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Abstract
The World Social Forum (WSF) is a biannual meeting space for the global
justice movement that facilitates the coordination of worldwide events and
protests around a variety of social justice issues. I argue that although the
principles of the WSF are based on feminist methods of participation, the
research presented here demonstrates that women, gender, and feminism were
marginalized in the program and content at the forums inception. Empirically
the paper presents the structure of programming and a quantitative examination
of womens and feminist groups participation of the first years of the WSF
process. I consider the thematic development of the WSF and role of
information sharing and intersectionality as feminist principles were
incorporated into the WSF. I refer to various theoretical perspectives on gender
including feminist political economy, postcolonialism, and queer theory to
make sense of feminist participation and marginalization at the World Social
Forum.
global social movements, transnational feminism, World Social
Forum, gender equality
Keywords:
Resumen
169
171
173
Information Sharing
175
Intersectionality
Intersectional analysis is a central principle of post Second Wave
feminism thought and action. Although Eschle and Maguischa (2011)
argue that Second Wave feminism is the foundation of the global
feminist movement, I suggest that black feminist thought and post
colonial critiques of Second Wave feminism permitted the development
of a global feminist social movement . Black women activists in the late
1960s such as Beal (1969) and other members of the Third World
Womens Alliance, articulated the double jeopardy black women
faced that was not appreciated within the frames of Second Wave
feminism that concentrated on gender but lapsed in its consideration of
race and ethnicity. Later HillCollins (1990) brought the intersectional
perspective into the academy arguing that race, class, and gender are
experienced or constructed separately. Mohantys (1988) oft published
postcolonial critique of Global North scholarship of Global South
women, also drew attention to the weakness of some feminist analysis
to accept and appreciate the standpoint of women in less privileged
positions and contexts. Mohanty (1988, p. 255) states third world
feminisms run the risk of marginalization or ghettoization from both
mainstream (left and right) and Western feminist discourses. In
revisting Under Western Eyes in 2002 Mohanty (2003, p. 503)
explains that her critique was not meant to imply (although some had
seen it this way) an impossibility of solidarity between Western and
Third World feminists, but sought building a noncolonizing feminist
solidarity across borders. By the mid1990s, the scholarly and activist
efforts of feminists and women marginalized by race and region had
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The call for diversity argues that the WSF should include a
multiplicity of perspectives and provides an avenue for feminist
discourse to influence the forum process. Yet inclusion of diverse
activist sectors does overcome the challenges for the crosspollination of
perspectives at the WSF. Finally, Principle Eleven holds the recognition
that capitalist globalization is racist and sexist and
environmentally destructive. This analysis captures feminist and
postcolonial perspectives of the political economy suggesting that in the
original summation of the goals and process of the WSF, there was at
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Table 1
Autonomous Thought, Re
Appropriation and
Socialization of Knowledge
and Technologies
Caracas
X**
X**
X
X
X
X
X
* The themes/axes as listed are based on the WSF official themes. Beginning
with 2003 the wording of the themes/axes vary from year to year.
** Two themes have been collapsed into one category.
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Findings
Trajectory of WSF Themes
The WSF themes presented in Table 1 demonstrate that for the first two
years economic themes dominated the program. The years 2001 and
2002 were the only two years with the same themes. Wealth Production
and Social Production, Access to Wealth and Sustainability, Civil
Society and Media, Political Power and Democracy, reflect the initial
economic frame of the organizing body of WSF. Nevertheless, Social
Reproduction at least suggests an appreciation for labor outside the
labor market. In addition, the themes, namely Civil Society and Media,
Political Power and Democracy, address (however indirectly) social
inequalities inscribed in the global economy. In 2003 the Forum
introduced two more themes: first, Antimilitarism and Promoting
Peace second, Principles and Values, Human Rights, Diversity and
Equality, which was intended to embody areas of social inequality such
as race, gender, and sexuality.
One of the first feminist challenges to the organization of the World
Social Forum was in 2002 at the event Challenges for Feminism in a
Globalized World, wherein a series of presentations by various activists
called for the integration of a feminist perspective into the WSF and for
the integration of gender and diversity as a crosscutting theme into the
WSF process (Mtetwa, 2002). Not only was increasing womens
Transversal Themes
To further address claims that the WSF was not giving sufficient
attention to social inequality and diversity, the WSF created transversal
axes or themes. Transversal axes were adopted in 2002, but became
officially part of the program in 2004. The 2006 Caracas WSF described
the adoption of the transversal themes as follows:
To express a will to involve [gender and diversity] in the analysis,
actions, and the practice of the WSFThese axes revalorize and
give visibility to actors, relations, trajectories, and historiesTo
formulate these transversal axes and to apply them to the WSF
process is an important signal of inclusion for the various existing
social movements to stimulate reflections, selfcriticisms, and the
appropriation of concepts that were before seen as sectarian.
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Total # of
panels
% Gender,
Feminist, or
Women
2001
16
2003
31
3.22
87
3.44
2002
2004
Total
Total *
Total **
27
13
135
246
3.7
7.69
Total # of
large self
organized
panels or
tables and
conferences
% Gender,
Feminist, or
Women
14
34
8.82
4.44
4.87
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Table 3
List ofGender, Feminist, or Woman Panels, Sub-Categories*, or SelfOrganized Events at WSF (2001-2004)
YEAR
2001
TOPIC
Work Organization, Sexual Division of Work, and NonSalaried
Female Labor
Technological Innovation, Productive, Reformulation, and Work
Deterioration and Their Impacts on the Workers Life, Particularly
Women
Gender
Women and Power
Domestic and Sexual Violence
2002
2003
2004
Women's Movement
*The topics listed for 2001 do not reflect panel titles but subcategories for
discussion within a panel.
2001
% WOMEN TOTAL #
% WOMEN TOTAL #
% GENDER,
TOTAL #
PANELISTS
FACILITAT
ORGANIZA FEMINIST,
OR
ORS
TIONS
WOMAN
ORG.
58
27.58
n/a
2003
229
33.62
31
Total
602
2002
2004
98
246
37.68
43.49
37.54
n/a
n/a
n/a
26
23.07
125
32.00
11
9.09
157
14.64
68
54.83
34.72
167
449
22.75
23.13
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Table 5
ORGANIZATION
DAWN
2002, 2004 (2)
2002(2), 2003, 2004
World March of Women
2002
Red Latinoamerica de Mujeres
2002
RAWA, Revolutionary Women of Afghanistan
2002
Black Women's Institute
2002
Women in Black, Israel
2002
Association for the Advancement of Senegalese Woman
2003
Women for Altnernatives
2003
International Gender and Trade Network
2003
Red de Mujeres Transformando la Economa
2003
Woman of Colours Resource
2003
Tanzania Gender Network Programme
2003
Red e Economia e Feminismo
2003, 2004
All India Women Progressive Women's Association
2003
Coalition Against Trafficking in Women
2003
World Network for Reproductive Rights
2003
Women's Global Network for Reproductive Rights
2003
Women Agaisnt Fundamentalism
2003, 2004(2)
Articulacin Feminista Marcosur
2003
Movement Mujeres Negr, America y Caribe
2003
Comite de America Latina y el Caribe para la Defensa de
los Derechos de la Mujer
2003
Red Mujer
2003
Red de Mulheres del Sur Ocichte
2004(2)
National network of Autonomous Women's Groups
2004
National Alliance of Women
2004
National Federation of Indian Woman
2004
All India Democratic Women's Association
2004
Colombian Women's Consensus
2004
Creative Women's Alliance Centre for Women's Studies
2004
Lola Kampanyeras
2004
Lebanese Council of Women
2004
Gender Support Network
2004
Women Transforming the Economy Network
2004
Women's International Coalition for Economic Justice
Discussion
The title of Sonia Alvarez's article Another World (also Feminist) is
Possible captures the sentiment of many of the women and feminist
activist groups that participate in the Forum. The Forum is recognized as
a space where feminist organizations can initiate contacts, expand their
organizational capacities, and strengthen the transnational feminist
network. I argue that this is precisely because the WSF mimics
principles of feminist activism that women and feminist organization
were able to exploit. Feminist organizations debate the challenge the
WSF presents for building a feminist orientation into the process
(Hewitt, 2008). However, as Alvarez notes, these critiques stand
alongside a commitment to continue participating in the Forum despite
the fact that women, as the poorest of the poor, are not a centralized
concern.
Decades of feminist scholarship have demonstrated that addressing
gender inequality is pivotal to making another world possible. In other
words, strategies for combating neoliberalism need to be devised using
a gendered lens. Women do 80 percent of the worlds work and own 1
percent of the worlds property, and are 70 percent of the worlds poor
(Borren, 2002). The gendered worldsystem affects not only those of us
who fall into the constructed category of women particularly, but all
people, since gendered systems are a vehicle for the global expansion of
neoliberal capitalism. For several decades feminists have been actively
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191
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this has not been generally the case in the WSF. Who will agitate for a
wider representation of genders in various forums and at central events?
And how will the perennial attack on reproductive freedom, sexual
expression, and gendered violence be defended? When will the global
economy be interpreted as a system that relies on a set of social
inequalities that is inscribed upon some bodies and not others? These
are some of the questions that require the attention of activists and
scholars from a range of theoretical positions so that we do not
perpetuate the housework of women and feminist organizations for
access and analytical attention in progressive spaces.
Acknowledgements
I thank Lyndi Hewitt and Ariel Salleh for their thoughtful comments on earlier version
of this manuscript and appreciate the efforts of the editorial team and anonymous
reviews. Financial support for part of this research was provided by a Florida Atlantic
University Morrow Funds Research Grant. Finally, I acknowledge the activists and
participants in the World Social Forums and benefited from their insights.
Notes
Participation includes the 1st Social Forum of the Americas in Quito, Ecuador, The
Polycentric Social Forum in Caracas, Venezuela, the 7th World Social Forum and
Feminist Dialogues in Nairobi, Kenya, the Workshop on the WSF in Durban, South
Africa, the first United States Social Forum in Atlanta, GA, the World Social Forum and
Feminist Dialogues (FD) events in Belem, Brazil 2009, and the 2nd US Social Forum in
Detroit, Michigan in 2010.
2 I use the terms such women, feminist, and gender with the understanding that
they are problematic and problemitized by both scholars and activists as I will discuss
further.
3 Certainly, mainstream rhetoric and the negative stereotyping of feminism also
facilitated its dismantling.
4 Hewitt and Karides (work in progress) make the relationship of queer, feminism, and
gender justice activism the analytical focus of their research on the US Social Forum.
For example, the womens working group for the first US Social Forum in 2007 was
changed to the gender justice working group for the second US Social Forum in 2010,
creating both political and logistical challenges for pursuing feministcentered critique
and participation in the forum.
5 One exception would be the World March of Women that sponsors events at the WSF
that address gay and lesbian rights as well as womens economic issues.
1
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