), availability of money was considered a political issue, and a The EFF, which (re-)builds and re-politicizes a link between (lack of) resources and the condi- feminist movement across Europe in order to tion of the (non-)movement needs further discus- ‘challenge patriarchal injustice, colonialism, sion. The trends in financing and/or withdrawing gender oppression, economic and social power’ financing for feminist organizations, including (Harcourt 2008), aims to bring about social, eco- the impact of available EU funds on the agenda, nomic and political change. It has been an exciting condition and relations within Europe of women’s experience to work and debate with women from NGOs is analysed below along with how feminists different backgrounds, cultures and races who respond to financial challenges. were convinced about a need of building a feminist political power in wider Europe. The EFF initiative was an attempt to build feminist political power. I reflect on various visions of the Europe, European, and a concept of Europe were purpose of feminist power and describe a strat- points of reference in the EFF initiative. I begin egy based on inclusiveness of groups of women then with reflections/opinions on what ‘European’ who, till recently, were not integrated with the EU means in the context of our initiative. It was a nec- women’s movement, and multigenerational coop- essary starting point of debate, since this term eration. was used and understood differently and led to considerable confusion. The networks/organiza- The European Feminist Forum and the tions involved in the EFF had a clear vision of why notion of Europe they were engaged in a European initiative and The term ‘Europe’ is not neutral, and its political what a European citizenship and identity meant for meaning gives different parts of Europe diverse them. For some, it was also important to position European status. The EFF, with its attempt to themselves in Europe and define their perception build a pan-European feminist movement, opened of European global players, as well as their rela- a debate on Europe, not only in the context of EU

A Herstory...... 39...... Theme Two enlargement, but also in the context of migration issues and concerns affecting black, refugee and and the status of women migrants in Europe. migrant women in Europe was clearly articulated by networks of migrant women operating across The European constituency, activities and per- Europe, and also by the women’s network repre- spectives of the networks was a determinant fac- senting a large European minority: Romas. tor of their engagement in the EFF initiative. The European perception and vision was a basis for Confusion and misunderstanding in the feminist the idea of the necessity for creating a European debate on defining Europe (de Hann 2008: 75) are space for discussions on how to explore feminist connected to the fact that the geographical per- agendas needed in today’s Europe.7 This idea spective was not in line with the political one. The was a response to a lack of a European feminist popular use of the term ‘Europe’ corresponds to movement uniting feminists across Europe and the EU and, consequently, positions Eastern Euro- overcoming the geo-political borders and a divide pean countries outside the EU not as European created in the past and those created recently by but as ‘East’. The dominance of the EU perspec- the EU. The EFF aimed to develop new ways of tive perpetuates a political split of the continent. thinking about Europe, as a way to foster building strong feminist movements across borders in a The discussion of the definition of Europe was time of political and economic changes in Europe, followed by questions on the concept of a Euro- that would integrate feminists, including women pean person (‘who is a European?’) and what migrants, from different parts of Europe and European citizenship is. These basic questions strengthen their cooperation. seem late considering the transformation in Europe in the last 20 years. EFF concluded that The EFF debate would facilitate the place and iden- being European was one’s sense of consider- tity of different networks within today’s Europe. ing herself as European. This leads to multiple This need was strongly expressed by the net- combinations: European is somebody who lives works coming from Central and Eastern Europe in wide (geographical) Europe, considers herself (CEE), which had experienced a significant politi- as European, has or doesn’t have a European cal, social and economic transformation in the background; and also somebody who doesn’t live last two decades. An ‘East–West’ dialogue aimed in (geographical) Europe but considers herself to fill the gap in our knowledge about other parts European despite having or not having a European of Europe and to overcome prevailing stereotypes. background. Consequently, European citizenship Groups from Eastern Europe in particular needed referred to one’s identification with Europe – for to position themselves in the European feminist example, by belonging to and participating in a movement; the wish to have their voices heard on European/international ‘community’ or circle of people who share common values such as feminism or women’s rights; by having rights to free/ easy movement, without borders within a large 7 Answers from leaders of European feminist networks and the EFF secretariat, including Nerea Craviotto, Ewa part of Europe (‘Schengen’ zone); by having/feel- Dąbrowska-Szulc, Gisela Dütting, Enisa Eminovska, Merle ing stronger connections with activities that cross Gosewinkel, Wendy Harcourt, Kinga Lohmann, Lin McDe- nations/countries/borders than national ones. vitt-Pugh, Wanda Nowicka, Malu Padilla, Cristina Reyna, Joanna Semeniuk and Małgorzata Tarasiewicz, to the EFF promoted a wide and inclusive Europe, with questions: ‘why I am a part of EFF’ and what EFF means no regard to geopolitical division of blocks of for your network’ on the EFF website. Steering Committee countries around the EU concept. of European Feminist Forum (2007) (see: http://europeanfeministforum.org//spip.php?rubrique20&lang=en).

A Herstory...... 40...... Theme Two How the networks position themselves in East–West and North–South relations and Europe perception of the European Union The European feminist networks involved in The feminist networks which were part of the EFF the EFF initiative position themselves in Europe reflect their different geographical scope and differently. This is mainly related to their ori- interests. The networks based in high-income gin – where they were established and by whom European countries committed to gender justice – as well as their constituency: their platforms in development programmes are involved in the (national or regional), member organizations, North–South relations. Their familiarity with the individual members originating from across global South results from previous ‘traditional’ Europe from West, East, North and South. Some links between the European countries and their see themselves as promoting the perspective of former colonies, as well as from moral obliga- women from the West, (global) South and East, tions and responsibilities to impede North–South others by expressing/advocating for the needs of inequalities. Networks originating from middle- CEE/CIS women or by supporting them, or by sup- income countries are engaged in relations with porting migrant, refugee women in Europe, or by the East of Europe as a result of similar, histori- empowering women minorities in CEE. cally based experiences and needs. However, they also look for East–West relations to overcome A constituency of women’s networks having prevailing divisions within Europe. A 50-year ‘European’ or ‘Europe’ in its name included mem- break in mutual relations between West and East bers exclusively or mainly from EU countries. The has led to ignorance or false assumptions on both awareness of a pan-Europe resulted in inclusion sides and considerable effort to overcome unrea- of Eastern European perspectives in the strategy. sonable expectations, prejudices or complaints.

The women’s networks from Eastern Europe The different networks have different perceptions commonly saw the name ‘European’ as corre- about the role of the EU. Those which work in the sponding to the EU and depriving Eastern Euro- development process recognize the EU mainly as pean organizations from using the name ‘Euro- a global player – for example, a major donor of pean’ without specifying the geographical area. financing for development and important stake- They came together to articulate women’s prob- holder in international financial and trade institu- lems and perspectives specific to the region char- tions. Networks working for gender equality within acterized by similar background and totalitarian Europe see it as an important European actor to legacy, economic and democratic transformation promote new political and economic approaches experienced in the last two decades, with inde- that impact, both positively and negatively, wom- pendent women’s organizations emerging only en’s status and economic life in Europe. in the 1990s. These networks, defined as East and Central European (rather than just Euro- Resources for European feminist initiatives pean) articulated this part of Europe’s feminist Creating a space for discussion for feminists concerns. After 2004, since their constituency across Europe was badly needed and timely; how- included members from new EU states and non- ever, funding was required to make it a reality. The EU countries, they had to challenge their sense EFF found a chilling situation in funding for femi- of European identity. This has led to a building of nist initiatives in Europe and an alarming financial bridges with the European/EU women’s/feminist situation for women’s human rights organizations movement and European/EU bodies. across Europe.

A Herstory...... 41...... Theme Two The global women’s network, AWID, has recog- In middle-income Eastern European countries, nized money and financial flows as inherently financing for women’s/feminist organizations political issues, and in its research on financing was suddenly cut off, leaving an enormous gap for the women’s movement undertaken since 2005 in access to funds. An analysis of this relatively has analysed trends on a yearly basis (Kerr 2007). short and sharp process illustrates the mecha- Joanna Kerr writes: ‘where the money goes (or nisms of depoliticizing the women’s movement. doesn’t go) enshrines certain values. So by build- The boom in funding women’s organizations by ing the financial sustainability of our movements large, foreign private and public donors lasted for we shift value systems towards human rights and only ten years, and the trend changed rapidly on gender equality, and thereby advance and sustain EU accession in 2004 (Lohmann 2007). Since then, our struggles for social justice’ (Kerr 2008: 5). the financial situation of women’s NGOs has dra- matically worsened (Haskova & Krizkova 2008) AWID’s report findings and its worldwide related with the withdrawal of international donors’ sup- activities, including a massive gathering of port based on the assumption that NGOs in East- women worldwide in Mexico in 2006, advocacy ern Europe (new EU Member States, Accession and lobbying for financing the women’s move- Countries or countries having closer links through ment, have influenced the agenda of European a neighborhood policy) would have access to a sig- women’s NGOs and considerably encouraged nificant amount of EU funds. However, in reality them to write and speak loudly about the funds for access to EU money has been far from easy. The women’s rights. However, it did not result in simi- few national donors have a conservative approach lar research examining specifically the European towards women’s rights and little experience with context and the EU money’s impact on women’s a culture of philanthropy. In this environment many rights in Europe. Moreover, it did not bring about women’s NGOs (from new EU Member States and a consolidation of the women’s movement across Accession Countries) have turned towards the EU Europe around this critical issue. funds managed by the government as one of the very few available sources of funding allowing Impact of decreasing financing for them to work (or rather survive) but rarely per- European women’s rights organizations mitting them to follow the mission and strategy The trend in funding women’s rights varies in of their organizations. The projects follow the EU different parts of Europe, but there is a general agenda which does not take into consideration the trend of decreasing finance for programmes for fact that women paid a significant social cost of women in Europe. In high-income European coun- post-1989 economic transformation, introduction tries, with a developed culture of philanthropy and of the free market economy, and the neo-liberal numerous progressive donors once convinced of agenda. The lobbying and advocacy or watchdog women’s rights and gender equality, have for sev- function of women’s rights NGOs towards govern- eral years reduced funding (Dütting & Semeniuk ment and influencing its policy on women’s rights 2008). There has been a shift towards financing was abandoned. Hence, instead of reacting to an gender in development as a priority (also related alarming backlash against the women’s rights to the MDGs). As a result, many feminist organi- agenda at the governmental level, women’s orga- zations with a European focus closed or became nizations are kept ‘busy’ with their EU-financed depoliticized, and the feminist movement is not projects and undertake market-related projects. visible in the public discourse. Joining the EU, instead of strengthening civil society and women’s rights, has alarmingly weakened and depoliticized them.

A Herstory...... 42...... Theme Two The impact of European Union funding for ment of a significant amount of the organization’s women’s rights own financial contribution (20–30%). Similarly, The EU has had a considerable impact on the con- as in the case of European Structural Funds, the dition of women’s rights organizations, includ- annual budgets of small/medium-sized women’s ing their adaptation to the rules of ‘free market NGOs are perceived as unable to manage budgets competition’, and as a consequence, a signifi- available under the EC funding programme. Thus cant decrease of their role in working/advocat- small/medium-sized women’s NGOs are excluded ing for women’s empowerment and rights. The from the EC funds practically from the start. EU money assigned for gender equality in the EU has seriously transformed the women’s move- The manner of EU funding for gender equality has ment in Europe. While the European Structural had an ambiguous impact on women’s organiza- Funds managed by the new Member States’ tions in Europe. In the current financing environ- governments offer quite a significant amount of ment, to continue their activity, the organizations money for projects, the application process is have to either adopt a ‘business system’ and make extremely complicated in terms of administrative a considerable effort and investment in building and bureaucratic requirements. The procedure of a strong institutional and managerial capacity financial reporting and reimbursement of a proj- for the organization, which can have an undesir- ect’s expenses is so long that it requires using the able effect of diverting them from the organiza- organization’s funds for almost the entire period tion’s programme, or they refuse or are unable of project implementation. Several women’s NGOs ‘to change their focus and strategies’ (Haskova & collapsed due to the lack of sufficient funds on Krizkova 2008) and choose a ‘survival strategy’ by their own, and not many had an adequate financial continuing a struggle for tiny amounts of money or and administrative capacity to apply for projects by selling (often for very low fees) their expertise, as leading organizations. Consequently, money and without fulfilling their mission. The Czech from the European Structural Funds for equal researchers Haskova & Krizkova (2008) observe gender opportunity seldom reached the small/ that organizations medium-sized women’s organizations, which have the best experience and expertise in the “become more project oriented in that their field of gender equality and women’s rights but activities consisted of conducting specific activi- do not have sufficient administrative and financial ties with clearly defined objectives, budgets, resources. Rather, the money has been assigned and timelines […] In addition they became more to institutions, businesses or other large bodies reform oriented, in that they started to work to with a solid administrative, financial and technical improve existing legal or institutional structures capacity but without gender equality knowledge step-by-step, or to provide services that could or experience. This has led to a reverse effect of be supported by the state and the EU […] These that intended, as gender equality issues, instead trends have led to profound changes in terms of being promoted and strengthened, have been of the existence, focus, strategies, partnership, distorted or at best watered down. style of work, and organization of the activities of women’s civic groups. On one hand, these pro- The other EU source of funding is the Euro- cesses have also led to a strengthening of the pean Commission (EC). Access to EC funds is impact that formalized women’s NGOs have […]; implemented through ‘calls for proposals’ – an on the other hand they resulted in a marginaliza- extremely competitive environment with lengthy, tion of women’s informal civic groups and wom- complicated application procedures and a require- en’s NGOs […]”

A Herstory...... 43...... Theme Two Network responses to the funding situation*

As is the case with the business where men, women and children To compensate for the risk we built world, not all organizations sur- can live in equality and peace. As in mechanisms for diminishing the vive the rollercoaster of trends, information experts we have much risk. recessions, change and ideas. For to share with social justice move- example, the IIAV, one of the orga- ments and their efforts to create We also found ourselves competing nizations involved in the EFF, has and maintain change through infor- for funds with consultancies with withstood the turbulence of time, mation strategies. We also know staff specially trained in writing but we are very aware that our suc- where there is a lack of informa- tenders for government funds. cess in the past does not guarantee tion, and we can work with aca- How should we respond? Do we success in the future. We began demics, organizations, agencies decrease our number of experts as an archive of the women’s suf- and individuals to change this. and increase the number of people frage movement and the women’s who can write excellent tenders – peace movement in 1935. After The question is who will pay for this and potentially increase our income the war of 1939–45 we continued product? There are two answers to so we can bring back the experts? participating in and collecting the this question. One is that there are Do we start to speak the language heritage of women’s movements. a number of funding organizations of the funder to fit the current The Dutch government has funded and individuals in the Netherlands norms of society, rather than speak the IIAV for decades, and with each that are happy to find in the IIAV the words that fit our transforma- changing government we see our a partner in their own idealistic tional approach? Or do we approach budget shrinking or growing. For vision of a transformed world. The the issue politically and lobby to the past decade we have lived with second answer is that there are ensure that emancipation funding a government demand that the more institutions that could pay goes to transformational organi- market pays for what it wants. At for our services if we choose our zations? Women’s organizations present the market – the govern- words carefully and if our admin- pioneered in developing a market ment – wants to pay for preserving istrative systems conform to their for emancipation products, which cultural heritage, but wants it for demands. has led to an expansion of funds less every year. but also of new parties entering the It continues to be a steep learn- field as competition for funding. As an organization we are adapt- ing curve to understand how we As more funding becomes avail- ing. We are also ambitious. While can work with this second group able it is important that feminist the government pays for us to of institutions. We discovered we organizations continue to find ways preserve the cultural heritage of needed to adjust our administra- of accessing that funding. We are the women’s movements, we rec- tive systems, from the way we did the ones that, when the market for ognize that what we are doing is our annual financial reports to the emancipation products becomes inspiring change in the future. We way we accounted for our hours. mature and fewer parties partici- help consolidate knowledge. That We transformed from being an pate in the competition for funds, is our product. The term ‘cultural organization with a single financer must continue to lead the way in heritage’ hides the radical nature to an organization with multiple making change happen. We have of our collection, which I prefer to financers, sometimes taking on to become better in influencing the describe as the raw material docu- project staff but also needing to way tenders are formulated and menting the most radical social have our own experts available for more competent in competing for change movement of the past cen- project work. The Board of Direc- tenders. tury and a half. Its contents provide tors found themselves taking more information and inspiration for the risks, as we define our staff needs * Contribution by Lin McDevitt-Pugh changes that still must take place at the beginning of the year before if our societies are to be places we fully know what our income is.

A Herstory...... 44...... Theme Two The tendency is quite obvious: large institutions who are also important supporters of the tionalized organizations supported by EU funds women’s rights agenda are based in ‘old Europe’. increase their professional status, impact on the The majority of them have funds for development EU ongoing policy and become larger, whereas programmes – mainly for the global South – and small/medium-sized organizations turn into few finance European programmes on women’s smaller ones and often disappear. What is even empowerment or rights in Europe (inside or out- more alarming in this financial ‘landscape’ is that side the EU). The established long-term relations there is no space for growth of new, young wom- between these donors and civil society (from old en’s organizations. Europe) made them accessible for presenting the European feminist initiative and requesting their In contrast, the EU is a major donor of devel- support. Potential donors in Northern countries opment aid, including gender in development. made it clear that they had a very limited budget, Although there is a trend of withdrawing financing if any, for Europe. Any support would be directed for women’s organizations that focus on women’s only to women from low-income countries or rights in Europe, there is a promising trend of areas of armed conflict. It was also obvious that increasing funds and presence of new important the women from Eastern European developing donors financing gender equality programmes countries (low-income countries) were not high in development, including programmes of Euro- on their development agenda. pean women’s NGOs. The ‘aid effectiveness agenda’, influenced among others by the MDGs, Some major donors who operated in CEE after was adopted by numerous European developed the 2004 EU enlargement left an endowment to countries as well as by bilateral and multilateral a few local foundations with adequate adminis- development agencies. This sector is a large fund- trative and financial structure to support further ing source which creates new opportunity, espe- the democratization agenda in the region. These cially since some of the agencies have adopted an agencies are governed by local staff character- explicit focus on gender equality in their agenda ized by a conservative approach toward women’s (Kerr 2007: 9). rights issues. Projects that deal with women’s political and economic as well as reproductive Where is the money for feminist initiatives rights are viewed as politicized and rejected for across Europe? ideological reasons. The support for transnational The EFF organizers tried to challenge the current cooperation is targeted at specific countries, financing trend for the European women’s agenda. groups of countries (for example, the Visegrad Our approach to fundraising was to use the com- Group) or sub-regions (for example, the Balkans, bined knowledge and fundraising experience of post-Soviet Union countries) and aims at promot- feminists from high- and medium-income Euro- ing cooperation between NGOs within the former pean countries where different potential donors communist bloc, mainly by passing on experi- have operated. But an initiative crossing state and ence on democratic mechanisms or building the EU boundaries, engaging women from the wide capacity of civil society. The regional donors’ Europe, from inside and outside the EU, from the grants are relatively small with a short period of North, South and East, become an unforeseen project duration, and sometimes without budget obstacle for securing funds. for administration and salaries for coordination. Very few donors/agencies based in CEE/CIS have Main donors, bilateral and multilateral develop- a gender equality agenda. ment agencies, INGOs, and large private founda-

A Herstory...... 45...... Theme Two The pan-European approach of the EFF did not context in Europe.8 We are ‘manoeuvred’ between fit into EU tenders and calls. Although the EC different funds, programmes and geographical strongly promotes partnerships among NGOs – coverage available for women’s rights, and met for example, within its Aid programme intended with numerous obstacles. In addition, the funds to raise awareness about development issues for development programmes are not designed – it aims mostly at integrating NGOs from new for the EU, the middle-income countries in East- EU Member States with NGDOs from old Mem- ern Europe or the global South’s migrants living ber States and excludes those from outside the in Europe. Thus, the Southern women’s migrant EU. The NGOs from non-EU countries belong to organizations face the same lack of funds as other a category of ‘local partner’, and in practice this women’s organizations in Europe. Therefore, an means that they are not officially included in the existing trend of non-financing for feminism in decision-making process of the project and can Europe creates a serious gap which needs to be receive only a tiny amount of funds for a concrete filled as a critical strategy for European femi- task and not for ongoing project activities. This nists. policy promotes a patronizing approach towards those from outside the EU, including the Euro- Building feminist political power pean neighborhood, Balkans and global South, How do we understand feminist political power? and does not contribute to the integration of a Can we link it with a strong feminist movement pan-European feminist movement. and the power to find and use the money which could empower feminist groups across Europe? How do feminists respond to financial challenges? The EFF was a response to the absence of Euro- It is a vicious circle: the lack of funds has con- pean feminist power, a reaction to a lack of femi- siderably weakened feminist organizations, and nists’ voices from Europe at the global social and because of greatly decreased financial and human political fora, and to the weakness of a feminist resources feminists have not been strong enough voice at the European level. It was ‘established’ to respond to the financial challenges. to react to the lack of a united feminist movement and solidarity, a lack of interest in a wide The EFF initiative did not manage to mobilize the European initiative and political agenda, and funds for building a European feminist move- finally to a lack of space for feminist gatherings ment for the same reasons. The identification of in Europe and to the weak position at the different the lack of funds for feminist organizations as European social fora. The European networks9 a pressing issue would have to be debated during the EFF’s face-to-face meeting in Warsaw in June 2008 with a hope of developing a strategy for 8 Announcement. EFF June conference in Poland cancelled changing a financing deficiency. Since this issue (see: http://europeanfeministforum.org/spip. php?article434&lang=en). was not debated sufficiently, united fundraising 9 Answers from leaders of European feminist networks was perceived as a conflict of interest whereby and the EFF secretariat, including Nerea Craviotto, Ewa fundraising for EFF would compete with fundrais- Dąbrowska-Szulc, Gisela Dütting, Enisa Eminovska, Merle Gosewinkel, Wendy Harcourt, Kinga Lohmann, Lin McDe- ing for individual networks. vitt-Pugh, Wanda Nowicka, Malu Padilla, Cristina Reyna, Joanna Semeniuk and Małgorzata Tarasiewicz, to the The lack of funds for this type of initiative high- questions: ‘why I am a part of EFF’ and ‘what EFF means for your network’ on the EFF website. Steering Committee lights the feminist movement’s current difficult of European Feminist Forum (2007) (see: http://europeanfeministforum.org/spip.php?rubrique20&lang=en).

A Herstory...... 46...... Theme Two justified their involvement in the initiative as EU. An assumption (for instance, of Eastern Euro- an urgent need to assess a new political, social pean women), that in the old EU countries there and economic environment of Europe, to prevent was a feminist/women’s movement with a healthy conservative trends from undermining women’s financial condition but that these feminists were achievements, and also as a vital necessity of a not interested in supporting other women living in strong response to a serious backlash affect- Europe, led to frustration. This was strengthened ing women’s rights, including the resurgence of by the fact that an interest in advocacy for NGOs nationalist and religious fundamentalist move- from new Member States and non-EU countries ments. So, the expectations contained propos- and openness for cooperation were demonstrated als to revive feminism in Europe, to build political by other European (EU) social movements. A simi- power for the European feminist movement, and lar disappointment was articulated by migrant to re-politicize it by designing a political feminist women. agenda for Europe in its new shape and with the inclusion of migrant women. Re-politicizing the Another approach relied on multigenerational work of feminist groups was meant not only to cooperation within our initiative. In addition to influence significant political decisions that affect an Affinity Group devoted to a dialogue between women’s lives, through building a lobbying plat- feminists of different ages, an informal young form targeting opinion and policymakers to have feminists group was invited to be a part of EFF’s an impact on EU policies, but mainly to make the leadership and decision-making body, and its EU structure work for the feminist agendas. Addi- role was to influence and shape a strategy and tionally, the EFF initiative was perceived as an activities from a youth perspective. This invitation opportunity to empower some networks and their tried to address a problem often heard at various constituency – for example, by development of the European (EU) feminist fora for the last several migrant and Romani women’s feminist agenda. It years: ‘where are the young feminists?’ and ‘how was also an occasion to involve European women to attract them?’. Even when a young woman join in the peacemaking process to avoid potential a women’s NGO known by its reputation, this very inter-communal conflicts in European countries. often reflects that she is motivated by developing her professional career and not by joining These broad expectations required further the feminist movement. On the other hand, there debate to make them more precise and focused, were issues articulated by young activists: ‘where and needed to be followed by the development of a is a space for us?’, ‘there’s nowhere for us to go’ strategy to implement them. Since the beginning, (Graff 2008). This second point is particularly rel- the adopted strategy relied on inclusiveness of evant in new democracies, where there is a space various constituencies of different networks, and for a substantial improvement in political culture thus the EFF defined its political credo on who and public debates, and being a part of a social/ should be an integral part of the initiative and an political feminist movement offers the only space important actor in building a movement. It pointed to express one’s own opinions and being involved out that a future European feminist agenda would in activities challenging injustices toward women. respond to concerns of minority and migrant Yet, a feminist movement, consisting of NGOs women, young women, women living outside the which are often not membership organizations EU and in old and new EU Member States. So the and are not governed and managed democrati- inclusiveness was directed towards women who, cally (Graff 2008), does not provide a space for the until recently, were not integrated with other white self-realization of young activists. middle-class women’s organizations from the old

A Herstory...... 47...... Theme Two A Herstory...... 48...... Theme Two A pan-European initiative to revive a feminist Building feminist political power would require movement and its new agenda was promoted a strong political agenda, a clear strategy for through a website, and other electronic means, implementing it, and significant involvement as well as at face-to-face meetings and various and support from feminists. And… money. And, women’s/feminist events in different countries what is more, a strategy on how to access funds. in Europe. A travelling circus10 announcing and Although, financing for women’s rights in Europe aimed at attracting European feminists (and the was an ‘omnipresent’ subject in our discussion, donor community) to our idea and to receive their we have not really debated and concluded the feedback was another way of inviting diverse most strategic way to undertake our own fund- stakeholders to join the movement. raising.

To learn the views and opinions of others and to Yet, there are some encouraging examples of suc- see how a European initiative was perceived was cessful advocacy by women’s NGOs for financing an important experience gained over two years gender equality, namely AWID advocacy aiming at by meeting, visiting and talking to feminists and ‘achieving a significant increase in access to an receiving their written opinions and papers. It amount of funding available to support women’s was apparent that the national agenda, with its rights work’ (Kerr 2007: 6) that ‘has already con- usual issues, such as violence against women, tributed to the leveraging of more explicit fund- women’s political participation or reproductive ing for women’s rights organizations’. Another rights, or projects implemented were proposed example is a global coalition of NGOs advocating as topics for EFF at the cost of rethinking a femi- for financing for gender equality in the ‘aid effec- nist movement strategy or acting in response to a tiveness agenda’. Mapping donors with their gen- new social face of Europe caused, for example, by der equality agenda for Europe, the EC proves to migration and its not yet well digested enlarge- be the biggest donor, administering our money ment. An idea of a European feminist political that we – Europeans (people who live in EU) – pay agenda did not seem to be attractive, most prob- as taxes. Advocacy to influence this main body ably because of connotations of the EU, which to assign funds for the feminist/women’s rights undermined previous women’s rights standards movement across Europe, and making it work for – for example, in the Nordic countries – and a feminist agenda, should be one of our strategies, also because of a weak interest in women living particularly since there are some examples that in Europe, including women migrants from the such lobbying works.11 It is an area that should global South and women from Eastern Europe. be explored further, since European feminist It looked like any interest beyond a national level organizations have much less experience with EC had been directed towards women in develop- money than other European NGDOs and NGOs. As ing countries, and no attention was given to the far as other donors are concerned, a recent and extension of programmes on gender in develop- previous (AWID 2006) analysis of funding sec- ment for women from the global South present in tors and strategies for financial sustainability of Europe. So building a European feminist initiative women’s rights organizations developed by AWID requires various face-to-face meetings to initiate should be studied, while its experience in advo- a debate with different groups of feminists.

11 Lobbying by CONCORD to establish a separate budget 10 We managed to go on only one ‘travelling circus’ to one for NGOs from new member states within the EC calls for Scandinavian country. education for development.

A Herstory...... 49...... Theme Two cacy and influencing donors’ strategy should be common understanding and clarity on the model utilized and built on. Numerous donors, includ- among organizers and their constituency was a ing development agencies, INGOs and large pri- serious barrier to achieving one of its goals. vate foundations with a women’s rights agenda, are accessible in (old) EU countries; this creates The power relations among organizations and an enormous advantage for European feminists, networks which were part of the decision-making and building feminist political power also means body created another challenge. The power rela- securing the financial sustainability of the femi- tions caused competition in different areas and nist movement in Europe. on different levels. For example, there was competition for areas of influence; if a network didn’t The EFF as an attempt to build European feminist have the institutional capacity to be involved more power was very ambitious and challenging in the actively, it wanted to control the process and context of the EFF structure, power and money ‘watch’ the power relations. Visibility and recog- relations and available institutional resources. A nition was another area of competition. Networks big forum for 500 feminists was too ambitious at wanting to use the EFF to push their own agenda this stage of the EFF’s development. or, on the other hand, pushing towards experimenting with a new model of building a femi- The structure based on three pillars – a secre- nist movement were other examples of power tariat hosted in IIAV as the holder of the project, a struggles. Competition was particularly present steering group of institutionalized networks, and between similar networks or organizations – for informal, loose Affinity Groups set up within the example, those operating at the same level or in EFF process – turned out to be incoherent. The the same part of Europe, having similar if not the European women’s networks as founders and same constituency, or competing for funds from ‘institutional’ bodies giving legitimacy formed the same donors. Therefore, the ‘institutional’ a decision-making body for the EFF; the other, structure of EFF turned out to be a burden which non-hierarchical Affinity Groups were composed had to resolve problems linked to power relations, of individuals debating and working on different instead of being a visionary body. subjects/concepts but without decision-making power and a clear idea of their role and place in The issues of money within the EFF project were the EFF. A secretariat with a different percep- related to fundraising capacity and effort. The tion of the EFF and initiating networks created Secretariat was the main fundraiser for the EFF, additional confusion. The Secretariat perceived and the tensions over fundraising were not only it as a process based on the concept of affinity due to the difficult donor climate but also due to and offered a space to various feminist ideas and the different perceptions of the EFF of the Secre- thoughts irrespective of organizational affiliation. tariat and the initiating networks’ role in support- It also separated this process from the face-to- ing fund raising. The amount of money required to face event. On the contrary, the networks thought run the Secretariat was larger than the networks that the forum would be a main ‘element’ of this meeting in the Steering Committee appreciated initiative and perceived a role of the Secretariat as as ultimately most of the funds were allocated to a coordination body of preparatory works. These the process led by the Secretariat and not enough diverse expectations provoked discomfort and a was able to be raised for the face to face forum reluctance to engage from some of the networks. itself. The allocation of money to the secretariat- The incoherent structure was unable to develop a led process which, while agreed to at the com- clear and consistent concept of the EFF. Lack of mittee meetings, caused tension and diminished

A Herstory...... 50...... Theme Two motivation among the networks to fundraise fur- up by the global women’s movement, and strong ther for the face-to-face meeting.12 lobby activities to influence the UN agenda, turned into protection of achievements made up to that The EFF face-to-face meeting, thought of as an time and into opposition to a backlash in the states’ important gathering of European feminists, a agendas concerning women’s human rights. As large forum for a few hundred women, was not time went on, it resulted in disappointment and a possible at that time, particularly under pressure diminished interest in participating. For Europe, of lacking funds and institutional resources. More- the UN level was a key gathering for the women over, an experimental model of building a feminist from all of Europe, and offered a space of work- movement was understood only by a small group ing together on influencing documents or sharing of feminists involved in the EFF. The model was experience. However, a political division between not debated enough, nor ‘digested’ by the govern- EU and non-EU countries prevailed in women’s ing bodies and other groups linked to the EFF, so minds and did not really contribute to the coopera- the forum was not ready to be launched in 2008. tion of women from a wide Europe and to the pan- European feminist initiatives at European level. Conclusion The EFF initiative as a project is over, but a debate An alternative space for building a global women’s on rebuilding and re-politicizing the European movement and alternative feminist agenda was feminist movement has continued. The WIDE offered by AWID. A huge conference every two Annual Conference held in October 2008 in The years gathered an important number of women Hague was a follow-up to the EFF on a feminist from the global South and Eastern Europe (sup- vision for a just Europe, with over 200 feminists ported within development aid) and very few from involved. The EFF also inspired young feminists the ‘old’ EU. Despite unbalanced participation but to organize a Young Feminist Forum in Warsaw in thanks to an atmosphere of affiliation to the wom- June 2008. An approach to ‘construct’ a feminist en’s movement, the AWID forum also created an vision for social justice in Europe has started to inspiring environment for pan-European feminist be implemented by using the terms that would debates and initiatives with a follow-up at Euro- lead to changes in feminists’ minds and allow pean level. them to overcome previous and current divisions inside our society here in Europe. The prevailing condition of European feminist organizations had an impact on building femi- The European feminist initiative was an important nist power. A weakened movement, a significant attempt to create a space for the feminist debate decrease in the number of organizations engaged in Europe, particularly since the space for femi- for social and political changes within Europe, nists in the global context had significantly shrunk and a visible trend of changing the ‘nature’ of in the last decade. A main worldwide gathering of organizations had an impact on the engagement women after the Beijing conference (1995), tak- of feminist networks and organizations and their ing place at the UN level, became less meaningful constituency, and it led to a decrease in influence over the course of time. A politicized ambiance set of our initiative. The real ‘driving force’ of the EFF initiative were a few individual feminists from different backgrounds excited to ‘construct’ a femi- 12 38% of the budget was allocated to the Affinity Group nist vision for a social, economic and political jus- process, 33 % to project management and 12% to develop- tice in Europe, and they should continue to inspire ing this publication. The remainder went to communication costs (6,5%), programming meetings (10%) and stimulate others.

A Herstory...... 51...... Theme Two A Herstory...... 52...... Theme Two Theme Three Economic Change and Migration

Gisela Dütting

Introduction the positive aspects of part-time work was seen Economic developments and migration were cen- as a very middle-class debate. Now, many of the tral themes of the EFF from the start. Migration same issues related to part-time work, namely has become an (artificial) focus for social dis- low pay, fewer rights, and low job security, are content, everywhere in Europe. More migrants all coming back in the (feminist) debates on flex- in Europe, changing patterns of migration and ibility of the labour market and precarity. The all- relations between earlier populations and vari- encompassing demand of flexibility in the labour ous migrant groups are contentious throughout market has made this a pressing issue for many Europe. In many countries in Europe these dis- more groups. The sexual division of labour has contents about migration are linked to economic remained in the more mainstream policy debates developments (International Organization for on childcare and other facilities. The reality of job Migration 2008: 455). markets in Europe has put economic insecurity and all its aspects back on the feminist agenda. Women’s movements in Europe have barely started in-depth debates around migration. For In feminist discourses on economics, class was years, tensions around this subject have been a central axis on which the European women’s ignored, and a prevailing political correctness movement had been analysing since the 1960s, has pre-empted addressing issues surround- together with the axes of sex/gender and race. ing migration. The EFF process and analysis that On class, the women’s movement was internally emerged from it tried to make good the gaps in divided, along the lines of dominant political views feminist analysis and practice on both economics on socialism, social democracy etc. (Young et al. and migration issues. 1981; Davis 1981; Dütting 2003). With the current dominance of intersectionality as a concept in the Feminist debates on economics and academic feminist debates, more axes have been migration in Europe added to the feminist toolbox, such as ethnicity, The once heated debate on the advantages and legal status, sexual orientation and other denom- disadvantages of part-time work for women has inators, making it possible to work out a far more disappeared. In the 1970s and 1980s, women’s sophisticated analysis; the relative weight of the movements all over Europe were divided on the various factors, changing situations and context, merits of part-time work. Many saw it as a trap for subjectivity, diversity and conflicting interac- women, leading to poverty and a continuing of the tions are acknowledged. In the strategic feminist sexual division of labour within the family and in debates in Europe today, class is coming back into society at large (Young et al. 1981). The debate on the discussions with a vengeance. It is a central

A Herstory...... 53...... Theme Three theme in the analysis on, for example, access to links between national developments in European social provisions, migrant domestic workers, the countries and international economic trends. European welfare state, and others. In terms of feminist analysis and movement strat- The once very dominant feminist debates on pro- egies, the rights-based approach and ‘economic ductive and reproductive work have also reap- rights for women’ approach have gained ground peared in debates regarding the gender-segre- (Symington 2006). This can also be seen as a posi- gated labour markets, the gender pay gap, plus tive spin-off of the strong human rights gains of the unresolved issues on care work and (migrant) transnational feminism of the 1990s, despite domestic labour. Despite years of feminist work the strong heteronormative bias in most rights- on counting women’s invisible reproductive (care) based approaches. The rights-based approach work (Waring 1990; Beneria 2003), the domi- has brought various successes for women, also nant system of not counting and valuing wom- because the EU has emphasized legislation as en’s reproductive work in Europe has remained. an important vehicle for economic changes. This This work includes childcare, household work, approach has led to some improvements regard- community work and, increasingly, care for the ing pension rights for women in Europe, and bet- elderly, as more elderly people go without acces- ter/expanded access to all types of (state) ser- sible and affordable care provisions. Women vices and provisions. However, the concept and continue to shoulder the brunt of all care work, strategy are untested in gaining feminist trans- but the purchasing power of the middle classes formative changes in the economy in Europe. in Europe has partly shifted these tasks to paid (undocumented) migrant women. Recent postmodern developments in feminist theories have emphasized issues such as inter- Across Europe, feminist organizing seems to be sectionality, identities and positioning. Although strongest on either a national scale or an interna- this line is strong in the analysis of the European tional scale. European-level organizing is limited women’s movement, the strategic implications for to a small number of women’s networks such as movement building are trailing behind. NEWW, WIDE, KARAT, or the European Women’s Lobby, plus different constellations of European From poverty to impoverishment to precarity has researchers. The dominance of the international been the line along which many women’s groups debates is evidence of the previous success of developed their conceptual thinking. In the 1970s transnational feminism of the 1990s (Keck & Sik- and 1980s, feminist research appeared, showing kink 1998: 165–198) and the overall intensity of that in Europe, women were over-represented international movements such as the environ- among the poor; within each social category, mental movement or just-globalization move- women were poorer than men. In the 1990s more ment in Europe. It means that in Europe, global- women’s groups, which were organizing in a Euro- ization and a further internationalized view on pean framework, preferred the term ‘impover- women’s economic position have gained ground in ished’, instead of ‘poor’, thus emphasizing that it all feminist debates. Many women’s organizations was a matter of oppressive structures that made and networks analyse the gaps between human and kept women poor (Dütting 1997). Although rights and trade negotiations, between interna- many networks continue to work on poverty tional economic policies and migration policies etc. What is still developing are the European specifics of these international trends and the

A Herstory...... 54...... Theme Three issues in Europe,13 many more have now turned to feminist movement to mobilize and be successful precarity as a concept, as it encompasses more has grown; the stakes have gone up, although the than financial insecurity and social exclusion. trend has been visible for decades. Rowbotham’s view from 1996 would be equally relevant today: Social unrest in Europe; growing inequalities, marginalization and exclusion “By the early 1990s it was evident that poverty There is a growing acknowledgement that social was no longer confined to single mothers, elderly divisions in Europe are widening (Fagan et al. people, the long-term unemployed and people 2006), and social unrest is on the rise across with disabilities. Even families with working par- Europe. French workers are kidnapping bosses ents were falling into poverty. Moreover, inequal- to protest against the closure of factories. Strikes ity between women with and without children was take place among workers in Germany and the evident […] In the mid 1990s there is a vast gap UK (for example, protesting against the pres- between the media’s narrow view of feminism as ence of migrant workers at the Total factory in ‘women on top’ and the manifold daily problems Lindsey). Riots and demonstrations happen in Vil- of work and domestic life that women are fac- nius, Riga and Tallinn, where the Baltic states are ing. Feminist ideas have reached wider groups of seeing unemployment, national financial prob- women during the 1980s, even though the move- lems and tensions between different population ment has fragmented (Rowbotham 1996: 12).” segments. Regular demonstrations in Iceland continue, where national bankruptcy, due to the It is exactly this feel of increased need to mobilize, financial crisis, has mobilized masses of citizens and the need to strengthen and re-politicize the and has already led to a change of government. European Feminist movement, that sparked the Unrest in various parts of Russia against corrup- EFF initiative in 2004. Strong new feminist and tion, unemployment and loss of prosperity, with queer initiatives in Central Europe and a variety massive demonstrations, have taken place, such of women migrant initiatives pulsed through the as in Vladiwostok in December 2008. Notably in initiative, coupled with the realization that many Greece, a series of upheavals continue, after the feminist debates were not adequate or updated police shot a 15-year-old schoolboy; however, the for the new situation in Europe. underlying causes of the unrest are corruption, unemployment and a political elite that has lost Economic insecurity and precarity; all credibility among Greek citizens. changes in the European labour market Especially for women, there have been remark- The expression of socio-economic unrest varies able changes related to the labour market. One tremendously. Many groups feel that their margin- of the major features over the last three decades alization and exclusion are growing more acute. is that far more women have entered the labour With the financial crisis, which started in 2008, market in Western Europe and at the same time this situation is likely to intensify, and more social many women have been pushed out of the formal strata will be affected. As more women than men labour market in Eastern Europe. The trend is are impoverished in Europe, the urgency for the that across Europe, women are now pushed out of the formal labour market (due to sexism, con- servatism, ageism or racism) or cannot access it (undocumented women). Discrimination has 13 For example, the European Anti-Poverty Network remained, and especially gender segregation. As (www.eapn.org) or the Elderly Women’s Network (www. own-europe.org). far as the EU is concerned, its gender research

A Herstory...... 55...... Theme Three and policies have morphed from a legal perspec- women’s work is often informal, flexible, low tive to incorporating gender in the dominant main- paid, often illegal, and an extension of traditional stream thinking on economics. EU: From equal pay ‘housework’ such as cleaning and caring work.14 to equal employability; four decades of European The figures below show the magnitude of the gender policies summarizes it well (Ostner 2000). changes.

Since the 1980s, the all-encompassing, perva- In 2005, Western and Central Europe hosted sive demand for flexibility in the labour market 44.1 million migrants, a significant proportion has made paid work for more and more groups of whom came from neighbouring countries. In a continuous struggle. As the restructuring of 2005, migrants accounted for 7.6 per cent of the European economies was set in motion, stable, total population in the region and 23.2 per cent long-term employment with a decent salary and of international migrants worldwide (UN DESA adequate working conditions was out of reach for 2005). Furthermore, in 2005 net migration con- more and more people. Flexibility in the labour tributed almost 85 per cent of Europe’s population market and changing labour relations have been growth (Münz 2006), while labour migration made the trend. The labour market has changed for up a substantial share of total migration flows women as well. Many women in Europe work (IOM 2008: 455). either part-time or on short contracts for low wages. Job security tends to be limited, but this As the membership of the EU grew from twelve to depends on the sector and country. There is 25 countries between 1990 and 2004, the number downward pressure on wages, and many work- of migrants across the combined territories of EU ers have been forced to accept pay cuts due to the Member States and other countries in Western financial crisis. Informalization and precarious and Central Europe likewise increased from 14.5 self-employment are expected to rise. to 44.1 million. Migration to this sub-region has grown on average at a 14.5 per cent quintennial Overall, job creation in Europe remains elusive, rate since 1990. In 2005, the foreign-born living in and labour market issues are fraught with politi- Western and Central Europe represented 7.6 per cal landmines. Recent research by the Interna- cent of its total population and 23.2 per cent of tional Labour Organization (ILO) shows that cre- all international migrants worldwide (IOM 2008: ating productive jobs has now become a global 456). challenge and there are similarities between the North and the South. Furthermore, the dominant According to Mansoor and Quillin (2006), two policy of flexibilization of the labour market is not broad migration systems have developed in the working (in Europe) (Ghose, Majid & Ernst for ILO region: the first concerns migrants from Eastern 2008: 2). As the labour market continues to dete- European countries who move to Western Europe; riorate, this is likely to affect women most. and the second involves the majority of migrants from Central Asia who travel to the wealthier Labour migration has increased substantially in Europe, within countries and between countries, and almost half of all migrants are women (IOM 14 KARAT members have extensively documented 2008: 456; Freedman 2008: 1). Accession of new changes in the labour market. See, for example, Gender countries to the EU has increased migration and Assessment of the impact of EU accession on the status of women in the labour market in CEE – four national studies: changed migration patterns in many European Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland (2003), available countries. What has remained is that migrant online at www.karat.org.

A Herstory...... 56...... Theme Three countries of the CIS, particularly the Russian Fed- Precarity eration and Kazakhstan (IOM 2008: 461). Precarity showed up as an important theme in the EFF. One of the leading networks, KARAT, had The employment rate for legal women immi- already worked with this concept, following its grants is 44 per cent, while the unemployment work with working women organizing and migrat- rate is 19 per cent. There is also a wide disparity ing women in CEE. In total, two Affinity Groups in in employment (16.9 per cent) between immigrant the EFF worked on labour market changes, and women from third countries and those from EU one with a central focus on precarity. Both Affin- Member States, while the same disparity for male ity Groups shared a common analysis on the eco- immigrants is 11 per cent. The disparity in employ- nomic situation in Europe. Both were based pre- ment between third-country immigrant women dominantly in Western Europe, strongly linked with high qualifications and immigrants from EU to academic debates. What made these groups Member States is considerably greater (23.2 per special was the strong grounding in the local and cent) (Kratsa-Tsagaropoulou 2006: 13). national realities for the InFem Forschungswerk- statt Affinity Group and the new topic of entrepre- Irregular migration is by definition difficult to neurship for the second group. measure; however, the following estimates show that irregular migration in the region accounts InFem Forschungswerkstatt is based in Aus- for an important part of total migration. A com- tria and describes itself as a ‘young platform of bination of estimates published by the World feminists from various disciplinary backgrounds Bank (Mansoor & Quillin 2006) shows that until who intend to look at socio-political issues from a 2006 there were more than three million undocu- gender-perspective and with a solution-oriented mented migrants in the EU and between 1.3 mil- point of view. By actively engaging in academic lion and 1.5 million in Russia (IOM 2008: 466). debates and analyses InFem intends to compensate missing institutional embedding in this area’ The presence of migrants in most European (posted on the EFF website in April 2007). countries has become a focus – an artificial one – for social discontent. Migrant labour has been As gender segregation in the European labour depicted in Western Europe as necessary, as there market has remained dominant, even a formal job was ‘no one who wants to do these jobs’. Atten- does not guarantee economic security. As part of tion was thus diverted from the low pay and bad the EFF, networks, Affinity Groups and e-debates labour conditions that made these jobs unpopu- positioned precarity and impoverishment of lar in the first place. The quality of these jobs women as a central issue, related to changes in has not changed. With fewer jobs to go around, the labour market, but not only. InFem Forschun- competition for these jobs is increasing. Resent- gswerkstatt gave some figures for Austria: ment grows, and clashes between various groups of migrants and between indigenous populations “Nearly 230,000 persons have been mini- and migrant groups have already been docu- mally employed in Austria in 2005, according to mented. The underlying unresolved issues in care the Austrian Chamber of Labour (Arbeiterkam- work keep undermining the position of undocu- mer). Minimally employed means that the employ- mented migrant women, who predominantly work ees do not earn more than €333,- per month and in care work and other service industries. have no entitlement to social security. 160,000 of these minimally employed persons were women. But the numbers do not tell us that women pre-

A Herstory...... 57...... Theme Three dominantly work solely as minimally employed perspectives).15 The EFF organizers requested persons, whereas men often have an additional the young women’s group to join the organizing income from for example their pension or unem- team, and they agreed. These young women later ployment compensation and therefore have an formed the Young Feminist Activists Network16 entitlement to social security (Petra Ziegler, and held a meeting in 2008 entitled ‘Our voices, posted to the EFF website in January 2008).” ourselves; young feminists from Europe coming together, 8–12 June, Warsaw, Poland’. Many groups of young – women – activists work on the issue of precarity in Europe. Various young The wider impact of migration on precarity and women also mentioned precarity in the online economic insecurity, in overall changes in the debates of the EFF. One example of a pan-Euro- labour market, has yet to be analysed from a fem- pean group working on precarity is the project inist perspective. ‘Humour Works’, with artists, theoreticians, curators and activists from Slovakia, Slovenia, Bosnia For many women, economic security has come and Herzegovina, and Germany: from different sources, often different sources at the same time. Apart from having to rely on “While the second half of twentieth century the wages of a partner, husband or family mem- Europe- the West and the East-block- was domi- ber, many women depend on allowances from the nated by the work model of ‘secured’ and long- state. The complexity of precarity and the vari- term relationships, today we face precarization ous layers of access to economic security, a living of work conditions in almost all fields of work […] wage, benefits and economic sustainability, were Today this model of temporary and project-based highlighted by InFem Forschungswerkstatt: work is one of the leading work models in general, because it stimulates motivation, creativity, “In a society based on wage labour as in Aus- responsibility and personal attachment to work. tria, a strong correlation between paid work and However, this model is obviously economically, living conditions can be observed. […] Especially socially, and politically exploited (Kobolt & Kuk- financial responsibility for a family is difficult to ovec 2007: 1).” take in the long term. Due to these insecurities atypical and precarious employment correlates Precarity among young women came up during with a decline of fertility rates, as well as (income the organizing phase of the EFF as well. During based) taxes and social security revenues. At the the Programming meeting in September 2007, same time relative and absolute poverty as well a group of young women joined the discussion, as personal insolvency is rising. Based on the upon their request. They spoke about precarity decoupling of paid employment to ensure a liveli- of the situation of young people in Europe in gen- hood, voices are raised demanding a basic income eral. This encompassed insecurity on residency, without any conditions (bedingungsloses Grun- on access to a living wage and a decent income, deinkommen) (Petra Ziegler, posted to the EFF and on housing. They also voiced their wish to website in January 2008).” get paid for feminist work (instead of the current practice of volunteering) and get access to paid work in women’s organizations (they saw that 15 Although there was no time to go into these issues at women’s NGOs in their countries hardly had any length, the availability of paid work in the women’s movement was questioned by other participants. They experi- young staff and no inclusion of young women’s enced all round job insecurity, regardless of age. 16 http://www.youngfeminist.net/

A Herstory...... 58...... Theme Three This is an area where a huge gap is visible between, In Europe, we see a continuing restructuring of on the one hand, extensive gender research labour markets, so that they are in line with a and feminist theory and, on the other hand, the globalised and restructuring production system, daily realities of persisting inequalities. Euro- which needs labour ‘just in time’. Workers (male pean states and the EU allow and finance gender but especially female) and the labour market research that points out these inequalities. When are re-modelled to fit the necessity for flexible it comes to policymaking, recommendations on labour. Unless we grasp the nature and direction gender equality hardly carry any weight, and the of these international economic developments, dominant interest is on higher female participa- we will not understand what is happening in vari- tion in the labour market. This is extremely rel- ous European countries on a day-to-day basis. evant, as national states are revising their nation- Neither will we be able to position the decisions based tax regimes and social benefits at high made in international bodies, like the European speed, bringing them in line with the demands Union, that determine the space for any feminist of globalization (Sassen 2000). These revisions alternatives that we may have in mind. In the dif- tend to increase precarity among more groups (of ferent countries in Europe, we have very different women). set ups of labour market legislation and policies, welfare arrangements and state regulations. Feminist thinking on the political power of the Therefore, the labour market, women’s work and women’s movement in Europe is absent, when it economic security look slightly different, depend- comes to the policymaking in Europe regarding ing on where we live (posted to the EFF website in the labour market, the way citizens are taxed or April 2007). the way access to social (state) provisions are re- arranged (Dütting 2003). After reviewing policy Debates on work; informalized work reforms in 30 European countries, Fagan et al. In the European women’s movement we see an (2006) concluded: increased interest in the informal economy, in informalized work, and in how trends in Europe “a gender mainstreaming perspective is connect to the globalizing restructuring of the generally lacking in recent national tax or social economy. Most knowledge is available among benefit reforms. Where a gender perspective feminists working in a development context has been developed, it usually merely consists of (Oxfam International 2004), but further elabora- identifying certain target groups in which women tion for Europe is continuing – for example, in the predominate. Even when a more detailed gen- work of KARAT or the WIDE member Frauensoli- der impact assessment has occurred, the issues daritaet17 in Vienna, Austria. The fast-changing exposed may not be dealt with, due to competing labour market in Europe presses for further fem- political priorities.” inist exploration, theoretically and strategically. The old discussions on women’s productive and International economic perspectives in the reproductive work have already been enriched European Feminist Forum with feminist work on the care economy and the Regarding economic changes and migration pat- global care chain. Now, more feminist debates are terns in Europe, the importance of an interna- emerging on productive work in Europe. One of tional perspective has already been noted. This the spaces where this was starting was the EFF. international perspective was present in the EFF, together with a focus on Europe. The Affinity Group on entrepreneurship worded it as follows: 17 www.frauensolidaritaet.org

A Herstory...... 59...... Theme Three A Herstory...... 60...... Theme Three Organizing as workers ence in Poland on organizing (women) supermar- With the renewed emphasis on precarity and ket workers.23 changes in the European labour market, it would be logical to expect strong links between trade In many countries large-scale social protests are unions and the women’s movement. Despite a organized by trade unions. However, their success long history of trade union feminism in Europe,18 and appeal is limited, and in Europe they tend to this is no longer the case. The exceptions are the organize predominantly older male workers. The links with international trade unionism (Elson current financial crisis further undermines the & Pearson 1981: 162–166; Oxfam International position of trade unions and other social move- 2004) and organizing (migrant) domestic workers ments and shrinks the space for the alternatives (Mather 2005). they propose. More people, especially already marginalized groups such as many young people Many women’s networks and organizations in and migrants, are pushed further down the ladder Europe have expressed interest in building stron- of precarity and find only minimal connections to ger links with trade unions.19 In this line, they existing trade unions. also follow the debates and developments in the ILO, where the decent work agenda seems most The EFF experience illustrated how limited the relevant for Europe.20 However, in general the links between women’s movements and trade best links are often with individuals in women’s unions really are. The organizers of the EFF real- departments, smaller unions and individual trade ized the importance of trade unions at an early unionists.21 Women’s organizations have lim- stage, especially for the feminist debates on eco- ited contacts with the larger and more powerful nomics and migration. After the initial call for unions.22 KARAT documented a similar experi- action had been sent out, and generated no interest among trade unions in Europe, the organizers approached trade unions again through personal 18 For the Netherlands, see van Eijl, Corrie (1997) Morgen outreach, by mail and telephone (to women’s tolereren we niets meer; vrouwen, arbeid en vakbeweging wings, equality departments etc). This generated 1945-1990. Amsterdam, the Netherlands: Stichting Beheer hardly any response. IISG & FNV Pers. 19 For example, Frauensolidaritaet 2008: 33. 20 The goal of the ILO decent work agenda is to promote Most trade union-related work takes place along access for all workers to freely chosen and productive strong structures, with national representa- employment, the recognition of fundamental rights at work, an income to enable people to meet their basic eco- tion and EU links. Their agenda is strongly cen- nomic, social and family needs and responsibilities and tralized or structured, so they were possibly not an adequate level of social protection for the workers and responsive to a loose structure such as the EFF’s. family members. The ILO works to promote decent work through its work on employment, social protection, stan- The EFF organizers also invested in better links dards and fundamental principles and rights at work and with trade unions and others by actively contact- social dialogue. The ILO’s decent work for all agenda cov- ing the organizers of the European Social Forum ers all workers, including migrant workers. See www.ilo. org. (ESF). They knew from experience that the ESF 21 See for an analysis of relations between the women’s movement and trade unions in The Netherlands: Dütting, G (2005) ‘Belangenbehartiging van vrouwen nog steeds een zorg; Nederlandse vakbeweging sinds tweede femi- trade unions in Europe face an aging membership. nistische golf’ in Boot, Hans (ed.) Om de vereniging van de 23 See http://www.karat.org/index.php?pageId=284 for arbeid, Solidariteit, p185–99. information on the KARAT project and its publication 22 Traditionally, trade unions in Western Europe have been Labour rights protection from a gender perspective in super/ strongest in sectors with predominantly male workers. All hypermarkets in Poland.

A Herstory...... 61...... Theme Three did attract the smaller and more radical trade of the questions in itself might already exclude unions and also had some links with larger trade certain businesswomen’s networks. However, the unions. Two representatives of the EFF organiz- wording and thinking on these issues followed the ers visited organizers in Sweden and trade unions trail of the international women’s movement and in Stockholm.24 Despite some interest, in the end the networks involved in the EFF; new links with no trade union-related organizations or individu- women entrepreneurs were only developed in a als became part of the EFF or joined an Affinity rudimentary way in one Affinity Group, and busi- Group. A preliminary conclusion is that it is easier nesswomen’s networks did not link up to the EFF. to attract trade unions at a national level than at a pan-European level. There is a feminist quest for an alternative to the ‘neo-liberal economic system’ or a ‘different eco- The new (woman) entrepreneur and a nomic logic’, but it seems there is no convergence feminist take on business between the different wordings of the feminist There is limited feminist thinking on women movement in Europe – again underlying a lack of entrepreneurship or the relation between feminist depth in these debates inside the European wom- economics and businesswomen networks. Most en’s movement. In the EFF the debate on entre- feminist academic work on entrepreneurs is on preneurship and the need to renew this feminist the characteristics of women entrepreneurs and analysis was started. the differences between female and male entrepreneurs, on barriers that women entrepreneurs The Affinity Group on women entrepreneurs in a face, and on the performance of their businesses globalizing Europe pointed to a new trend in the compared to male-owned businesses. Feminist labour market, namely the rise of women entre- activists and researchers have produced a well- preneurs. The group positioned this trend in the documented critique of neo-liberal economic pol- same context of flexibility of the labour market icies and unjust globalization.25 There has been and a globalizing economy. lots of feminist work on privatization and deregu- lation, free trade, informalization of labour and Creating a layer of small entrepreneurs fits in labour rights. Inside the EFF the missing debate with flexibilization, with cutbacks in the European linking the feminist critique on the dominant eco- welfare state and with reducing the long-term nomic model and women entrepreneurs was initi- responsibilities of large businesses. It is interest- ated. ing to note that independent entrepreneurs are often the first migrants to be admitted to opening The question about women entrepreneurs opens labour markets in the EU, although few women anew the discussion on a feminist view on eco- entrepreneurs use this route to gain access. In nomic logic or an alternative economic model. several EU countries, the labour market remained Is it a feminist strategy to support women entre- closed for workers from EU Accession Coun- preneurs, or do feminists have a different view on tries.26 In several of these countries, there was market economy and the role of companies? Fem- inists in the EFF were very aware that the framing

26 Subject to restrictions: Czech Rep, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Slovakia, Slovenia (all 2004); 24 The next European Social Forum was planned for 2008 Bulgaria, Romania (2007). Open doors for 2004 entrants: in Sweden. Finland, France, Greece, Ireland, Portugal, Spain, Swe- 25 See www.dawnnet.org, www.wide-network.org, www. den, UK. Open doors for 2007 entrants: Finland, Sweden, neww.org, www.karat.org, and www.awid.org. Cyprus, Czech Republic, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland,

A Herstory...... 62...... Theme Three an exception for business ventures. Many Polish extensively,28 and, together with other European independent entrepreneurs, for example, man- social movements, the women’s movement is rep- aged to use the loophole and establish a business resented and active against EU policies in newer to work in old EU countries. In a way, this may be networks such as the Brussels-based Seattle to seen as a lever, opening the national labour mar- Brussels Network.29 What remains to be done is ket and labour protection to more competition. to connect the feminist critique on the EU policies, the quest for a feminist economic alternative, and Feminists need to take up a position regarding the feminist thinking on women entrepreneurs. this subject. Politically this is very relevant, as the Feminists may then highlight contradictions and EU develops many policies on this subject and is a underlying political disagreements on views on major driving force, at European and international the desired economic model and also take aboard level. For example, the EU 2006 ‘Global Europe’ the implications of taking on an eco-feminist per- framework27 argues that trade policy can make spective30 on the economy. Furthermore, a debate a key contribution to growth and jobs in Europe on entrepreneurship and on the role of businesses by ensuring that European companies remain in Europe may highlight fault lines and new stra- competitive and that they have genuine access tegic possibilities. This debate started in the EFF to the export markets they need. The EU wants but has not borne fruit as yet. a more ‘dynamic’ Europe, with more entrepreneurs, using the USA as a model, leading to eco- Eroded democratic control over the nomic growth. But the EC favours the interests of economy and the role of states large transnational corporations in its negotia- Following on from the need to re-examine busi- tions, often directly against the interest of small ness, feminists need to re-assess the role of the and medium-sized businesses based in Europe state in feminist alternatives. A feminist view on (Van der Stichele 2006). These types of policies the role of the state in economic life is crucial for occur in conjunction with EU businesses down- Europe, where the rolling back of the welfare state sizing, outsourcing and offshoring. The lobbying has been a major feature of the last decades. Few voice of small and medium-sized firms is hardly feminists have studied changing European states audible against the deafening sound of lobbyists as a response to and shaping globalization. Since from transnational corporations in Brussels. In the financial crisis in 2008, the role of the state in this context the individual voices of independent saving large private banks and other businesses entrepreneurs are totally absent as an interest. has brought this issue to the fore once again. For Many feminists have critiqued these EU policies many years European feminists have criticized the constant lack of money for public services and, especially, for the system of labour rights (unemployment and sickness benefits, state pen- Slovakia, Slovenia. See map at http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/ sions etc.). They noticed private wealth and pub- europe/3513889.stm. lic poverty, the undermining of public control and 27 ‘The Global Europe framework of 2006 argued that trade policy can make a key contribution to growth and jobs accountability, and growing exclusion of many in Europe by ensuring that European companies remain people in Europe. Burdening national budgets competitive and that they have genuine access to the export markets they need. In fact, EU business relies on growing markets abroad to fuel economic growth and jobs at home. We, therefore, need to ensure that European companies 28 www.wide-network.org, www.womenslobby.org are able to compete fairly in those markets.’ See http:// 29 http://www.s2bnetwork.org/ ec.europa.eu/trade/issues/sectoral/mk_access/global_ 30 See the Affinity Group Women’s Action for Peace and europe_en.htm. Security.

A Herstory...... 63...... Theme Three with enormous debt crises will lead to a reduced with decreased real incomes, lack of labour pro- state income and a contracted state budget (albeit tection, and retreat of states from their welfare- not in the departments of police and military), providing responsibilities, has compromised will enhance further privatization and further roll the provision of care and social services at the back welfare regimes and social provisions. The macro-economic level. At the same time, it has executive power of European states will be less increased the vulnerability of women’s health, and less accountable, and rights for citizens will bodily integrity and well-being, as they are forced erode further. to manoeuvre both the productive economy and the socially reproductive care economy. Inside As part of the dominant agenda, markets have Europe the same process is intensifying, and been deregulated and various state-owned enter- the most powerful actors in these processes prises privatized. Sections that were previously are national states. This issue will become more under control of the state and had (at least for- pressing as European states face reduced income mally) some form of public accountability have and have committed substantial resources to moved into the hands of private companies, very banks and companies. The net result will be a often transnational companies. In practice, this smaller national budget for public provisions. has meant more expensive or inaccessible ser- Inside the EFF this topic did not come up in its own vices. Moreover, democratic control over these right, although it was referred to in national con- sections of the economy have permanently moved texts. Especially for European feminist theory and into the private sector, where profit-maximization praxis, the relationship with the state has always is the main aim. The WIDE member Bulgaria Gen- been problematic (Moore 1988: 134–7). der Research Foundation, for example, has pains- takingly documented how the publicly owned water Migrant women mobilizing; self-definition company of Sofia was transferred into the hands and varied political expressions of a French transnational Company.31 Thanks to Across Europe, migration is a feature of everyday groups such as the Bulgaria Gender Research life, for more and more women. Either because Foundation, European citizens are becoming even they are migrants themselves or are facing a vari- more aware that the state has been hollowed out, ety of changes brought on by migration. The EFF corrupted and rebuilt to serve globalized capital- attracted many groups and individuals who were ist interests. The right to public goods becomes keen to start or join feminist debates on migra- limited, and the possibility of democratic, citizens’ tion and to make a start on a migrant feminist control over the economy seems gone forever. agenda.

Economic reforms and policies linked to trade Over the last few years, more and different groups intensification, financial liberalization and the of migrant women are mobilizing and mobilized in labour market are peddled as engines of women’s Europe, and there are more links inside the wom- increased access to incomes and employment in en’s movement. Old and new networks of migrant Europe (as well as in the South). The rapid open- women are active. One of the older ones is Babay- ing of economies of the global South, associated lan, an organizing network of the EFF. But many new pan-European networks are springing up – for example, among African women living in 31 Publication by the Bulgarian Gender Research Founda- Europe. tion (May 2004) Faites vos jeux, messieurs, or A case study on the impact of GATS in Bulgaria. See also http://www.global- izacija.com/doc_en/e0056pri.htm (accessed 3 June 2009).

A Herstory...... 64...... Theme Three In September 2008 the strong political voice of gender relations in all the different groups and organized migrants in Europe could be heard in contexts. Spain. Under the banner of the Third World Social Forum on Migration, 3000 migrants met and for- Jane Freedman (2008: 1–2) also points to the mulated sets of demands. Women strived to have heterogenous nature of women’s migration and the broadness and multi-layeredness of their the various social positions and experiences of experience included in the discourse on migra- women migrants: tion and migrants’ organizing. During the forum, women’s organizations strived to have women’s “Women’s migratory experiences are influ- voices included. This activity was set up by migrant enced not only by their position as women, but women’s organizations and non-migrant women’s also by their class, race or ethnicity, their age, organizations (Kékéli Kpognon, Akina Mama wa their sexual orientation. All of these factors and Afrika, in the WIDE Newsletter, November 2008). others will impact on the causes and means of migration for women, and on their experiences Different networks and institutes are initiating when they reach a new country. In addition, their stronger links with migrant women’s groups. For experiences will be structured by the particular example, the European Women’s Lobby (EWL) legislative and policy-regimes of the countries initiated a project in 2006 to build stronger links they have left, those they transit through and those between EWL member organizations and migrant that they finally arrive in. Stratification occurs at women’s organizations.32 Similarly, migrant all stages of the migration process, caused both domestic workers’ organizations strengthened by processes of globalisation and by local and ties with various other women’s organizations and national contexts. Faced with all this diversity it is trade unions.33 At national level there are many very hard to talk about ‘migrant women’ without initiatives to build links and to support self-orga- making unjustified generalisations. nizing migrant women.34 Often, this takes place in direct opposition to EU and state policies on Kofman argues, for example, that much of the migration. literature on women and migration, and especially that which adopts an integrative approach The women’s movement in Europe has only just ignores the experiences of skilled migrants. As started to deconstruct migration and migrant will be argued in this article, although there are women. The experiences of the EFF point again to connections to be made between the experiences the need to stop generalizations. However, at the of different women, we must also be aware of the same time it is necessary to examine underlying need to contextualise these experiences and not to create essentialist assumptions on the basis of a common female identity. If we do want to make connections between the varied experiences of 32 See the report: European Women’s Lobby Equal women migrants then we need to do this on the rights, equal voices; migrant women in the European Union, 19–21 January 2007, Brussels, and the website: http:// basis of an analysis and understanding of the www.womenlobby.org/site/1abstract.asp?DocID=239 relations of gender which underlie and structure 1&v1ID=&RevID=&namePage=&pageParent=&DocID_ these experiences, and of an examination of the sousmenu=&parentCat=534 33 see http://www.domesticworkerrights.org/ way that these relations of gender interact with 34 see for The Netherlands, for example, TNI: other elements of stratification such as class, http://www.tni.org/detail_event. race and ethnicity. phtml?act_id=18999&username=guest@tni. ” org&password=9999&publish=Y

A Herstory...... 65...... Theme Three The open set-up of the EFF proved to be the added the heading ‘Migrant Women’, but this was later value here. Because the process was organized changed to ‘Migrant Feminist Agenda’, as the bottom up, there was a space for all these dif- groups felt this was more in line with the underly- ferent experiences and expressions. Despite the ing aim of finding political expression as migrant diversity, the groups did manage to exchange via feminists. the website and a variety of mail, telephone and personal contacts, albeit in an embryonic form. The Affinity Groups on migration debated a very The process itself prevented preconceived notions wide range of subjects. All involved strived to of who wanted to organize something or speak out strengthen their personal empowerment, vis- on migration or migrant women. ibility and political voices. Migrant women have multiple and layered identities; sometimes the The EFF counted five different Affinity Groups real-life experiences do not fit with the main- working on migration.35 These were very different stream voices, be they the dominant political ones groups, and also their topics and angles, as well or the feminist ones. Two Affinity Groups under as starting points, were varied. Three were pan- the heading of Migrant Feminist Agenda were European, and two were grounded in national quite remarkable, as they positioned themselves realities.36 Their starting points ranged from in ways not often heard in Europe to date, namely empowerment (Babaylan, and European Amazigh the Danish Migrant Women’s Network Affinity Women Foundation) to a first articulation of expe- Group and the European Amazigh Women Foun- riences (Migrations in Feminine, and Armenian dation Affinity Group. Both mobilized people who Migration of Women) to influencing the national had not been mobilized before. political discourse (The Danish Migrant Women’s Network). All groups saw the need to share expe- In the case of the Danish Migrant Women’s Net- riences with a broader group of women in Europe work Affinity Group, the initiative started with and to start/intensify a Europe-wide discussion. well-educated young black women in Denmark. Trust and personal connections between group They did not feel represented by indigenous femi- members turned out to be key factors in making nist organizations (however well-meaning the eth- the groups function. nic Danish feminists were, see above). They felt the need for political self-definition and expres- The contributions from the Affinity Groups were sion, and their analysis was very sophisticated extremely diverse. Most groups posted contribu- from the start, very grounded in the latest feminist tions on the website that were a mixture of specif- theory as well. One of the leading women, Buffy ically initiated work related to the EFF and ongo- Lundgren, posted a published article for the jour- ing work of their groups. The Affinity Groups were nal The Diversity Factor on the EFF website.37 This first grouped together on the EFF website under

37 The article looks at Buffy’s lived experiences as a 35 See below for an overview of the EFF organizing net- black/mixed race/mixed nationality woman adjusting to the works and their work on migration (and economics). racial and gender climate in Denmark from 2000 to 2007. It 36 In their own words: ‘The Danish Migrant Women’s also sketches the current status of racial, ethnic, gender, Network aims to impact the European agenda through the sexual orientation, age and ability equality in Denmark. radical act of putting migrant and ethnic minority women’s The article appears in the Spring issue of the American voices out into the public space. By speaking with women diversity journal The Diversity Factor published by Rutgers like us and engaging them in dialog and debate we will be University and Elsie Y Cross & Associates. The article can establishing a political agenda made by and for us leading be found at http://diversityfactor.rutgers.edu/cadmus_ up to Poland 2008!’ purchase.jsp?artid=211.

A Herstory...... 66...... Theme Three group organized women whose experiences are ing. For example, none of the participants in usually not perceived as migrant women’s expe- the Affinity Groups attended the Third World riences.38 It highlighted the need to debate migra- Social Forum on Migration in Spain in Septem- tion and women migrants in far more complex and ber 2008. The broadness of the discussions inclusive ways in the feminist movement. on women’s experiences inside the Affinity Groups finds only a limited space among the The strength of self-identity and self-organization more politically voicing migrant organizations. and positioning was also visible in the work of the European Amazigh Women Foundation Affin- • The EFF experience with organized migrants ity Group. For the first time, Amazigh women was highlighting the centrality of intersection- organized Europe-wide. The European Amazigh ality and multiple alliances. Women Foundation Affinity Group consisted of ‘groups of women who are participating in the EFF • Some Affinity Groups used new forms of voic- in The Netherlands, France, UK, Spain and Ger- ing. For example, the Affinity Group Migrations many. We have a strong network who can inform in Feminine decided to concentrate on publish- us about the female Amazigh situation in North ing individual stories and testimonials. Africa and Europe and we are also supported by many Amazigh men’. • The Affinity Groups incorporated migration in Eastern, Central, Western, Northern and Until then, this group had not been visible among Southern Europe, thus breaking through the the migrant women organizing. It was especially dominance of the Western European percep- important, as North African women are usually tions of migration. lumped under either national headings (Moroccan women, Algerian women etc.) or under the head- • The work of the Affinity Groups touched on ing ‘Muslim women’ elsewhere. Again, the open women migrants, but also those women who process of the EFF allowed for self-definition, and stayed behind (such as the Armenian Migration the European Amazigh Women Foundation Affinity of Women Affinity Group) and those women Group seized the possibility. The European Amaz- who were there before. igh Women Foundation chose to work on self- organization from a more cultural perspective, • At several times during the EFF, the Roma in alliance with Amazigh movements in Northern Women’s Initiative noticed the similarities and Africa. The vibrant, emancipatory Amazigh move- overlap between the migrant feminist women’s ments found their way to Europe, comfortable work and the Roma women’s work. The idea under the banner of European feminism. was to build stronger links between the groups and see how the exchange could enrich further The experiences and debates of the EFF Affinity debates on, for example, ethnicity and mobil- Groups provided the following added value: ity in Europe. However, this was not taken up further. • The work of the Affinity Groups pointed to the diversity in political organizing and also in the The richness of the debate on migration and often invisibility of certain types of organiz- women migrants needed to be streamlined and prioritized in order to work towards a feminist migrant agenda, as was planned for the EFF face- 38 See the remark in Freedman 2008: 2. to-face event in June 2008. This process was

A Herstory...... 67...... Theme Three never finished, as the preparations for the face-to and could, therefore, be pegged as an initiative face forum had to be stopped. Below, I will elabo- working in the European tradition of critical femi- rate on how the process of organizing unfolded, nism and socialist feminism but also using dis- both on migration and on economics. Shifting the course from development debates and postmod- perspective more towards the organizers and ern theories. their initiatives complements the picture of the work of the Affinity Groups. From this call onwards, Affinity Groups were set up as a major vehicle to start the debates. Most Framing of economics and migration interestingly, the largest response to the call debates inside the EFF; the beginning came from individual feminists, who were either The ‘Call for the European Feminist Forum’ was young feminists or who had been active in the the official beginning of the initiative and the women’s movement before; they had in common announcement to various movements in Europe, that they were not part of a larger network or drawn up in the middle of 2006. All the eight net- established women’s organization. The EFF was works that were then involved, plus the various attractive for new initiatives, for those who had individuals who had been playing an initiating very little access to either funding or international role, agreed on the wording of the call. From the contacts, or those who saw the EFF as an opportu- beginning, it was thus clear that economic devel- nity to operate and branch out under a new struc- opments and migration were central themes in ture. These women formed the core of the Affinity the EFF. The call was quite important in deter- Groups. It was this model which then determined mining the way that the EFF initiative was per- the topics on economics and migration, plus the ceived. ‘More just economics’ was the first bullet framing of the topics that came up.39 presented, thus emphasizing the importance of the issue. Migration was named as a third issue, Dynamics in the networks framed within ‘migrants and women support- The constellation of networks40 organizing the ing migrants’. It is important to note here that, EFF led to a number of dynamics on the topics of initially, many queries that were sent to the EFF economics and migration. Secretariat after the call went out were about the possibility of taking up issues that were not stated With two strong networks (NEWW and KARAT) in the call. In the opening paragraph, ‘movement grounded in developments in CEE and the CIS, the of people in search for jobs’, was already linking debates had a strong quest from the very begin- migration to economic developments. ning for joining the Eastern and Western European perspectives on economics and migration. All net- An astute and informed reader of the call could works shared the belief that especially migration conclude, without looking at the people and networks involved, that the initiative: • focused on Europe, but with an international 39 For details on who was in and who was outside the EFF, perspective; see Dütting, Gisela and Semeniuk, Joanna (2008) ‘Pioneer- • was critical about dominant economics; ing New Feminist Organizing; Affinity Groups and the Cre- ation of the European Feminist Forum’, in Wieringa, Saskia • had a concerned, not overly optimistic point of (ed.) Traveling heritages; new perspectives on collecting, pre- view; serving and shaping women’s history. Amsterdam: Aksant, • did not mention equality as a central theme; pp213–27. 40 Several of the networks had already worked together • was positive towards migrants; in the past, especially on economic issues (KARAT, NEWW • was secular in orientation; and WIDE).

A Herstory...... 68...... Theme Three needed further feminist thinking, as this theme Women Peacemakers Program/International Fel- dominated many national political agendas and lowship of Reconciliation (WPP/IFOR).42 EU debates. The EFF would be a first space where different regional experiences of economics and This meant that the networks that were most migration were looked at from a feminist per- influential in shaping the progress and dynamics spective. Consequently, feminist critiques of the on these subjects were: expansion of the EU and the accession processes were also central themes. As a result, migration was debated from a strong national perspective. This, therefore, dominated the angle and left out other political ‘hot potatoes’ such as regional- ism or ethnic minorities within European states. 42 The Roma Women’s Initiative, as a recent network, The analysis coming from the RWI could have has focused mostly on empowerment. As its work is very countered this, but their analysis was not yet so pioneering both within and outside the Roma community, it defined that it could play that role. The quest for tends to work on all issues of marginalization and oppression. There is no specific analysis of economic develop- meaningful economic alternatives was already ments and/or migration. ongoing for some time in various networks. The ASTRA, The Central and Eastern European Women’s Net- EFF would be the space where class would be work for Sexual Reproductive Health and Rights, does not work directly on economic and migration issues, but a gen- discussed for the first time inside feminist think- eral analysis is taken on board as part of positioning its ing from Eastern and Western Europe. Given the SRHR work. It keeps track of overall political and economic history of the women’s movement in CEE and the developments in Europe, and focuses especially on foundations for Europe’s demographic policy, plus the resources CIS, this has been very difficult to date. The state that are available for SRHR. Migration has been addressed was playing an important role in the feminist in ASTRA’s work on human trafficking and prostitution. views on economic changes, both as an actor for IIAV, The networks of the International Information Cen- tre and Archives for the Women’s Movement: None of the change and an opponent to women’s rights and various national and international networks that are under transformative changes. This was partly caused the IIAV umbrella have an explicit theme of economics or by the EU-linked experiences, partly caused by migration. They tend to share a general feminist critique of mainstream economic logic. The IIAV itself focuses on cul- the organizational form of the involved networks, tural heritage, empowerment, academic study and educa- represented by country. In addition, the work of tion. The IIAV aims to increase knowledge and to promote the women’s movements in Europe is strongly research on the position of women. This is its contribution to the emancipation of women and to improving the position embedded in the national realities to start with.41 of women in all of their diversity. The Women’s Peacemakers Program of IFOR (the Interna- The work and involvement of each of the eight tional Fellowship Of Reconciliation): Within its mandate, the Women’s Peacemakers Program (WPP) has focused on organizing networks that later became the orga- global economic drivers of war and conflict. In its various nizing committee of the EFF also defined the publications and activities, the WPP always includes the positioning of the EFF initiative. Not all networks global, national and local economic developments under- pinning various types of conflict. It has included Europe in had a strong emphasis on economics and migra- its work, as the various violent conflicts have sprung up. tion. Less work on these issues was done by the With the gender analysis of the WPP, it is able to link eco- Roma Women’s Initiative, ASTRA, the IIAV, and the nomics and violence from the domestic to the international. Migration has played a role in the WPP’s work insofar as it has been linked to international conflict and reconciliation. There is no specific analysis or campaigning on migration 41 This is the case for all social movements in Europe. in Europe. In many European countries though, WPP mem- Most share an international connection, based on country bers and the Secretariat actively build links with migrant representations, and truly pan-European debates are often and refugee women, related to conflicts in their countries hampered by the different national realities and set-ups. of origin.

A Herstory...... 69...... Theme Three Babaylan issues. So far, WIDE has not published or cam- The Philippine Women’s Network in Europe and paigned explicitly on issues of migration in Europe. Bayanihan (Centre for Philippine Women in the It has signed calls of solidarity, and some of Netherlands), has migration as a central uniting WIDE’s members are writing and campaigning on theme, as all members are Philippina migrants. It international migration issues. In the 1980s, when has approached migration from different angles, the network started, links with migrant women’s including psychological, legal and economic an- groups were stronger. Through 2007 and 2008, gles. The emphasis however, has always been on WIDE has been focusing once again on rebuilding empowerment. In all its publications and activities, links with migrant women’s groups. The Economic it has emphasized that, given the history of Philip- Justice programme involves looking for economic pina women migrants, causes for migration were alternatives from a feminist perspective. Also, as often political or love-related. Babaylan’s position- part of many coalitions, WIDE is contributing to ing on economic issues is, therefore, less defined. critiques of EU policies and positions, including those on economic development and migration, KARAT Coalition and campaigning on various fronts. A network of Women’s NGOs from CEE and the CIS, has a track record of many years, working NEWW on issues of economic development and also on The Network of East–West Women, shares the migration. With its typical focus on the perspec- general feminist critiques on the dominant eco- tive from CEE and the CIS, it often brings a new nomic logic. NEWW has built a large portfolio of perspective or new topics to the (often Western campaigning and publishing around EU policies. European-dominated) agenda of the women’s In recent years, it has focused especially on the movements. KARAT has focused on EU policies area of the EU–CIS Gender Watch (including gen- and developments affecting the region most – for der budgeting at EU level). Over the years it has example, with its work on EU neighbourhood poli- worked as part of the Women’s Economic Justice cies and on campaigning against various EU poli- Network, facilitating the participation of women cies with economic effects in the region. Recently, and women’s NGOs in economic decision-making KARAT worked on various campaigns organizing processes in CEE/CIS. NEWW has initiated vari- working women (in supermarkets), working not ous publications on gender and economy. only with trade unions but also with new campaigning networks such as the European Coalition Conclusion for Corporate Justice.43 Since the end of the EFF initiative the debates on economics and migration continue elsewhere, WIDE in the organizing networks of the EFF, such as Network (Globalising Gender Equality and Social WIDE, NEWW, Babaylan and KARAT. The EFF Justice) has a long history of working on eco- opened up new discussions and the possibility of nomic issues, from being engaged internationally bringing up difficult issues and fault lines in femi- through a Popular Economics capacity-building nist thinking and potential strategic conflicts. The programme (now re-named Economic Justice EFF illustrates the need to go deeper into femi- programme) to long years of feminist work on nist analysis, in particular on different interests globalization and, especially, gender and trade of groups of women, on linking entrepreneurship and the quest for feminist economic alternatives, and economic decision-making (also of European 43 See http://www.corporatejustice.org/ states). It also showed how feminists can broach

A Herstory...... 70...... Theme Three subjects in economics and migration which had The experience of the EFF shows the need to little recognition so far: among others, growing overcome the isolation felt by feminist activists precarity and economic insecurity among women everywhere in Europe and, especially, to broach in Europe, and the relation with migration. The the subjects that are ‘difficult’ inside the femi- EFF identified gaps in feminist thinking and activ- nist movement. The EFF showed great effect ism – for instance, a class analysis on domestic and potential, especially as the mobilization was work, and strategic views on entrepreneurship. In among innovators only partly represented in pinpointing the diversity among migrant women mainstream women’s organizations, thus enrich- and their struggles, the EFF pointed to their var- ing both current feminist debates and mobilizing ied and multi-layered identities and relations. It in Europe. also recognized the marginalization and exclusion of growing groups of young women and the need for mutual cross-fertilization, and the difficulties tying in with the multiple alliances that individual feminists have with other social movements.

The EFF experience shows that, although the women’s movement in Europe is fragmented, there are lots of small, vibrant initiatives, locally rooted and diverse, but they are not connected. These initiatives used the potential of the EFF to become visible and more connected. In those countries where women’s organizations exist, there is limited connection between these very diverse initiatives and formal organizations. The affinity group model, and the way it branched out over time, shows how important individual energy and personal links are. This is what holds a feminist movement together, even if there are no formal structures. There is not one feminist discourse on either migration or on economics. Relations with multiple sets of actors shape positions, and these are highly influenced by national realities.

A Herstory...... 71...... Theme Three A Herstory...... 72...... Theme Three Theme Four Sexual and Bodily Integrity

Wendy Harcourt

Introduction have led such changes in their struggles includ- In the following I explore how the EFF experience ing: the fight to end violence against women, has interpreted body politics. Several aspects the struggle for women’s rights in anti-sexual of body politics emerged among the EFF Affinity harassment and ‘reclaim the night’ campaigns; Groups and during the cyberdiscussions and net- campaigns for the right to abortion; the right to working in the EFF web space. EFF Affinity Groups sexual choice, and sexual and reproductive health were formed around gendered expressions of and rights (SRHR). sexuality, practices to defend against violence against women and uphold the right to abortion, In Europe there has been a long and varied set as well as examining the interest in masculinity of struggles around body politics, often with a in the EFF, sexual and bodily integrity and health. strong influence from other women’s movements, Outside the Affinity Groups there were other ‘hot’ especially in North America, Latin America and debates around body politics. There were heated Australia. One of the first articulations of body discussions around sex work and queer theory politics can be ascribed to the French philosopher and the experience of migrants and Roma women. Simone de Beauvoir’s foundational The Second There were also silences which it was hoped the Sex, which sparked off a second wave of femi- face-to-face meeting that did not materialize nism in the 1960s. The Second Sex explored and would have picked up that could be interesting to challenged the sense of the female body as ‘the explore further. There was also the unanswered other’. To paraphrase de Beauvoir, one is not born and thorny question of how to link body politics to but becomes a woman. Building on from this fluid other key feminist issues around precarity, social sense of what it means to be a woman, body poli- justice, ecological and economic rights. tics does not aim to reduce women (or men) to a biological essence determined by their biological, Body politics maternal or procreative sexual functions. Rather, Politics around the autonomy and integrity of the body politics recognizes that the body is itself a body are at the centre of many feminist struggles. nexus of power and knowledge. ‘Body politics’ is often where women first engage in feminism and begin to identify themselves as Women’s reproductive power has been the his- active and engaged political subjects. Feminist torical mechanism of subjugating women in the struggles and analyses since the first wave of economic, political, social, cultural and sexual feminism in the 1890s have consistently shown spheres. The feminist struggle to name this sub- that the body is the subject of complex cultural, jugation and protect women raped in armed con- social, economic and political changes. Feminists flicts, end the commercialization of female sexu-

A Herstory...... 73...... Theme Four ality and the medicalisation of the female body, is now about the challenge to create new forms racial discrimination and religious and other of relationships between people – with their bod- fundamentalisms has given rise to strong move- ies and sexualities expressing new social subjec- ments of resistance and expansion of rights. In tivities and favouring more fluid, open and demo- these protests and redefinitions, the body has cratic ways of living together, breaking through been converted into a field of political struggle.44 heteronormative expressions of gender to include lesbians, homosexuals, queer, transgender, For example, feminist analysis has shown that transvestites and intersex identities. reproduction is a right and a pleasure when it is freely decided, but it is a source of pain, stigma Body politics in today’s feminism has also and intolerance when this freedom is constrained responded to the unprecedented advances that by religious, moral influences or economic limi- have created new reproductive technologies and tations. Body politics aims to liberate reproduc- new stimulants for good sexual functioning. It is tive rights from the framework of heteronorma- an ambivalent situation, because although, on the tive reproductive health, which is sustained by one hand, it has a high liberating content, on the the traditional role of women, leaving aside other other, it can be dehumanized by profit and mer- sexual diversities such as reproduction among cantilism. Accessing reproductive technologies lesbian women. Additionally, feminists need to raises ethical issues (for example, the use of continue to challenge the legal and moral barri- reproductive technologies for improvement of the ers to women’s right to abortion. human race or for sex selection of the foetus) or the use of drugs such as Viagra, or plastic surgery The EFF reflects today’s feminism, which is to enhance breasts or tighten vaginas to increase becoming more and more transnational with the sexual pleasure or desirability. Feminists have transition from industrial capitalism to a glo- struggled to reject the commercialization of the balized network-based capitalism in the 1990s. conditions of production/reproduction of life, These changes have generated many new pos- as well as to fight for a feminist awareness and sibilities for women as political subjects, includ- democratization of scientific technologies around ing more control and more experimenting with the body. the body as a site of power and knowledge. Body politics in today’s feminism acknowledges gender In this way, the body is not only the material and differences that are not only about oppression subjective basis of domination and suffering but and victimhood but also about ownership and cel- has the potential to sustain creative and positive ebration. practices that go beyond old gendered binaries. Recovering the body in its political dimension In today’s feminist approach the binary opposites requires confronting ethical, religious and scien- of man/woman have been displaced to more fluid tific perspectives that actually operate to deny its sexual identities which are incorporated in the existence as a political identity. It also requires ontology of gender. This gives new meaning to a feminist approach to the body as the ‘place I what it is to be a man or a woman. Body politics inhabit’, combined with a political conviction that such rights can only be exercised in a secular culture with economic justice, gender justice and sexual justice. In civil society struggles against 44 See Chapter 1 on ‘What is Body Politics’ in Harcourt, economic and social oppression that have char- Wendy (2009) Body Politics in Development: Critical debates in gender and development. London: Zed Books. acterized the last years, feminist knowledge and

A Herstory...... 74...... Theme Four organizing around body politics, ways to end vio- that emerged within the EFF: sexual rights includ- lence and varied forms of repression and sexual ing queer and gay rights, abortion and reproduc- exploitation has been a major contribution to tive rights and health; the debate around traf- social transformation. ficking and violence against women; and issues around Roma women’s rights and questions raised The EFF has contributed to that social transfor- by the exclusion of minorities such as migrants mation by creating an open space where different and Roma women in feminist movements. forms of body politics are explored among women from various parts of Europe. An important fea- Sexual rights ture of the EFF has been to highlight the diverse The EFF experience spelled out that sexual rights nature of body politics, which can help to decen- are a major goal of European (and global) femi- tre a Western European feminism and to take nist struggles. The EFF website states that sex- into account the experiences of women from CEE ual rights are integral to human rights where and the CIS, migrant women’s groups and Roma everyone is respected and can live in equality women. Most of all, the EFF illustrated that the and free from discrimination on the grounds of cultural and historical experiences of women sexual orientation and gender identity or expres- in diverse areas of Europe are reflected in their sion. Sexual rights are the rights of all people to struggles around body politics. In some areas of sexual fulfilment and to freedom from coercion, Europe sexuality identity is a key issue; in others discrimination and violence around sexuality, the fight for abortion; in others the right to dress, whatever their sexual orientation or sexual iden- live and have pleasure beyond family and reli- tity. The EFF experience took sexuality to be life- gious traditional demands. For migrant women affirming and empowering, especially for those body politics can take a different form from that who are discouraged from enjoying their sexual- for European citizens. For lesbian women sexual ity, particularly people living with HIV and AIDS, expression means something different from that people with disabilities and lesbian, gay, bisexual for heterosexual women. For mothers (whether and transgender (LGBT) people. Sexual rights in lesbian or heterosexual) body politics can take a this context also recognize that not all people fit different emphasis from that for women without neatly into categories of male and female, such children. The EFF aimed to create a space where as those people who identify as queer and trans feminist experiences could be shared but also the (transsexuals) and intersex people with bodies differences could be acknowledged and make up that genetically and physiologically combine male the vibrancy of feminist body politics in Europe and female. today. The EFF linked to groups such as The European Body politics in the European Feminist Sexuality Resource Center, a network of partner Forum organizations in the European region that provide There are many women’s groups engaged in sexuality services and aim in general to improve body politics throughout Europe, not all of whom the quality of sexual life. The Center helps orga- engaged directly with the EFF. The IIAV women’s nizations to increase the quality of services to archives, for example, list 61 networks of wom- their clients and to cross language and cultural en’s organizations as working on issues related barriers within Europe so that there is also an to body politics in Europe (see http://www.aletta. expansion of demand for their services. Another nu/aletta/eng/collections/websites_on_women). group active in the EFF is ILGA-Europe, the Euro- Here I give a sampling of the body political issues pean Region of the International Lesbian and Gay

A Herstory...... 75...... Theme Four Association, which aims to strengthen the capac- to prevent unsafe abortions and empower women ity of European human rights organizations that to exercise their human rights to physical and are fighting against discrimination around sexual mental autonomy, by combining free healthcare orientation, gender identity and gender expres- services and sexual education with advocacy (see sion in their work for equality. The EFF is also http://www.womenonwaves.org). linked to the Netherlands Transgender Film Fes- tival (NTGF), a community-based and non-profit Commercial sex and the ‘trafficking’ organization set up in 2000 that aims to organize debate cultural and educational events to encourage vis- During the EFF discussions on sexual rights there ibility and positive representations of transgender were not always agreements. One of the biggest issues (see http://www.transgenderfilmfestival. debates online was around sex work. Two posi- com/about/). tions emerged. One was that sex work is like any other form of employment, albeit often exploit- The fight for abortion and contraception within ative and dangerous, therefore, the rights of the feminist demands for sexual and reproduc- women, men and transgender people who engage tive rights is one of the strongest ongoing feminist in sex work need to be respected and legislated battles in Europe. The EFF supported as a vital for in ways that do not penalize them. The other feminist struggle and aspect of women’s empow- point of view was that any form of sex for money erment and gender equality women’s right to free is prostitution and, therefore, criminal. In this line and informed choice on and access to abortion, of thought patriarchal power is all pervasive, and, a full range of modern contraceptives, informa- even if women or trans think they choose sex work tion, education and services on SRHR. The EFF freely over other forms of labour, they are deceiv- promoted debates that saw SHRH as fundamen- ing themselves. In this argument, selling sex tal human rights. Among the groups linked to the for money is one of the worst forms of violence EFF debates is the ASTRA Network: Central and against women and children and a product of deep Eastern European Women’s Network for Sexual gender inequalities and human rights violations. and Reproductive Health and Rights, a regional Therefore, all women, trans, girls and boys who network of NGOs and individuals. ASTRA advo- are involved in sex work are victims and should cates as much as possible in a collective voice for be considered trafficked into prostitution. Even if SRHR in CEE. It works to ensure that the specific sex workers speak out about their rights, they are reality of women’s SRHR in the region is brought only deluded into thinking they have chosen this into the EFF debates as part of its goal to link CEE work and need to be protected and rescued, and and CIS concerns to other parts of the EU (see the consumers, who are usually men, punished. http://www.ASTRA.org.pl). In Europe this debate has focused on the Swed- Another group in the EFF is Women on Waves, a ish law that criminalized the purchase of sexual Dutch non-profit organization concerned with services in 1999. The law against procurement women’s human rights. In order to prevent women criminalizes the client and makes the following from dying needlessly as a result of illegal, unsafe acts illegal: selling sex indoors, profiting from abortion, Women on Waves sails ships to countries the sexual labour of others, and advertising. The where abortion is illegal. This is done at the invi- law has received much attention internationally. tation of local women’s organizations. On the ship While the Swedish Government claims the law early medical abortions can be provided safely, is successful and that the rate of prostitution is professionally and legally. Women on Waves aims now lower, sex workers say it has just made sex

A Herstory...... 76...... Theme Four work far more risky, dangerous, and as a result egorically that criminalizing the demand for pros- forms of hidden and precarious prostitution have titution, as in Sweden, is the most effective way to increased. Sex workers on the Internet, in street address the problem of sex trafficking. protests, conferences and workshops argue that the law has reinforced stigma and social shame Within the EFF debates by migrant groups such around the sale of sexual services. Sex workers as those organizations who are members of the are now hunted on the streets by the police, social Global Alliance Against Traffic in Women (GAATW), workers, media and sometimes even anti-pros- an international network of more than 90 organi- titution activists. The clients are more stressed zations, argued not for criminalization of prostitu- and scared, and negotiation outdoors must be tion and all that comes with it but for structural done rapidly, so the likelihood of ending up with a changes in the political, economic, social and dangerous client is greater.45 legal systems. They argued that it is important not to confuse prostitution and trafficking, and In the EFF discussions the European Women’s to recognize that criminalization only harms the Lobby (EWL), the largest European women’s women more, forcing them underground. Instead, network working on women’s rights, funded by what needs to be tackled are the structures which the European Commission,46 has been a strong contribute to the persistence of trafficking in per- advocate for this law and for seeing prostitution sons and other human rights violations. as criminal trafficking of women. The EWL was part of the very early EFF discussions, but in the One researcher who joined the cyberspace debates course of cyberdiscussion on sex work the EWL was Laura Agustin, who identifies and writes as withdrew from the EFF. For the EWL ‘prostitu- a lifelong migrant and sometime worker in both tion and trafficking in women constitute a funda- nongovernmental and academic projects about mental violation of women’s human rights’ and sex, travel and work (see http://www.nodo50.org/ ‘should not be associated with the terms “forced” Laura_Agustin). She argued that women’s groups or “free”. […] It should be recognised that “free such as EWL and others that attempt to rehabili- choice” is a relative factor, situated at the inter- tate prostitutes continue the nineteenth century section of economic, social, cultural and political historical practice (and social construction) of options of women in a given society. Inequality rescuing fallen women as part of the moral polic- severely restricts freedom of choice’ (EWL’s Char- ing and disciplining of the unruly poor’s sexual ter of Principles on Violence Against Women).47 conduct.48 Her point is not to question the exploi- The EWL questions all forms of prostitution and tation and injustices surrounding commercial sex argues that a lucrative sex industry flourishes at but the maternalistic all-knowing certainty on the cost of disadvantaged women. They state cat- how others should behave. She argues that what is important is to support sex workers’ struggles to defend themselves against unjust laws, social stigma and hypocrisy, to raise alarm at the polic- 45 See the statements at http://www.bayswan.org/swed/ swed_index.html ing and security measures taken often without 46 The European Women’s Lobby (EWL) is the largest full respect of sex workers’ rights. umbrella organization of women’s associations in the EU. The EWL Secretariat is based in Brussels, and the EWL has member organizations in 25 EU Member States. The EWL works mainly with the institutions of the EU: the European Parliament, the European Commission and the EU Council 48 These ideas were promoted by the French sociologist of Ministers. See www.womenlobby.org. Jacques Donzelot in The Policing of Families, published in 47 Taken from http://www.womenlobby.org. 1979.

A Herstory...... 77...... Theme Four A Herstory...... 78...... Theme Four The online discussion was heated and resulted in migrants). The EFF has worked to keep the site a the EWL withdrawing from the EFF. It revealed safe space to tackle difficult issues such as rape the importance of European women recogniz- in war, domestic violence, sexual harassment, ing that many migrant women and trans were porn and advertising. involved in sex work in different ways and that it was important to be honest around the difficulties Roma rights movement that feminists have in addressing sexuality and One goal of the EFF space was to link Roma sexual rights, as well as how sexuality permeates women activists to other feminists in Europe and all our lives. to bring the specific issues of the Roma women to the mainstream of European feminism – for Gender-based violence example, a letter of protest against the organiza- Gender-based violence is another issue that tion of ‘Miss Roma International’, which was held emerged as part of the EFF discussions around in 2007 (see http://europeanfeministforum.org/ body politics. There have been countless cam- spip.php?article225&lang=en). paigns against violence against women in Europe, including groups such as Women in Black who are The protests brought to the attention the vul- on the frontline to denounce and prevent rape in nerability of Roma women and the difficulties of war. In CEE gender-based violence is at the core women living in Romani communities through- of women’s mobilizing for their rights, particu- out Europe. The call underlined the racism and larly in the countries of the former Yugoslavia. sexism of the ‘beauty contest’. Roma women are Roma women also see violence against women as among the most oppressed women in Europe. a major issue within their community. Support for They have the shortest lifespan in Europe, and 80 women’s crisis centres plays an important role per cent of all illiterate Roma adults are women. in European feminism. Gender-based violence Roma women face multiple forms of violence. was an issue also taken up by migrant women’s Despite the awareness-raising of the protests a groups in the EFF, concerned about traffick- second Miss Roma International contest was held ing issues and the lack of access to services for in 2008, where twelve women from Croatia, Mon- migrant women. tenegro, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Slove- nia, the Czech Republic, Albania and Macedonia In the EFF, campaigns and activities against gen- competed (see http://www.annakari.com/web- der-based violence were networked with a spe- gallery/miss_roma/FrameSet.htm). cific focus on how to use information technologies to support struggles against violence. Using the Body politics in the European Feminist Internet, pod casts and blogs the EFF illustrated Forum Affinity Groups how cyberspace is a new terrain to wage old The unique aspect of the EFF was the creation of struggles around body politics. ICTs are afford- Affinity Groups that self-selected membership able means of communication, flexible in terms of and chose topics to look at in more detail. The time, and create a personal/political mix in terms core of the EFF work carried out by Affinity Groups of language used, with which many feminists feel on issues related to body politics were those on comfortable to discuss painful issues that never- Feminism, Masculinity and Violence, Switch Met- theless need to be shared in order to challenge aphors (in these two groups men who saw them- the conditions which created such oppressive and selves as male feminists were very active), Mod- vulnerable situations for women and also some ern Feminism: From West to East, Secularism is men and transgender people (many of whom are a Women’s Issue, and Women and New Forms of

A Herstory...... 79...... Theme Four Family. In addition, two online discussions were actively join the struggle against sexism and gen- initiated: one on feminism and LGBT issues with der inequality. If some men are willing to join the ILGA-Europe, and an online debate on SRHR, led struggle, then they can be feminists. by Women’s Global Network for Reproductive Rights with contributions from WIDE, ASTRA and One concern debated in the Affinity Group was the Affinity Group Azerbaijan Power Ladies. whether some men might have a hidden agenda in joining feminism that is detrimental to women Feminism, masculinity and violence feminists. In joining feminism, men could displace The Affinity Group on Masculinity and Violence women’s space and creativity and aspects of the set out to enhance men’s involvement in feminist struggle that women consider to be important. practice, focusing on raising awareness about On the other hand, men could contribute in excit- the problematic link between masculinity and ing ways to feminism, voicing ideas and opinions violence. The group responded to the increasing that women may not have access to, so it could concern that men need to be included in discus- be important to include them in the practices of sions about gender. The group explored how men feminism. as well as women perceive how everyone acts as gendered beings in their daily lives, and how soci- The Affinity Group concluded that men’s experi- ety shapes gender difference. They followed the ence and knowledge could add to feminist under- proposal of Australian social scientist RW Connell standing in relation to our daily lives as gendered (Raewyn Connell, formerly Robert William Con- beings. It posited a new approach to men, with a nell) that ‘everyday life is an arena of gender poli- focus on men and masculinity and violence, work- tics, not an escape from it’ (Connell 1995). ing with young men in a workshop setting. The workshops ‘Nice Guys’ or ‘The sense of violence The Affinity Group argued that feminism needs – for men’ included watching videos and group to understand how men are gendered in order to reflection on meanings of masculinity, examining open up a whole set of new possibilities and gen- the role violence plays in images of masculinity dered realities, as well as allowing feminism to among boys and how they could be changed into confront better some of the contradictions, con- more positive and inclusive alternative images. flicts and paradoxes of gender. The group looked into the nature of men themselves and the possi- Feminist activist art bility of men changing. It invited men to the debate The Affinity Group Switch Metaphors examined so that as men themselves enter and develop the feminist art, queer and transgender activism. Its discussions on gender issues, a space is created focus was on how to ease the tension between for men to consider themselves feminists. The art and feminism. In meetings and workshops in central question for the group was whether it was Porto, Leeds, Leiden, Vienna and Rome, where a contradiction that men could be feminists. people spoke about or showed their art, the group Some men, who consider themselves to be pro- explored how art can be a tool for unravelling or feminists, argue that men can never be truly subverting heteronormative power structures in feminists, since feminism is necessarily a body society. of ideas developed by and for women; so men, according to this train of thought, can only be sym- The Affinity Group instigated emancipation pathetic to feminism but never really feminists through art, and raised awareness amongst art- themselves. Others argue that being a feminist is ists about the relationship between economic first and foremost being a person who hopes to structures and art. It proposed that feminist art

A Herstory...... 80...... Theme Four can be a tool for understanding or subverting het- Modern feminism: from West to East eronormative power structures in society. In both The Affinity Group on Modern Feminism: from artistic and curatorial practices people are faced West to East examined the implication of West- with the constructed parameters that determine ern feminist ideas for Central Asian societies. art, and must find ways to work with them, avoid The majority of the group were based in Almaty, them or redefine them. This choice ultimately has Kazakhstan, and the languages in which the group determined the economics of different art scenes. operated were English, German and Russian. As feminists the artists in the group often felt excluded from decision-making on what was art The group provided an important contribution to or not. At the same time they felt non-artist femi- the EFF understanding of body politics with a dis- nists did not recognize the power of art to subvert cussion on the different waves of feminism in their power structures that denied feminist power. (post-Soviet) region – the traditional, Soviet wave and the new wave of feminism in Central Asia. The The Affinity Group looked at how artistic strate- group highlighted the body political issues of traf- gies produce knowledge, and how this knowledge ficking in women and girls into Kazakhstan from needs to be read and informed by other feminists’ the neighbouring countries, and from Central strategies through an exchange of ideas and per- Asian countries into Europe, especially after the spectives. In the face-to-face meetings the group enlargement of Europe, as the European border shared artistic strategies (writing, painting, per- became more porous. Trafficking in women, like formances, writing, curating, community art etc.). the narco-trafficking they underscored, is con- They also communicated through emailing, web- trolled by mafia. They also highlighted the difficult sites, blogs, IM and Skype on feminist art as well situation of the families of migrants where men as queer and transgender activism. have entered countries legally but their families who join them are illegal. Throughout, the Affinity At the end of 2008 The Affinity Group put a call out Group’s work looked at the growth of Islam (new in the EFF for contributions from feminist, queer mosques, volunteers, religious education, imams) and transgender artists (and others) in English, and the new Islamic political parties in some of Dutch, German, Spanish, Portuguese and Ital- the CIS countries, the increasing fundamental- ian, asking ‘What could a feminist currency look ism, and diminishing of women’s rights like?’ (see http://www.trans-genderplatform.nl). (see http://europeanfeministforum.org/spip. The call emphasizes the importance of describ- php?article21&lang=en). ing the economic structures through which art and feminisms are constructed. After collecting Secularism stories (involving artists, curators and cultural The defense of secular values and the separa- producers) the Affinity Group hopes the stories tion of Church and state was the focus of another and artwork can form the base for a constructive Affinity Group on Secularism is a Women’s Issue. exchange with feminists. The aim is to transform The Affinity Group saw secularism as a precondi- feminist artists’ precarious position by using art tion for women’s rights and other transformative as a tool for change and in a humorous way to try struggles. It discussed the link between the rise to make art less boring and become a creative of fundamentalisms in Europe and the erosion of standpoint against heteronormative exhibiting secular space. The aim of the group was to show and archiving of art. the link between the rise of fundamentalism and the complex link of the notion of citizenship ver- sus communities, the curtailing of women’s rights

A Herstory...... 81...... Theme Four in Europe, especially migrant women, and the dif- What is evident is that the traditional nuclear fam- ficulty for feminists in this context to organize for ily which entered history as the foundation of mod- women’s rights (see www.siawi.org). ern society and the modern state, in the form of a housewife/breadwinner family, is breaking down. Women and new forms of family The modern social contract rested on a (hetero) The Affinity Group on Women and the Family set sexual contract. Women were seen as depen- out to look at the changes in the Western Euro- dent and secluded in private sphere as wives and pean family, with the challenge to the concept of mothers who took on all forms of reproductive the nuclear family based on a male breadwinner work: childbearing and child-rearing, housekeep- and a female housekeeper. The group looked at ing, and the physical and emotional nourishment how the stable heterosexual married couple is a of other family members. This left husbands free faltering model in many places in Europe and how to enter productive work in the public sphere. there are many alternatives developing to this model that expand the notion of ‘family’ itself. The number of alternative family forms in contemporary Western societies casts doubts on the The Affinity Group saw the family as playing a classical justification of the state of the nuclear central role in shaping both society and women’s heterosexual family as the basis for the social gendered position. More specifically, it looked at contract. Indeed, it stresses the internal incon- how these changes affected women’s legal posi- sistencies of the state’s strong heteronormative tion and their daily lives. As a springboard for the legal positioning in relation to the family, on the debates the group began by looking at the changes one hand, and its claims of the principles of free- in the legal position of cohabitants in Spain. The dom and equality, on the other. group explored how flexible the definition of a family is, how easy it is to enter and/or exit differ- A redefinition of the family has great potential to ent family forms, what recognition and protection alter women’s role within society and the state, and political and legal systems granted different liv- ultimately to question the state’s traditional social ing arrangements and modalities of interpersonal contractual basis. The Affinity Group argued that commitment, and the extent to which the state it was, therefore, important to pay close attention grants what level of recognition and protection to to how these changes are unfolding in Western which form of family. Europe – particularly issues concerning social and legal changes in family matters. The Affinity Group noted the increasing number of same-sex couples who live as if married –and who The Affinity Group pointed out that a key factor in some European legal systems such as the UK in the traditional division of gender roles within and the Netherlands have been granted the right the family is the allocation of responsibility for to marry. Also increasing is the number of differ- the raising of children. Women have traditionally ent-sex couples who cohabit but are not married. been responsible for child-rearing, and men have There are also couples who choose not to cohabit only come to share them slowly and to a limited and who opt for ‘living apart together’. The num- extent. The group looked at how far developments ber of divorces is on the increase, with increasing in the sphere of the family are also affecting the numbers of single-parent families, and children conception of fathers’ role. It looked at how far born from different unions in family units. the new living arrangements of non-traditional families has been accompanied by a new social image of the father, and whether the legal recog-

A Herstory...... 82...... Theme Four nition of new forms of family is paralleled by the Linked to the issues raised by the Affinity Group regulation of a new status for fathers that helps on women and the family, the discussion focused to bridge the existing gap between mothers’ and on the current feminist perspectives on mar- fathers’ roles within the family. riage and how these coincide/differ with analyses offered by LGBT people. Key to this was the ques- LGBT and feminism tion of whether marriage is accessible to all or if it The Affinity Group on LGBT looked at how the is still seen as a heteronormative institution that legal protection against discrimination on the serves mostly men. The group also examined the grounds of sexual orientation or gender identity in role of care within the family and community and Europe is still incomplete and how states are slow the issue of LGBT care requirements and care to expand that protection. Althought LGBT issues giving in relation to HIV and AIDS, as well as to are on a European agenda there is a worrying issues of access to care for members of the LGBT increase in homophobia/lesbophobia/transpho- community and how the community is organized bia. The Affinity Group discussed strategies for for care giving and receiving. Another topic raised increasing the social acceptance and visibility of by the Affinity Group was how the LGBT movement LGBT persons and safeguarding their rights. relates to sex work and the debate on the rights of sex workers and legalization or criminalization of The group took up a series of topics for debates. prostitution. The issue of transgender and gender identity was explored as part of the EFF debate, in particu- Sexual and reproductive health and rights lar whether feminism has welcomed the voice of There was no Affinity Group on SRHR, but the EFF transgender people and how transgender/trans- Secretariat asked contributors to start a cyber- sexuals/transvestites etc. view feminism. Multi- space debate. As mentioned above, contributions ple identity was another topic of the feminist poli- were kicked off by the Women’s Global Network tics organized around issues such as ‘race’, older for Reproductive Rights (WGNRR), and responses age, (dis)ability, and sexual orientation. were made by ASTRA, WIDE, and the Affinity Group Power Ladies from Azerbaijan. Another further discussion looked at parental rights and responsibilities. The group looked at The cyberspace debate aimed to map out feminist how there has been an increasing recognition of perspectives on SRHR. In response to the ques- LGBT parents and a lobby to protect their rights. tions from the WGNRR, ASTRA elaborated on the This intersects with questions within the femi- growing tension around the different SRHR avail- nist movement, such as how are donors incor- able for women in the new EU Member States and porated into parenting? What are the rights and the old. In the CEE countries access to modern responsibilities of sperm donors? What is the contraceptive methods is still denied, and abor- perspective on surrogacy? Apart from the legal tion is treated as just another method of fertil- questions about each of these issues, the Affinity ity control. In Eastern Europe there is a growing Group explored the ethical situation, including the influence of conservative forces, which leads to relative rights of the child, the biological mother, misinformation and difficult access to reproduc- the biological father, the social parents and the tive health services. Another threat is the rise legal situation which arises out of these arrange- of sexually transmitted infections in the region. ments. ASTRA is fighting to ensure more equal access to sexual and reproductive health services, such as subsidized contraceptives or abortion in EU and

A Herstory...... 83...... Theme Four non-EU countries as well as accurate and unbi- women in high government and administrative ased sexuality education in schools and informa- positions can be the mouthpiece for women of the tion and services aimed at preventing transmis- country to change gender injustice. sion of sexually transmitted infections. The growing inequality in SRHR between East and West WIDE contributed to the debate by pointing out in Europe needs to be addressed by the EU with that SRHR issues should not be regarded only as comprehensive programmes, policies and laws. technical issues of applicability and access but Laws and policies need to secure women’s access also as political issues informed by economic, to basic health services, such as contraception, social and political gender inequalities. The rise of abortion, education and safe pregnancy. They conservative religious or ethnic ‘fundamentalist’ also need to respect women’s ability to exercise movements and groups in the last years has had their reproductive choices without coercion, dis- a profound impact on women’s lives, albeit dif- crimination or violence. ferently according to race, class, caste, age etc., around the world, including in Europe. Interna- The Power Ladies from Azerbaijan Affinity Group tionally and nationally the political economic and focused on the problem of legal systems which cultural disruption of these fundamentalisms are are preventing sexual and reproductive rights challenging women’s hard-won rights to define a of women – including migrant women – in their SRHR agenda, to express their sexual and repro- sub-region. They suggested that in their part of ductive rights, and to have access to resources Europe abortion is often treated as a form of con- that assure life choices leading to reproductive traception because women are ignorant about health and well-being. the alternative methods, as there is insufficient education and a non-functioning health care sys- Today, surfacing as neo-Malthusianism, the spec- tem. For example, when implementing a project tre of ‘too many people’ is becoming once more a on reproductive health awareness in rural com- common explanation for social evils – for exam- munities around the city of Baku in 2003, the ple, poverty, environmental degradation and cli- team from the Women’s Association for Rational mate change. These neo-Malthusian narratives Development (WARD) encountered a woman of 32 position poor women in excluded communities (a mother of three children) who had undergone such as the Roma, migrants, and rural women hysterectomy to prevent pregnancy. She had had in economically struggling regions as having a 19 abortions and had understood the removal of negative role in relation to population growth, as her womb to be the lesser of two evils. She had no breeders of ‘too many’ children, leading to popu- idea of the medical consequences of early meno- lation unrest, environmental destruction, poverty pause for her body or mind and, outrageously, had and violence. Controlling their fertility becomes not been informed of any other available contra- the magic bullet solution. ceptive method. In the 1990s this narrative extended to include The Affinity Group felt that women should be not security concerns: the cycle of poverty leads to only better educated but also more empowered conflict and to a rise of migration to urban areas, and active in political decision-making posi- the creation of slums and the youth bulge – a high tions in order to bring about legal changes that proportion of young men in urban populations is would facilitate the provision of sexual educa- blamed for escalating crime, political violence, tion and reproductive health and rights services and terrorism. It has led to pathologizing of the for women in their region. They underlined that poor and, in particular, of migrants in the periph-

A Herstory...... 84...... Theme Four eries of large European towns such as Paris and intergenerational dialogue on these issues was London. Feminists need to be alert about the ris- barely explored. The issues of marking the body, ing neo-Malthusian policies and redress inequali- piercing, tattoos, cosmetic surgery, dieting, buli- ties of health treatment among different women’s mia, sexuality and pregnancy, identity and ageing, groups. Current debates in Europe about migra- disabilities at different times in women’s life- tion and slum violence are influenced by neo-Mal- cycles, and cross-cultural understandings of the thusian arguments which reaffirm the privileges body would all be exciting issues to examine more of the few over the hopes of the many. deeply in further EFF discussions.

WIDE argued that in the fight for women’s rights for sexual and reproductive choice in different Environment and feminism European states it is important not to allow our Related to biotechnologies is also the growing thinking to fall into a neo-Malthusian trap which concern about climate change and the impacts discriminates against migrants and poor women of modern economic society on the environment in different pockets of Europe. The poor provi- and bodies, particularly in relation to reproduc- sion of SRHR in communities throughout Europe tive bodies and those living in vulnerable areas is linked to fundamental inequalities. Feminists where environmentally harmful waste is being need to lobby for the economic, legal and social dumped. EFF signaled that the conceptual links conditions that will enable all women living in between environment and gender have fallen Europe to choose safely and securely their sexual behind the critical and innovative work on gender and reproductive rights. and economics or gender analysis of sexual and reproductive rights. An important emerging area Emerging body political issues in European in Europe is to bring together feminists working feminism on body politics with environmentalists. The EFF touched on many more issues around body politics, not all of which could be explored Feminism and new reproductive in depth in the Affinity Group or reported in detail technologies and bio technologies on the website. There are three potentially excit- A group based in Italy that expressed interest in ing issues – intergenerational body politics, new bringing environmental politics to the EFF was reproductive and biotechnologies, and environ- Women on Biotechnology (WONBIT). Through a ment and feminism in Europe – which were not conference and publication (www.wonbit.org) debated in full during this phase of the EFF, but WONBIT brought together feminist scientists and there is hope that they may be taken up in another ecologists to ask some critical and important phase. questions about the constructions of biotechnology as a science and practice. WONBIT was inter- Intergenerational body politics issues ested in bringing to the EFF a gender framing of The EFF was particularly successful in engaging biotechnology, opening up what appear neutral young feminists from different places in Europe, in and rational ways of doing and knowing science particular CEE. Many of them are engaged in body to look at the commercial interests, the implicit politics around violence and LGBT rights. What is gender inequalities and broad inequities inform- yet to be initiated around the issue of body politics ing the social and political regimes that determine are the different generational views of body politi- how biotechnology is being done. cal struggles. Unfortunately, due to the untimely ending of the EFF project in its current phase, an

A Herstory...... 85...... Theme Four The aim of WONBIT is to open up a European engaged in the EFF will continue conversations space for women with a critical gender analysis on sexualities, bodies and rights as they look at: to reclaim a vital role in reshaping biotechnology how to resist fundamentalist religious and nation- as knowledge and practice from the point of view alist forces; the sex work/migration/reproductive of science, society culture, as well as the envi- rights issue; concerns around masculinity and ronmental effects of biotechnologies. WONBIT violence; European feminist practices of technol- is interested in how biotechnology pulls together ogy, particularly in the context of violence against informatics, life science, government and busi- women; illegal migration and human traffick- ness and is deeply embedded in modern society, ing; technologies; feminist art as a tool for femi- economics and politics. European feminists need nist organizing; and working out ways to create to understand more about technoscientific pro- solidarity among women living in all corners of cedures, in terms of the money poured into the Europe, acknowledging commonalities and dif- research, the ways decisions are made, and the ferences. use of resulting technologies that are determining many areas of their lives. These processes The intertwining economic, political, cultural and produce what are seen as the ‘facts of life’: they social processes that underpin body politics in determine how we view our bodies, the food we Europe are not easy to address. The EFF has tack- eat, the medicine we take, our reproductive lives, led some of the issues by looking at how to shape our overall health and our biosecurity. Yet these and engage in body politics, aware of the struc- scientific regimes and their close link to business tural inequalities of advanced industrial capital- and state are evolving in ways that are hard to ism as well as the hard realities for women living understand or regulate. There is too little knowl- in economies and cultures in transition. The num- edge or time for discussion among the European ber of issues raised during the EFF experience public, even those with the time and education to indicates that it is vital for feminists, wherever follow what all these highly technical discussions they live and work in Europe, to continue building are about. collective responses to gender inequalities in all its forms related to sexuality, family, reproductive The issue of biotechnology is particularly crucial rights, health, art, gender identity and technology, for Eastern European women who are wanting keenly aware of different lived bodily experiences to talk about these ethical issues with others in in Europe, and willing to explore the politics of Europe, particularly examining the role of EU gov- such differences. ernment and industry in various parts of the ‘new’ Europe. It is clear that feminists need to under- The EFF has participated in a short but vibrant way stand better how to influence and be part of the to the broader struggle to build a Europe that will policy agenda setting, determining what is done respect the embodied rights and needs of women, in biotechnology research, in policymaking and men and trans. The conversations which thrived in in the market. Women and biotechnologies could the EFF space show that feminist knowledge, the be one cutting-edge issue to continue discussing vision and creativity are there. What is required within the EFF space. now is for many others, as donors, as partners, and as participants, to join and create the next What can we learn from the European phase of the EFF. Feminist Forum experience? The EFF discussion on body politics is not a finished conversation. The hundreds of women

A Herstory...... 86...... Theme Four Theme Five Intersectionality and Intergenerational Dialogues

Joanna Semeniuk

Introduction the exclusions of women in mainstream femi- The EFF aimed to bring together different groups nism – women of colour, lesbians, bisexuals and into a space for dialogue and let them voice their transgender, indigenous women, non-English- positions on cross-cutting issues. If they could speaking women, women of the global South etc. agree on some points of ways forward, alliances (Johnson 2005: 21–37). could be built to take actions. Key to producing cross-cutting analysis and alliance-building mov- In EFF practice, intersectionality meant building ing towards action were the theory and practice of the forum by including diverse feminist identi- the EFF based on intersectionality and intergen- ties in terms of ethnicity, class, nationality, age, erational dialogue. gender and sexual orientation, and alongside this, to link up with other social movements that fight Intersectionality different forms of oppression. This diversity was The starting point of the EFF was to acknowledge brought in by those EFF activists who have plural that feminism is built on the ‘politics of difference’ identities and who act in different contexts and/ that can exist alongside the ‘politics of friendship’ or in movements – in other words, those partici- and that there are multiple, even conflicting, iden- pants who were ‘performing intersectionality’ in tities among feminist movements. This approach the EFF and in their activism which resists mul- has its roots in the theory of intersectionality that tiple exclusions. looks at how different socially and culturally constructed categories interact, causing the complex Some examples include Enisa Eminova, a young levels of inequalities. The term ‘intersectionality Romani women’s rights activist from Macedonia, theory’ was first coined by Kimberle Crenshaw in who in her activism addresses both racism and the 1970s but gained real prominence in the 1990s classism in the global feminist movement that when sociologist Patricia Hill Collins reintro- she experienced, and sexism and misogyny in duced the idea as part of her discussion on Black Romani culture, not willing to give up any of her feminism. According to Collins, intersectional- identities.49 When taking up a role as a member of ity is an ‘analysis claiming that systems of race, the EFF Steering Group, Enisa said: social class, gender, sexuality, ethnicity, nation, and age form mutually constructing features of social organization, which shape Black women’s experiences and, in turn, are shaped by Black 49 The clashing identities and standing up for both of them is a theme reappearing in many public appearances women’ (Collins 2000: 299). Feminist movements by Enisa Eminova that I came across. For example: ‘We have had a long herstory of attempts to overcome clearly need to be present in both movements since we are

A Herstory...... 87...... Theme Five “Through the European Feminist Forum I expressed an interested to come to the meet- am hoping that a group of young Roma women ing but did not want to participate actively in the activists will critically examine European Femi- preparation phase. For example, trade unions, nist movement on one hand and the Roma Rights migrant and refugee organizations, such as the movement in Europe on the other: Romanipe from Platform for International Cooperation on Undoc- feminist perspective and Feminism from Romani umented Migrants (PICUM), based in Brussels, perspective (EFF website 2007).” and the Dutch Pharos Foundation, a refugees and health knowledge centre, were part of the initi- Anna Gyorgy, joining in her activism both femi- ating process in 2006 but dropped out when the nism and the eco and peace movement, took on face-to-face meeting did not materialize. the coordination of the Affinity Group Women’s Action for Peace and Security. She linked up the Language-based exclusion Affinity Group with other women peace activists, The EFF also did not challenge the hegemony of including Cynthia Cockburn and IANSA Network. the English language enough. When it comes to language-based exclusion, the feminist move- “We see on-going work for peace with justice ment in Europe is no exception. Not only is there as a feminist issue. There is already much wom- the dominance of English among academic femi- en’s activity, campaigns and networking for peace nism, but also English is the language of transna- going on. Our hope is that the EFF can make this tional progressive media, NGOs, donors, reports, more visible on the European level, better known campaigns etc. In effect the debates happening in and more accessible to a broad, international the local languages rarely register on the inter- public. And that activists can use the EFF for net- national scene. What usually emerges from local working and exchange beyond national boundar- language into English are urgent calls for action, ies (EFF website 2007).” notices of shocking statistics, events, or alarms about legal backlashes. This kind of fragmented The group was in a difficult position at EFF – information does not give an insight into a situa- because the EFF’s programme committee’s cross- tion of women in the given country or community. cutting take on peace and security issues was to The EFF was an attempt to give space to debates look at them from the economic and migration in some of the widely used local languages – the perspective, the peace and security issues were website was made in English, French, Spanish in fact narrowed to the economic and migration and Russian. Practically, the content could be context. At the start the members of the Affinity uploaded in any language. The language variety Group felt they had to convince others that peace depended on how Affinity Groups chose to use the and security were feminist issues. website. For example, the Russian version of the page received many articles because of the activ- In addition to the work of the Affinity Groups, ity of one of the groups looking at German and other efforts were made to link across the move- Central Asian cooperation. Other groups would ments. However, the cross-cutting networking conduct their activities in the local language, and would have gained more momentum if the face- the outcomes would be translated and reported to-face forum had taken place; many groups had back to the international audience in English. In this case a small group or one person (usually the group’s coordinator) would act as a translator and communicator between the group working Romani women and must not have to choose one identity in preference to the other’ (Our voices heard 2007). locally and the English-speaking forum. However,

A Herstory...... 88...... Theme Five in this scenario the locally based groups did not ances when it becomes ‘developed’ in the ‘official’ receive information about other debates in Eng- directory? lish within the EFF, because there was too much material for the coordinator or the EFF organizers Conducting the five days of workshops, where all to translate. So the information stream was in one discussions had to leave time for translation, tak- direction, where the unprivileged language users ing into account different physical abilities when had to take care of communicating to the English managing time and space, made the meeting and audience. the outcome much richer than if it had lacked the diversity. On the other hand, more effort needs to Young women and the intersectional be put into maintaining alliances across differ- approach in the European Feminist Forum ences. The intersectional approach helps to focus on the discriminated groups in their complexity. For As Charkiewicz notes, ‘the intersectional analysis instance, AWID uses intersectionality in the fields as it is currently practised is an ahistorical and of development and human rights, as a tool for statistical tool, for that reason it is not the best advocacy, programme planning, and research. In one to capture the changes in time or analyse the one of their brochures directed at gender equal- reasons behind oppressions’ (Charkiewicz 2008). ity advocates, AWID suggest ways to ‘do’ intersectionality: ‘When setting priorities for proj- Intergenerational dialogue ects, allocate resources to those who are most The category of age was included in intersectional marginalized as revealed by analyzing intersect- analysis at a later stage of its theoretical developing discriminations’ (Symington 2004: 7). When ment. Some scholars argue that age is not given organizing the European Young Women’s Forum, enough attention, and if it is, it favours young an event for feminist activists from all parts of women over old women, pointing to the problem of Europe and the Caucasus, we found out what the ageism within feminism (Zajicek et al. 2006: 177). limiting consequences of this approach are. The Is it the same to talk about age and about gen- young women that we wanted to bring together erations? Speaking of generations in the feminist were both advantaged and disadvantaged, abled movement is already a generalization, since there and disabled, from white Western and Northern is no such thing as clear generations or ‘waves’50 Europeans and Eastern and Caucasian girls, Eng- (Henry 2004: 4–6). However, the need for the dia- lish and non-English speaking – it was impor- logue between generations is present in the Euro- tant to come together in a group where different pean feminist movements and elsewhere. This privileges and oppressions met. We soon found does not necessarily mean strong identification out that the way to raise funds was to ‘advertise’ with waves or generations but can be seen as an our most marginalized friends, in the hope that expression of the feeling of no continuity, commu- the money we get in that way will sponsor the nication, exclusion, and power struggle between attendance of young women from Western and feminists of different ages. There is no agree- Northern Europe. How otherwise to build friend- ment between younger feminists on whether a ships between those who are privileged and those third wave of feminism exists or not. Still, many who aren’t? Should the activists build alliances according to who is currently in the most marginalized top ten, which country is categorized as 50 The popular interpretation of feminist waves are ‘developing’ by the Organisation for Economic Co- roughly: turn of the 1880s to the 1920s (first wave), 1960s to operation and Development (OECD), and drop alli- 1990s (second wave), and 2000s or now (third wave).

A Herstory...... 89...... Theme Five A Herstory...... 90...... Theme Five younger activists who are involved with issues and women’s movements in European countries.51 that gained significance due to the second wave It found that ‘traditional distribution of rights, of feminism feel obliged to say their activism is duties and power, where younger members have on ‘a second-wave issue’ – such as reproductive less power, is very typical for women’s organiza- rights, for example. But then what are ‘third-wave tions as well. This is often a reason for younger issues’ or ‘young feminists’ issues’? activists to split and establish their own organizations’ (Intergenerational Dialogue Affinity Group There can be no good answer, because the ques- 2008). The traditional distribution of means that tion is posed in a wrong way – it is posed from young women in an organization are volunteers, the perspective assuming a division on issues technical staff or administrators or are targeted between generations and the existence of a sub- as the beneficiaries of the projects, but their ject that speaks on behalf of many. Each time I involvement in organization is not represented by was asked to answer the question ‘so what are participating in the decision-making process. The young women’s issues?’, I felt obliged to come up traditional European age-relations do not seem with some ‘new’ issues, preferably connected to very different from the ones described by a for- the use of new technologies (as young women are mer Co-coordinator of the Network of Asia Pacific supposed to be born with a computer mouse in Youth (NAPY): the feminist movement that she their hands, or rather a touchpad nowadays, irre- experienced is undermined by a ‘belief that young spective of their class). women are the future and the older are the present’ (Viado 2003). Further, she writes: ‘the worst Therefore, I think that the debate on generations that could happen is when the two “sub-sectors” and their issues is limiting in many ways. On the are pitted against each other, and they lose sight other hand, young women are affected by cur- of the very basis of a women’s movement’. This is rent socio-political settings in a different way exactly the situation that the European mapping from older ones. But which young women? Young undertaken in the EFF describes: women in Europe are very different, and many in one sub-region know little about the situation of “Younger activists are frustrated by the lack young women in other sub-regions, or sometimes of responsibilities, freedom and participation in even of women of other classes or ethnicity than decision making processes, while older activists their own, living in their region. Young feminist feel that their leading positions within organiza- activists acknowledge that we know little about tion achieved over the years of struggle are now the lives of activists elsewhere. Some of the rea- constantly judged, challenged and even endan- sons are language barriers and the domination of gered. As an older activist described it: ‘Younger the English language, limited access to resources, generations of women do not accept to learn from and insufficient links between young women’s older generations with life long experience in the organizations and individuals across Europe. women’s movement. Most of the younger activists adopt masculine patterns of behaviour and com- Apart from the theoretical debate on waves and generations, the generational issue emerges when we look at feminist organizations and activ- 51 The following countries participated in the mapping: ism. During the EFF, one of the Affinity Groups Armenia, Belarus, Bulgaria, Lithuania, Poland and Serbia. researched the communication and cooperation A member of the group from the Netherlands brought in the experience of Dutch young women’s network V-mania of different generations and analysed intergen- which has raised similar issues regarding intergenera- erational power relationships inside the feminist tional relations.

A Herstory...... 91...... Theme Five munication, and most of them see other women young feminists met. They included young women only as competition. They diminish and obliterate running their own NGOs, those working in large years of older generations’ work’ (Intergenera- organizations run by older women, anarchist- tional Dialogue Affinity Group 2008).” feminists, scholars and students, non-affiliated individuals, disabled women, and young women Along with divisions based on age prejudice and from the women’s self-development movement. hierarchical roles, there are disagreements based on the desired working style and understanding During the meeting we found it difficult to describe of feminist principles, or ideological positioning our current and/or desired activism in the one- in general. These are, for instance, the ‘attempts issue approach. Our feeling was that a broader of younger generations to find less hierarchical political feminist orientation that brings together ways of organizing, or intensive efforts towards cross-cutting issues and unites different groups positioned/ situated claims as opposed to gener- is missing. Most of us are involved in many move- alizing and usurpatory tendencies in the claims of ments and are used to engaging in these move- more established and longer functioning groups, ments, because the intersecting issues do not especially, with regard to the inclination to speak belong solely to one movement. The younger fem- on behalf of all women’ (Erentaite 2008). Non- inists treat feminism not as the ruling and most hierarchy and being sensitive to difference are important struggle but one of among other eman- principles that both young and old associate with cipatory struggles. There is also more awareness the struggle against the practice of white middle- about activist well-being and burnout, and already class feminism of the 1970s. The fact that the very young people wonder how to sustain their next generation fights the same struggle does activism, while there are so many areas one has not imply that the previously oppressed became to juggle – a common activist profile is someone oppressors but proves that the feminist move- who juggles between paid work, activism, studies ment has never been and is not free from femi- and private life. And the current neo-liberal ethos nist-to-feminist oppression. However, to elabo- urges young women to excel in all areas – even rate on the ideological standpoints that younger activism, where your position is measured by the feminists take, I refer to the discussions during a success of your projects. five-day meeting of 25 young European feminists in 2008, which the young women from the Inter- It is impossible to talk specifically about young generational Dialogue Affinity Group organized. women’s problems without analysing the whole socio-political environment, and without taking The meeting was organized for and by younger an ideological stand within many feminisms. We women to find out for ourselves what we52 have are aware that many young women do not ques- in common and what kind of movement and coop- tion the neo-liberal ideology; however, we (some eration we want to create. We were not even sure of us) recognize this as a problem in itself, as whether we wanted to build on a ‘young feminist’ or well as the current economic system and nega- ‘young women’s’ identity, but we felt that discuss- tive developments in the labour market (precar- ing this was necessary, based on the process of ity of jobs, work overload, migration), which are discussions and research by the Intergenerational crucial problems for young women. We stressed Dialogue Affinity Group. A very diverse group of the importance of raising awareness about the feminist economy, since economic literacy is very low among young women and even among activ- 52 I was part of that group (2008). ists. The economic issues were pushed back by

A Herstory...... 92...... Theme Five current feminisms in many European countries, them with propaganda; now capitalism targets where focusing on gender mainstreaming and young people, and young women in particular, as participation in the current system predominated. consumers. We are also aware that the third wave or young generation of feminism is accused of abandoning Our reaction to this line of arguments pointed collective political action and indulging in issues out that whether we want it or not, young women, relating to personal identity. There is a point to it, already being this category, are affected by all the I think, but this has long been recognized by the discourses that try to utilize them. For example, ‘third-wave’ movement itself. Taking Ladyfests53 Natalia Kowbasiuk, an independent journalist as an example, there is a discussion going on in from our young activists network, explained that the movement on how to re-politicize them. capitalist discourse aims to form young women by describing them as young, strong, ambitious, As an illustration of the intergenerational tension career-oriented, modern, and that they can in the economic context, I will tell about a heated achieve it all only if they want to etc., while the discussion that took place after we posted an invi- patriarchal discourse addresses them as young tation to the young women’s meeting to one of the mothers, caring, placing family above career etc. main feminist mailing lists in Poland. The bottom In order to recognize and deconstruct these dis- line of ‘older women’s’ voices was that by call- courses we need to meet up in a group where we ing a meeting of the category ‘young women’ we all have similar experiences, so we can build the were reproducing the patriarchy, not opposing it; knowledge in a feminist manner, from our own moreover, we were accused of ‘selling’ our young experience and reflection. age to attract donors. They were advocating that we should stick together as ‘women’ in oppos- Organizing in an exclusive space is a difficult issue ing patriarchy, which oppresses all of us, young to discuss, and it always raises lots of questions. and old, and that the ‘youth’ and ‘young women’ Are spaces that gather people based on any iden- category has a history of being a means to regu- tity justified? Do they support emancipation or just late people – on the international political scene it create new divisions? Why to meet in a women- was introduced by the UN in 1992, and later on the only or young-only group if our purpose is to have development aid and NGO sector adopted it. This, a world where age and gender don’t matter? the argument goes, is the political scene organized like the market, where different sub-groups With one of the EFF Affinity Groups, a collective of compete for money and recognition. During com- the feminist artists Switch Metaphors, we entered munism ‘youth’ was a category the state used to a discussion on excluding men from the meet- regulate young people’s involvement and target ing. They argued that we were reproducing the oppressive structure by excluding the oppressors, so we just oppress the oppressors, and the feminist thing to do is to get rid of the whole structure. 53 Ladyfests are a vibrant underground force that started in 2000 in Olympia, Washington, when the riot-grrrl bands, The group pointed out that building something Sleater-Kinney and Bratmobile, staged the first ever Lady- ‘new’ based on whether someone has got a vagina fest – a non-profit DIY feminist festival run by volunteers. or not is a faulty start. I thought of this argu- Along with music, there were workshops, art installations and discussion groups. By 2005 (the last year for which there ment again when reading Astrid Henry’s historic are complete figures) there were officially 31 worldwide critique of ‘post-feminist’ identification. Women (http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2007/aug/22/gender. already wanted to build feminism regardless of uk). See also http://www.myspace.com/ladyfesteurope for links to European Ladyfests. gender in 1919. ‘For these women – “interested in

A Herstory...... 93...... Theme Five people” rather that women – feminism appeared its own promising fatality, the social form of its outdated in its devotion to the limits imposed by aberrant, unprecedented future’ (Judith Butler, gender [...] Women could now reject the group Antigone’s Claim). identity reinforced by feminism in favour of the more enlightened identity of modern individual- I am so indebted to this project of Feminism, which ism’ (Cott 1987: 282 cited in Henry 2004: 19). Henry is an attempt to speak a language which has not shows how after a period of big feminist success been spoken yet! (Francesco Ventrella, e-mail – the early part of the twentieth century and the correspondence with the author, 2008).” 1960s and 1970s – there was a tendency to say that a ‘post-feminist’ phase was being entered and The young feminist group used here the same we did not need to focus on gender division any- argument when in discussion with older feminists more, particularly due to what feminists achieved described earlier, as this is another side of the in a previous phase. But then again, my feminist identities debate. adversaries from Switch Metaphors do not argue that they are post-feminists or that the feminist is “[…] the position that we have in common, obsolete. They say that reinforcing gender identi- is being seen by others as a ‘young woman’. And fication is not the way to a feminist society: because of inhabiting the space in society con- noted with ‘young woman’, many things follow, “We don’t have to fight ‘exclusion’, but change that add up to our common experience. […] we the very structure on which a possible and sus- build upon young women’s identity, when defin- tainable ‘inclusion’ can be constructed, for as ing what our common experiences and issues Foucault said about the tower of the Paonpticon, important to us are. […] Sorry for being exclusive! ‘would anything change if the prisoners replaced It’s not excluding men from being feminists, just the guardian in the tower? That would be only a from being young women :-). (Joanna Semeniuk, substitution, victim and perpetrator swop, but the e-mail correspondence with Switch Metaphors structure of surveillance, power and dominance Affinity Group, 2008)” remains the same’. How can a world without the oppression of women be? How can we think I was truly inspired by Francesco’s position; he’s new forms of ‘kinship’ as making-people-come- one of the most feminist men I have ever met. together, rather than the biological kinship that Unfortunately, the position of men in the feminist world’s Monotheisms are approving? We are so movement is still a problematic one. Daniel Mat- deeply imbricated in the patriarchal symbolic ias, a young feminist man who was contributing order, that we can barely imagine it... It’s the proj- to the EFF, presented two positions on which men ect of a new humanity, and a new legislation. inspired by feminism stand:

‘If kinship is the precondition of the human, then “Some men, who consider themselves to be Antigone is the occasion for a new field of human- pro-feminists, argue that men can never be truly ity, achieved through political catachresis, the one feminists, since feminism is necessarily a body that happens when the less than human speaks of ideas developed by and for women; so men, as human, when gender is displaced, and kinship according to this train of thought, can only be founders on its own founding laws. She acts, she sympathetic to feminism, but never really a part speaks, she becomes one for whom the speech of it. Others argue that being a feminist is first and act is a fatal crime, but this fatality exceeds her foremost being a person who hopes to actively join life and enters the discourse of intelligibility as the struggle against sexism and gender inequal-

A Herstory...... 94...... Theme Five ity. If some men are willing to join the struggle, creativity and the mingling of the participants of then they’re more than welcome (Daniel Matias, Red Dawns question the boundaries we take for EFF website, see http://europeanfeministforum. granted; the isolating boundaries that separate org//spip.php?article237&lang=en)” people regardless of our gender (Rdece Zore online archive, see: http://www.kudmreza.org/ Ladyfests rdece/herstory.html).” How does the ‘third wave’ deal with gender? Con- sidering that the flag third-wave festivals are Many times, I have noticed tension in the spaces called ‘Ladyfests’, one could think that they are where younger women organize on the issue of not big gender-benders. In fact, most of them are gendered space; that is why I think that the EFF queer spaces, and many participants criticize the discussion was a representative one. As I men- name, which suggests a women-only space. Some tioned earlier, this is a feminist debate with a workshops are women-identified only. However, long history in the movement. What is new about one must remember that Ladyfests originated it is that feminist gendered spaces are nowadays in very specific historical circumstances and interacting with the queer identity, which chooses were a response to the male-dominated punk not to identify with any gender or switches music scene, and its current name originated in between two mainstream genders, and also with the USA in 2000. Carr, a 25-year-old a punk rock the stronger transgender movement and inclu- musician interviewed at the 2008 Amsterdam sive gender spaces. If one calls a gender-specific Ladyfest, says that Ladyfest evolves ‘by focus- meeting you call for women-identified instead of sing more on gender emancipation for all. But just ‘women’. I see this as a positive change mov- then maybe it wouldn’t be a Ladyfest, but just ing beyond ‘womyn-born womyn’54 spaces, which a fest. Boys can support the cause too, so don’t excluded transwomen and intersex people. exclude them’ (www.grassrootfeminism.net). Since 2000, similar initiatives to Ladyfest were Cyberspace: new ways of feminist independently springing up. In the same year that organizing the first Ladyfest was held, 2000, the Red Dawns Organizing the EFF was only possible with ICT festival appeared in Ljubljana, Slovenia, due to through cyberspace networking. Feminist cyber- the same frustration. It was a women’s festival, networking takes the tradition of networking poli- not named feminist yet, although it came out of tics from newsletters, briefings and face-to-face the same frustration as Ladyfests, responding to gatherings onto the Internet (Harcourt 1999). ‘Use male dominance in the independent music scene, of the Internet expands networking rather than where women were very active but not visible. introducing it as a whole new phenomenon, and it builds on skills that have been applied for a long “We have not searched for ‘the essence’ of time’ (Youngs 2007: 4). Since the 1990s, when the Woman. The feminist struggles of the past have term ‘cyberfeminism’ was coined (1991), femi- proved that attempts at defining women by our nists operating on the Net moved from the hope sex or even by our common features of character that it would provide a disembodied space, where are misleading: they worry about metaphysics of gender, class and race divisions would not mat- ‘femininity’ and ‘masculinity’ instead of dealing with the reality of every-day hatred, disrespect and exploitation of women – and men. Festival 54 The term was developed during second-wave femi- Red Dawns does not advocate a further polariza- nism to designate spaces for, by, and about women who tion of genders or ‘war of the sexes’. Instead, the were born as girls, raised as girls, and live as women.

A Herstory...... 95...... Theme Five ter, into awareness that cyberculture intensifies through the mailing list, all a process of building the existing power relations. On the positive side, up a base online community. the ICTs have undoubtedly made communication easier and opened up new possibilities for those This participatory spirit of bottom-up work was who want social change (Harcourt 2005). then realized by a different tool in the subsequent project phase: building of the website content. As a feminist operating online you are swamped The website was the central point of the EFF: the daily by calls for action, newsletters from net- dialogues and results were shared there. The works and institutions, posts to the email lists, website is built with SPIP (Système de Publication updates on favourite websites’ content, and invites pour l’Internet Partagé or Participatif), an open- to link with someone, join the online group, dis- source content management system designed for tribute the information, and so on. You could sign website publishing and oriented towards online out from all that information overload, but you do collaborative editing, which for the EFF meant not want to be out of the feminist loop. Most of us that all the Affinity Groups could be administrat- end up selecting and narrowing down the infor- ing their website sections and feel ownership over mation related to the women’s movement that the common web space. comes to us, being well aware of the fragmented vision that we choose. Gillian Youngs writes that Another purpose of this arrangement was that fragmented perception was always the case, but participants learned how to administrate the in cyberspace it becomes much more evident, and website, although for those not accustomed to ‘we can never capture the whole in either percep- operating with websites it was a big effort. This tual or evidential terms’ (Youngs 2007: 2). was a significant shift towards decentralizing the decisions on the online content; however, there So, when organizing online, we have to try to mini- was no entirely non-hierarchical shaping of the mize the exclusions, and be aware that cyberspace website. Due to the fact that the overall adminis- is limiting participation for many, and, on the other tration of the website and general coordination of hand, remember that our online existence, how- the whole project had its ‘centrum’ in the Amster- ever wide it would be, is just a slice of informa- dam-based Secretariat, the takeover of the web- tion among trillions of ones and zeros travelling site as common ownership did not happen. across space. Many people we would like to reach have their browsers accustomed to only a few Skype also played a role. It was used by Affinity chosen channels that we will not reach. Another Groups and the Steering Committee to hold live challenge of moving feminist organizing online is meetings. With this free and accessible tech- ‘how to create a cyberspace that can translate into nology, hours of talking among people in differ- real world politics’ (Harcourt 2005). ent countries were possible. However, everyone even became aware of the shortcomings of online Many DIY events and many co-organized by a meeting. To make a meeting effective it must bigger group are organized through a mailing have a clear agenda, effective chair and people list accessible to everyone and transparent, or must come prepared. Also, as noted by an Affinity have a mailing list as the outcome of an event Group, an optimal number of people for a session for further networking or organizing further edi- is four to six: the more people, the less constructions (Queeruption, ESF, Young Women’s Forum). tive the communication. Moreover, the Skype The EFF was triggered by a physical meeting in meeting dynamics shape a group into those who 2004 and followed by a long period of discussions always attend Skype meetings and those who do

A Herstory...... 96...... Theme Five not always join due to limitations of communica- “We opted for private communications, since tion. Also, the time that meetings are held – often our plans for the EFF conference were still in weekends or evenings – indicates how much of process and we did not feel comfortable shar- one’s private time is invested in activism. ing them publicly. Working space for the affinity group: The absence of working spaces for affinity Videos also proved a powerful and attractive groups may negatively affect the level of sharing means of communication, especially in a visual- of information and collaboration among various ized Internet culture. Some Affinity Groups used groups. The public website can serve this pur- this medium for sharing stories showing the real- pose to some extent only, since there is under- ities of the movement and interviews with activ- standable discomfort to publicly share plans in ists. Video is used by both self-organized younger progress. Members and partners of our affin- and older activists (within the EFF Intergen- ity group felt more confident and comfortable to erational Dialogue and Secularism is a Women’s exchange/discuss the objectives and activities for Issue Affinity Groups) and established networks EFF, as well explore interconnections between (WIDE’s cooperation with Shahrzad News). How- different issues, in more private means of com- ever, the experience of the Affinity Groups shows munication such as emails. Use of internal, pass- that editing the video material often delays the word-protected and easy-to-use online space, whole project, as it needs skills or having a pro- such as a wiki, may enhance information sharing fessional to do the work, which significantly raises and networking between various groups (Femi- costs of an otherwise low-key documentation nist Practice/s of Technology Affinity Group final strategy. From the experience of the Intergenera- report).” tional Dialogue Affinity Group, video making has a great potential for the movement, and we should Limitations of Internet-mediated communication seriously invest in acquiring basic skills of shoot- were noted even by the groups working with the ing and editing. In this way we could share with ICTs/new media. For some topics especially, the the movement and general public what happens real-life meetings work much better than mail- in different feminist spaces, especially the ones ing lists and virtual meetings – not only due to the that otherwise are marginal and attended by a comfort of face-to-face communication but also small number of people. because the real-life meeting produces more motivations, while, for example, chat rooms limit One of the shortcomings of collective working engagement and subsequent activity (Affinity online proved to be ensuring a safe space. The Group Information and New Technologies (AGI- Affinity Groups did not want to share all the prep- TATE) final report). aration process online. Numerous mailing lists, wikis, blogs, and other website spaces were cre- “We focused our call on the EFF website want- ated by the groups to develop the content before it ing to hear from prospective EFF participants, but was shared on the EFF website. Lots of work was did not get much response. This can be partly done invisibly to the public eye, when groups were attributed to the limitation that comes from ICT still in preparation phase. Consequently, there platforms reach and people’s comfort with online was no option of a ‘close but passive viewer’ on tools, especially when sharing personal stories. the website of the Affinity Group preparation pro- For example during the EFF programming meet- cess, as the organizers envisioned before. ing, the representative of our affinity group was able to share our tentative plans for the EFF conference with members of ‘Peace and security’ and

A Herstory...... 97...... Theme Five ‘Migrants feminist agenda’ affinity groups and the Conclusion EFF steering committee members and discuss The two terms constantly reoccurring in the dis- their needs in the area of ICTs, as well as explore cussions around the EFF were ‘alliances’ and connections between ICT issues and their wom- ‘cross-cutting’. Were these just buzzwords or en’s rights agendas (Feminist Practice/s of Tech- actual concepts behind the endeavour? Certainly, nology Affinity Group final report).” there were important attempts to work across different political interests, geopolitical realities, In the world of struggling for resources, feminists age and sexual identities. Young feminist activ- mastered the art of linking events and projects ists played a key role in challenging and shap- and using meeting opportunities to get the most ing the agenda as it emerged. A whole range of of them (piggybacking). I was amazed how many issues were discussed across the usual divides project activities you can hold for the occasion in Affinity Groups, on the website and in the face- of one meeting/event/festival/etc. I find this par- to-face meetings that could happen. Yet in many ticularly important for the independence of the ways alliances were not built across the divides; movement – in this way lots of projects that are the EFF project was too short. It was a promising not easily ‘fundable’ can take place. On the other beginning that we hope will be continued. hand, this arrangement strengthens a problematic trend – too much work is being done by too few people, and mostly these are the same people multitasking. This definitively strengthens friend- ships between activists, but it is not sustainable on the personal level (burnout) and fails to stimulate new people to get involved in the movement.

The limits of organizing in cyberspace is evident when compared to the success of the face-to-face meeting of the Affinity Groups and to the young feminist activists and also in terms of reaching out beyond the core participants in the EFF cross- Europe tour, which proved to be a successful movement-building tool. Organizing local meetings and joining local feminist festivals and conferences, meeting up with local women’s organizations and getting them involved in the process triggered a snowball effect. The travelling circus (‘The European Feminist Forum is coming to you!’) visited local organizations, spoke at events and met with funders, promoting participation in the process in 2007, and brought many more groups into the forum.

A Herstory...... 98...... Theme Five Conclusion

Saskia Wieringa, Gisela Dütting and Wendy Harcourt

The debates of the EFF show how European femi- Similarly, the EFF emphasizes that there is no nism is still vital and alive. The monograph points such phenomena as ‘European feminism’. Nor is to some of the core feminist debates in Europe there agreement about what ‘wave’ of feminism around solidarity, affinity, movement organizing, we are in, or indeed if it is a good idea to talk body politics and sexualities, economic precarity, about waves. Some spoke about a ‘third wave’ funding and migration. of feminism to distinguish the web-based crowd of younger women from the older generation The main conclusion from the EFF experience of activists who fought for abortion and sexual is that there is no one European feminism but a self-determination and had very different agen- plurivocality of European women’s voices that das according to what side of the wall they were are taking up feminism in different themes and on. What emerged is that young women from all activities. Nor is there a clear one Europe. The ethnicities and religions and parts of Europe are EFF raised many questions about what makes taking up activism in general, and within that a European. Certainly we understood that to be feminism, with renewed vigour. The theme of European meant more than holding a passport of intergenerational dialogue and intersectionality one of 27 countries that make up the EU. The EFF takes different hues according to who is speaking. decided that anyone who defined themselves as Young voices from the ‘third wave’ were critical European and as feminist could join. Still, ques- and made sure they had the space. tions had to be asked: if it is not geography or citizenship that determines being European, then As one of the initiators of the young feminists’ is there some European culture to which we all network said at the AWID conference in 2008: identified? Clearly not, as the EFF found many differences among Eastern, Southern, Western “To build an organized movement and coor- and Northern Europeans as well as for newly dinate joint activities and responses a network arrived Europeans seen as migrants or non- is essential. However, creating a network is a Europeans however long they may live in Europe huge responsibility, continuity for a reasonable and with whatever legal status. Then what about period is necessary; certain activities like shar- the groups who have lived geographically within ing information, meetings, joint initiatives should Europe for centuries, such as the Roma, but have be organized. If there is no capacity to take this never belonged to mainstream European culture? responsibility, further development and wider The EFF encouraged such questions about femi- structures for involvement are not being created, nism and Europe, and the answers were left open which prevents young women from gaining voice and fluid in the forum.

A Herstory...... 99...... Conclusion in the movement even when there is a potential women, the EFF showed how there is increased and need for it (Erentaite 2008).” mobilization around the issue.55

In order to avoid as much as possible clashes Another debate initiated by the EFF was the role among the larger and more established networks of women entrepreneurs as part of the feminist and organizations, the core organizing mecha- critique of economics and businesswomen’s net- nism of the EFF was the Affinity Groups, which works. Feminists have produced a well-docu- were created spontaneously and bottom up, made mented critique of neo-liberal economic policies by feminists who simply answered the open call and unjust globalization, privatization and dereg- to join. The numbers who engaged showed how ulation, free trade, informalization of labour and much flexibility and diversity there is in the femi- the erosion of labour rights. As the EFF showed, nist movement in Europe. What is more, it indi- a debate on entrepreneurship and on the role of cated that the institutionalized movements do not businesses in Europe can highlight fault lines and satisfy all people’s needs – many feminists who new strategic possibilities, especially considering were not affiliated with any organization joined the changing role of Europe in the international in the EFF. The newly established national and economic constellation. Debate criticized the the already existing issue groups joined as well, combination of private wealth and public poverty, because the EFF added the European context and the undermining of public control and account- positioning to their work. ability on the economy, and growing exclusion of many people in Europe. The critique on economic Within the EFF two major themes continued to policies, at state level and at EU level, tied in with dominate as they do in feminism in Europe: eco- the new angles taken up at the EFF. nomic issues around precarity of work and migration; and body politics, covering reproductive The work of the different Affinity Groups under- rights and health, sexualities and bodily integrity. lined the need in the feminist movements to stop generalizing and to acknowledge the variety and The EFF opened new discussions on economics diversity of migration and women migrants. The and migration. It stimulated feminist debate on EFF incorporated migration debates in East- how regulated and unregulated migration plays a ern, Central, Western, Northern and Southern (policy) role in creating insecurity and precarity for Europe, thus breaking through the dominance different groups (of women) in Europe. What the of the Western European perceptions of migra- EFF revealed is that there is a huge gap between, tion. The work of the Affinity Groups touched on on the one hand, extensive gender research and women migrants, but also on those (women) who feminist theory and, on the other, the daily reali- stayed behind (such as the Armenian Migration ties of persisting inequalities. Feminist questions of Women Affinity Group), and those women who were raised in the EFF about policy-making in had come and returned. A link was made with European states and the EU regarding the labour Roma women, given the similarities and overlap market, taxation and changes in state provi- between the migrant feminist women and the sions. As precarity is now affecting more groups, Roma women’s work. and especially more and more young (migrant)

55 Although this can take many forms – for example, the struggle for accessible and affordable housing.

A Herstory...... 100 ...... Conclusion Migration is a political bone of discontent every- feminist positions, as it is no longer one’s identity where in Europe. For years, tensions around this that is at stake. subject have been ignored in feminist movements, and a prevailing political correctness has pre- As the third theme of the monograph empha- empted addressing issues surrounding migra- sizes, the vitality of feminism today in Europe tion. The EFF gave space to the various groups also depends on the funding of European femi- of migrant women organizing and demanding a nism. The issue of finding the money for feminist variety of rights. It attracted a new amalgama- activity has changed. The level of professional- tion of groups and individuals who were keen to ism required for present day organizing (and for start or join feminist debates on migration, and to the accountability and transparency that donors make a start on a migrant feminist agenda. The demand) can no longer be borne by volunteers. Danish Migrant Women’s Network Affinity Group With the crossing of the borders of the nation and the European Amazigh Women Foundation state, new expenses are incurring, and national Affinity Group in particular were very active and funders are not yet willing to pay for transnational mobilized people who had not been engaged in activities. Within these constraints, the potential feminism before. for empowerment of women and for the engen- dering of the solutions to the financial crisis are In body politics issues of sexuality and reproduc- severely constrained. tive health the EFF showed how these established feminist topics are now linked not just to rights However tough it is for the networks to keep their and bodily integrity but also to queer theory, which heads above water in terms of funding and sus- now informs and shapes a much more fluid way tainability, there is no doubt that the networks of understanding body politics. In this area pres- are more ‘powerful’ and ‘established’ than ad hoc ent day European feminisms differ from that of Affinity Groups. In the words of one of the Affinity the earlier decades, with less focus on women’s Groups: bodily oppression as such and more on various ways of celebrating desire and cultural expres- “We have no money. We have no important sions of femininity and masculinity. Ladyfests platform, magazine, art fair, museum. Feminist and engagement in new art forms are a new form art doesn’t exist, only temporarily and situated. In of body politics which a flourish with the ICTs in our feminist networks there is no money or power ways that blur the sense of body and art and femi- to lobby for. We have nothing to loose. We keep on nist self-expression. searching for new ways of communicating what we want and establishing new feminist contexts in What the EFF experience suggests is that the which we are able to communicate (Switch Meta- apparent discrediting of ‘feminism’ is over and phors Affinity Group, open letter).” feminist issues have a feisty new salience. The young women and some men making up the bulk The urgency of building a strong European femi- of the participants of the Affinity Groups proudly nist movement becomes apparent when we look claim to be feminists. But being a ‘feminist’ car- at the present financial and economic crisis. ries different connotations from what it meant in Social, political and economic tensions are grow- the 1970s and 1980s. It is not so much that one ‘is’ ing in Europe. If the causes of the crisis are gen- a feminist but that ones takes up a particular fem- dered, we have to look for gendered solutions to inist cause. Feminists are now able in new ways the crisis as well, and a stronger European femi- to build rainbow coalitions of different streams of nist movement will be key actors in this process.

A Herstory...... 101 ...... Conclusion A Herstory...... 102 ...... Conclusion Bibliography

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A Herstory (2004–2008) Gisela Dütting, Wendy Harcourt, Kinga Lohmann, The European Feminist Forum Feminist The European Lin McDevitt-Pugh, Lin Joanna McDevitt-Pugh, Semeniuk and Saskia Wieringa

The European Feminist Forum A Herstory (2004–2008)