Feminisms revisited
Deconstructing Discourses of Pressure, Feminisms and Identities
Terms like “the worldwide patriarchy” or the common “female victim status” only focused on differences and power inequalities in relation to men, the state and the system. Thanks to harsh criticism of this “mainstream feminism” stemming from various backgrounds it is now widely acknowledged that “the woman” neither exists as a political subject nor as an object of research or attribution. Furthermore, gender is not reduced anymore to being man or woman, but rather refers to many different gender ways of life. The experience of being a woman differs greatly according to descent, class, health, education, age, political attitude, sexual preference, etc. and furthermore, it is experienced differently in various places and times. These multifaceted differences correspond to power relations and unequal access to resources orsponsoring also between women (and underprivileged men).
Social Inequalities and Unequal Rights
The fundamental criticism of the prevailing gender structures should not stop at analysing these internal power differences, but should fight the hierarchy of genders as a structural feature and “grease” of the neo-liberal restructuring of the world we live in. The“integration of women's issues” in the neo-liberal national state and its everyday life is often discounting domination and only works by ignoring many exclusion mechanisms. The privatisation of social reproduction as a core element of the so called “efficient welfare state” only works, if women do identify with “traditionally” established gender models and tasks, thereby assuming a position as trustees administering the growing poverty – a global phenomenon …While “the nation” becomes ever more exclusive the pretended “preservation“ of women's rights” serves as legitimation for war-mongering and discriminative treatment of migrants, so that Germans may continue to feel modern, emancipated and democratic in comparison to “the others”.
Policies and Strategies of the Movement
These - and many other - challenges ask for a radical reformulation of emancipatory demands from a gender perspective. It is about deconstructing forced identities and differences within and between genders that are attributed to individuals by cultural domination. It is even more about approaches and strategies for new common political practices that go beyond gender policies.
Concrete Topics up to Now:
History of feminisms/women's movements as competitive politics, Perspectives of Black women and women's organisations in Germany (Western/(former) Eastern), Relations between (women's) movements and the state in different contexts, Consequences of the Hartz IV welfare reform on genders and gender arrangements, Gender perspective on G8 and G8 mobilization, Queer politics, Postcolonial critique, Gender relations in migration.
New proposals and interested people are always welcome!!!
Contact: femi-forum-ffm@listi.jpberlin.de
Workshop:
Power Differences between Women: Success and Failure of Coalitions
We want to reflect on political experience from a biographical perspective and to utilize it for future political cooperation and coalitions. The interplay of power, identities and differences/inequalities has marked the women's movement. But which lessons are to be learnt for the future? Conflicts rooted in power differences between women have often been referred to identity politics. Nevertheless, successful coalitions, campaigns and women's groups/projects also have existed. Which are the possibilities and opportunities of political cooperation between women to foster political visions of gender liberalisation without putting aside the inequalities of power between women? Firstly, we will use small discussion groups to reflect our own political biographies and coalition experiences in order to be able to work off inequalities between women and to analyse them politically. The workshop set-up needs women with experiences in working in coalitions – nevertheless, everyone who is interested is welcome: old stagers, newbies, people of all (un-)known genders…