The first UN world conference on women (1975) as a cold war encounter: Recovering anti-imperialist, non-aligned and socialist genealogies

Abstract

The essay addresses contemporary discussions on women's transnationalism and women's agency by looking at the first conference of the UN Decade for Women held in Mexico City in 1975, and at its specific embedding in Cold War geopolitics. Through an engagement with different feminist and activists voices, and particularly with the less visible anti-imperialist, Non-Aligned and socialist genealogies of women's activism expressed during the meeting, the essay argues that the paradigm of Western feminist knowledge production needs to be revisited, in order to encompass multiple forms of women's political agency that are not expressed through the liberal framework of women's individual autonomy from the state. By juxtaposing Betty Friedan's and Vida Tomšič's stances during the Mexico City event, the paper shows that women's political agency during the Cold War era took different forms, which included both the refusal and the acceptance of women's activism within existing national and international institutions.

Women’s Internationalism and Yugoslav-Indian Connections: From the Non-Aligned Movement to the UN Decade for Women

“…While the earlier expulsion from the WIDF had pushed Yugoslav women to establish their own bilateral connections, their presence at WIDF congresses meant that they could benefit from WIDF increasing networks in the developing world. From the late 1950s onward, numerous women's organizations in Asia, Africa, and Latin America were joining the WIDF and were challenging the organization's pro-Soviet dimension (see Bonfiglioli 2016aBonfiglioli , 2016b. Yugoslav women were thus active on several fronts, maintaining diplomatic relations with women's organizations in the socialist bloc, in the Western bloc, and in the Global South.…”

Recuperando a justiça de gênero e a África nas Conferências Mundiais da Mulher

“…Faz-se mister salientar que elas se enquadraram dentro da lógica do conflito bipolar, contrapondo as visões de feminismo liberal das feministas americanas com as do feminismo voltado para a paz e as desigualdades socioeconômicas do bloco comunista (Bonfiglioli, 2016;Ghodsee, 2010 (Ghodsee, 2010;ONU, 1980). Essas questões aprofundaram as compreensões acerca da diversidade das experiências e vivências das mulheres, alertando para a necessidade de se considerarem as condições de subdesenvolvimento em que uma parcela substantiva das mulheres do mundo vivia.…”

“…Como parte do mundo em desenvolvimento, os alinhamentos das mulheres africanas enquadravam-se em agendas particulares mais próximas daquelas das mulheres latino-americanas, asiáticas e, inclusive, do bloco comunista (Bonfiglioli, 2016;Bunch, 2012;Ghodsee, 2010). Tais agendas contrapunham-se às perspectivas do feminismo liberal tão caras aos países ocidentais, nomeadamente às feministas norte-americanas, preocupadas fundamentalmente com a autonomia e as desigualdades simbólicas características da segunda onda do feminismo.…”

“…Nesse sentido, a presença das mulheres africanas nas quatro conferências -e, mais especificamente, nas três que constituíram a Década da Mulher -reflete-se em diversas interseccionalidades de nacionalidade, raça/etnia e classe sobre as quais incidiam os efeitos do imperialismo e do neocolonialismo (Bonfiglioli, 2016 (1976, 1980, 1985 e 1995). América Latina enfatizavam a importância do desenvolvimento social e econômico e da luta contra o imperialismo como um pré-requisito para a emancipação das mulheres" (Bunch, 2016, p. 525 A colonização, como produto do homem e da masculinidade, produz injustiças que incidem em formas de subalternidade com impacto direto nas mulheres, e rompe com as estruturas originais das sociedades colonizadas na África (Amadiume, 1997;Oyěwùmí, 1997).…”

Vanishing Act: Global Socialist Feminism as the ‘Missing Other’ of Transnational Feminism – a Response to Tlostanova, Thapar-Björkert and Koobak (2019)

“…Topics not directly related to the promotion of sexual equality, they argued, should be handled (by men) in the General Assembly. Rejecting this view, socialist women, as well as women affiliated to the Non-Aligned Movement, protested that a women’s conference should allow them a chance to address all issues that impacted the lives of women (Jain and Chacko, 2009; Ghodsee, 2014; Bonfiglioli, 2016).…”