On the borders of ska

In low-income and middle-income countries, such as those in sub-Saharan Africa and Latin America, the COVID-19 pandemic has had substantial implications for women's wellbeing. Policy responses to the COVID-19 pandemic have highlighted the gendered aspect of pandemics; however, addressing the gendered implications of the COVID-19 pandemic comprehensively and effectively requires a planetary health perspective that embraces systems thinking to inequalities. This Viewpoint is based on collective reflections from research done by the authors on COVID-19 responses by international and regional organisations, and national governments, in Latin America and sub-Saharan Africa between June, 2020, and June, 2021. A range of international and regional actors have made important policy recommendations to address the gendered implications of the COVID-19 pandemic on women's health and wellbeing since the start of the pandemic. However, national-level policy responses to the COVID-19 pandemic have been partial and inconsistent with regards to gender in both sub-Saharan Africa and Latin America, largely failing to recognise the multiple drivers of gendered health inequalities. This Viewpoint proposes that addressing the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on women in low-income and middle-income countries should adopt a systems thinking approach and be informed by the question of who is affected as opposed to who is infected. In adopting the systems thinking approach, responses will be more able to recognise and address the direct gendered effects of the pandemic and those that emerge indirectly through a combination of long-standing structural inequalities and gendered responses to the pandemic.

Feminism internationally aims to realizing the liberation of women from all types of oppression and providing solidarity among women of all countries. However, the remarkable difference is growing gap between North and South. Women from the North are harvesting the fruits of capitalism and global economy, whereas women from the South are all too often confronted with poverty and terrible labor conditions. The aim of this review is to analyze the African and Western feminism philosophical debate and its implication for women’s rights in Ethiopia context. All available materials were reviewed. The analysis revealed that the difference between Western and Third world feminism is found in their conceptualization of women as the subject of struggles. Third World feminism considers gender discrimination neither the sole nor perhaps the primary locus of oppression of Third World women. According to them, other types of oppression like racism and economic exploitation also to be defeated. In their view, feminism is more widely defined as a struggle against all forms of injustice to attain advancements in women’s rights. Despite of this, women’s movements worldwide seem to concern themselves with the same grand themes on women’s rights like women’s legal and political rights, and reproductive rights in Third world countries including Ethiopia. The review concludes that Western feminism has negative implication for women’s rights in Third World countries, including Ethiopia. While, African feminism is positive implication for Third World countries to women’s rights since it considers both reproductive and productive roles of women. Therefore, the federal government of Ethiopia should follow African feminism and revise the laws, regulations and policies to protect women’s rights especially on the issues of harmful traditional practices (HTP), reproductive rights and public spheres participation by considering women’s in the world. Key words: Feminism, comparative analysis, philosophical debate, African feminism, Western feminism, women’s rights, Ethiopia.

For most of human existence and in most societies, women have been considered to be property and subject to men. Throughout history, with such notable exceptions as Queen Boadicea, Eleanor of Aquitaine, Elizabeth I of England, and Catherine the Great of Russia, women had little or no power until early in the 20th century when the women's suffrage movement was successful in the United States and in some European countries. As women have gained political rights, groups of women have sought sexual and reproductive rights, as exemplified by the feminist movement of the past few decades in the United States. Although marked strides toward achievement of reproductive choice have been taken in high-income countries, there remain major strictures to reproductive freedom for women in low-income countries. This area, which is replete with ethical and moral issues, has been addressed by the International Planned Parenthood Foundation (IPPF), which has worked to improve the sexual and reproductive health of women throughout the world. The IPPF Charter on Sexual and Reproductive Rights is a paradigm for both women's rights and human rights. Karen Newman is policy adviser with the IPPF and has codrafted the IPPF Charter on Sexual and Reproductive Rights together with two lawyers. She has held several positions within the IPPF, including medical researcher, press officer, and programme adviser in Europe, where she had responsibility for working with new family planning associations (FPAs) in the Czech Republic and Slovakia. At present, she is working to increase the capacity of IPPF member FPAs to undertake human rights-based advocacy for sexual and reproductive health and rights. Judith F. Helzner is director of Sexual and Reproductive Health at International Planned Parenthood Federation/Western Hemisphere Region, Inc., where she has worked since 1987. She holds M.A. degrees from the University of Pennsylvania in International Relations and Demography. Her previous employment includes the Pathfinder Fund and the International Women's Health Coalition.

This chapter focuses on women's activism and its outcome with respect to women's rights and gender equality within the larger political context of the region. It deals with the terms feminism and women's movements in the Latin American context. The chapter overviews the relations among feminist, women's, and lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender movements (LGBT), focusing on external influences including regime change, left parties and movements, religious authorities, and transnational organizing opportunities. It presents the improvements in women's socioeconomic status and demonstrates the impact of left governance on feminist state-society relations. The chapter examines contemporary feminist and women's movements and their relationship with state feminism in the form of national women's machinery. Although national legislation on sexual rights and gender identity remains uneven across these countries, there is no denying that, in contrast with reproductive rights, significant national efforts, and some successes, have gotten underway in this area.

During the 2020 Two Sessions of Chinese Government, national representatives debated ‘single women’s’ reproductive rights (SWRR), a cause spearheaded by a coalition of queer feminist activists and lawyers in China. In light of state retaliation against feminist and LGBTQ movements since 2015, why have feminist activists, LGBTQ activists, and legal activists been able to coalesce around SWRR? My analysis shows a differential coalescing process, in which Chinese queer feminist activists have driven the coalition to constantly re-center queer women’s lived reality. I argue that these activists’ movements between and around different dominant strategies for challenging China’s state-family project and their commitment to rallying others who may differ in their approach have made SWRR a site around which to coalesce in post-2015 Chinese civil society.

Reproductive self-determination is a defining human rights issue of our time. Yet reproductive rights are regressing even in developed democracies where women have secured public political participation and rising workplace equity. This book argues that abortion rights backlash represents a patriarchal political struggle for control of the private sphere—not lagging tradition. Gender rights backlash is driven by rising forms of nationalism reacting to unequal globalization, but contested by feminist movements that reclaim democracy. Extending the feminist principle that “the personal is political” to the global level, this study compares divergent outcomes in the parallel cases of Ireland versus Poland, Argentina versus Brazil, and California versus Texas during the critical juncture of 2018–2022. Abortion Rights Backlash shows how the fate of reproductive rights—and the millions of lives that depend on them—is shaped by and reshapes democratic freedoms, representation, and institutions. This rich historical account of reproductive rights struggles on three continents transforms our understanding of human rights, the quest for collective identity, the contradictions of modernization, the changing role of religion, democratic backsliding, and the global dynamics of social movements. This study of the struggle for reproductive rights in a changing world yields important lessons for the quest for gender justice worldwide.

This dissertation was developed from qualitative research methodology. It is a case study on the feminist movement mobilization strategies for the approval of the National Policy for Integral Attention to Women's Health (PNAISM) in 2004. Information on the construction of the National Health System (SUS) and the creation of the National Program of Assistance to Women's Health (PAISM), as well as the organization of the feminist movement, women's emancipation and women's health in Brazil and worldwide, provided the database used to analyze the feminists' awareness actions taken in order to approve the PNAISM from the perspective and approach of an all-round care for women's health.The theoretical and analytical construction of this work was based on the models of the social movements and collective actions of Also, it follows the Theory of Interaction Repertoires of Abers, Serafim andTatagiba (2014), which indicates ordinary routines of interaction such as direct actions, protests, marches or demonstrations; institutionalized participation; the policy of proximity and the occupation of spaces in bureaucracy. Indeed, we have identified the following mobilization strategies: mobilization for the implementation of PAISM, created in 1983; the dispute of the conceptions over the perception of health care of women, between mother and child and overall health; the construction of PNAISM through the Intersectoral Commission on Women's Health, the National Health Council (CISMU-CNS), and the National Health Confederation (CNS) itself, as an action of institutionalized participation; the conquer of spaces in the bureaucracy system through key professional posts feminists gained on the Ministry of Health. In addition, the monitoring of PNAISM also started to be led by the feminist movement. According to the theory of Collective Identity and Networks of Diani and Bison (2010); the concepts of collective actions and internal and external resources for supporting social movements of Our analysis also scans the current forms of political and technical support of the Feminist Network on spaces of institutionalized participation, and the interpretive media frameworks for broadcasting and dissemination of PNAISM. The approval of PNAISM had the support of the feminist movement and the Minister of Health. A feminist woman that allowed the construction of PNAISM with the principle of sexual and reproductive rights coordinated the Health Technical Area of the Ministry of Health. On our findings, we highlight the ongoing struggle between maternal and child health and overall health on an international scale. Women's autonomy over their body and progress or setbacks on women's health policies depend on the democratic conditions that society experiences.

The Roe case and Casey case were important moments in the women's liberation movement in the United States, recognizing women's constitutional right to abortion, and a fundamental aspect of their autonomy. In contrast, the recent Dobbs case upended the established Roe precedent, rejecting constitutional recognition of women's right to abortion and reverting "regulation of abortion rights to the people and their elected representatives. To delve deeper into this matter, it's crucial to examine the legal doctrines at play. The Roe decision primarily invoked the Substantive Due Process Clause to protect a woman's privacy and reproductive choices, whereas the Dobbs case highlighted the importance of the democratic process and aligns with originalism in constitutional interpretation. This shift raises questions about the durability of constitutional precedents and the evolving nature of constitutional interpretation. The conflict between these cases underscores the profound implications for women's reproductive rights and the broader women's liberation movement, as the nation grapples with the balance between individual autonomy and democratic decision-making in shaping constitutional rights.

This article discusses the reinterpretation effort of the Muslim feminist movement in Malaysia, Sisters in Islam (SIS,). The article looks at the effort of the group in reinterpreting some verses of the Qur’an and hadiths on the issue of women in marital relationship which in their view had been misinterpreted by Muslim male exegetes. Using the textual analysis method, the article examines some of the works written and commissioned by the association and its authors on this issue. In four sections, the article explores four works of the association on the following issues, namely (i) Are Muslim men allowed to beat their wives?, (ii) Guardianship law and Muslim women, (iii) hadith on women in marriage, and (iv) Islam and family planning or Muslim women’s reproductive rights. While the first and second parts discuss the issue of wife beating and guardianship law and Muslim women, the third and fourth parts examine hadith on women in marriage and Islam and family planning. Through its analysis of these works, the article concludes on the note that these works were mostly influenced by the works of Muslim feminist scholars such as Amina Wadud and Fatima Mernissi and as such contain controversial reinterpretations of the verses of the Qur’an and hadiths.

Over the last three decades, populist radical right-wing parties have gained prominence in Europe, entering the political mainstream. Among the common features of such parties are included the support for traditional gender roles, opposition to so-called ‘gender ideology’ and feminist movements, and the protection of women’s rights through nationalist immigration policies. While research on gender in relation to these parties has surged alongside their electoral success, a scarcity is observed on gender-focused research on the Portuguese populist radical right, particularly the party Chega , which by 2024 had established itself as the third largest political party in the Portuguese parliament. This article centres Chega as a case study, setting out to explore the alignment between the official gender-related perspectives presented by the party and those defended by its women members. The focus of this study is on positions pertaining to gender equality, reproductive rights, gender ideology and femonationalism. The article offers an analysis of official Chega documents, an analysis of a party event on feminism, and analysis of interviews with Chega women members. Although small discrepancies can be found, particularly on the subject of reproductive rights, there is overall alignment between the party’s perspectives and those of the women Chega members who were interviewed, with the women generally expressing more straight-forward and radical stances regarding gender-related issues. This study contributes to the growing research on how populist radical right-wing parties in Europe engage with gender, as well as radical right-wing women’s perceptions of gender.

About the Contributors

The organizational affiliations of four groups of nineteenth century women in New York State provide the basis for an exploration of tensions between local and national level organizations within a social movement. Information about overlapping membership among women's organizations over a period of almost seventy years is used to map the geography of connections between organizations affiliated with the early women's movement and other voluntary groups. In particular, we explore the connections of the movement's organizations to non-insurgent voluntarism in each setting, describing the range and patterning of organizational ties, the factors that determined the movement's niche in each location, and the differential consequences for national and local organizations within the same movement. Based on this analysis, we propose an ecological model of movement heterogeneity, suggesting that organizational niche differences are a significant source of tension in successful social movements.

In this paper we undertake an examination of the presence of similar "women-protective" discourses in policy debates occurring over two bills on reproductive-related topics considered during the 2013 California legislature session. The first bill (AB154), now signed into law, allows nurse practitioners, certified nurse midwives, and physician assistants to perform first-trimester aspiration abortions. The second bill (AB926), had it passed, would remove the prohibition on paying women for providing eggs to be used for research purposes. Using frame analysis we find evidence of similar protective arguments by opponents of both bills, although these advocates do not share ideological positions on abortion rights or women's autonomy. In the case of AB154, anti-abortion advocates use language and frames that call for protecting the health of women against the imputed interests of the "abortion industry." In the case of AB926, feminists and pro-choice advocates evoke similar frameworks for the protection of women against the interests of the "medical research industry." Both sides argue for the "protection of women," from opposing positions on the rights and autonomy of women in relationship to reproductive freedom.

Commentary: Reproductive health and rights in Brazil 20 years post-International Conference on Population and Development

Lydia Alpízar Durán is a Central American feminist activist whose work has always had a strong focus on sexual and reproductive rights, young people, and movement building. She is Executive Director of the Association of Women's Rights in Development (AWID), as well as being a board member of several other rights organisations. In this interview with G&D, she talks to us about the inspiration for her work, AWID, and the most important challenges facing women's movements today. by Chris Warburton Brown Not everyone is aware that as well as working to overcome gender inequality and poverty in the global South, Oxfam GB also works with partners in the UK on these issues. A recent collaboration in the north-east of England, between Oxfam, a local NGO, and local women, has resulted in a research report that examines the levels of poverty currently being experienced by black and minority ethnic mothers in this region. Here, the report's author tells us more about this project. by Nadya Khalife 2011 has seen a remarkable upsurge of political protest in North Africa and the Middle East, in which women have taken a prominent role. Here, Nadya Khalife, who is based in the region, writes about what the Arab Spring has meant for women's rights in two countries at the forefront of these momentous political changes.