The Women's Movement and Government

Abstract

Some scholars have suggested that institutionalisation and professionalisation of women's movement organisations leads to 'feminist fading'. This article examines whether such propositions hold true for the Australian women's movement. It maps changes in the women's movement that had emerged by the 1990s, including increased diversity and increased national and international networking as well as increased institutionalisation. It finds that loss of political influence has less to do with institutionalisation than with a changed discursive environment that constructed the welfare state and women's reliance on it as a problem. Nonetheless, women's movement institutions have continued to sustain feminist values and engage in differently organised but effective campaigns. A case study of the women's health movement in Victoria shows how it succeeded in having abortion removed from the criminal code in 2008. Repertoire had changed since the 1970s but the goal remained the same.As in many western countries, the women's movement became less visible in Australia from the 1990s onwards and governments lost interest in responding to its demands. Some social movement scholars (and social movement activists) blamed this loss of influence on entanglement in the state. They claimed that institutionalisation had led to co-option at worst or 'feminist fading' at best. In this article we explore the trajectory taken by the women's movement in Australia over the past 40 years, with particular reference to the women's health strand of the movement, to assess whether the idea of feminist fading holds true in this country.By 'women's movement' we are referring to the mobilising of a collective identity as women, the sustaining of women-centred discourses and making claims on behalf of women that challenge the gender order in some way (Sawer 2013a, 2). Thus defined, a women's movement can be found on the streets, on the Internet, in women's organisations and services and within mainstream institutions where there are structures with a mandate to advance women's claims or meet their needs. Furthermore, a women's movement understood this way existed in Australia from at least the 1880s (see Quartly and Smart 2014). It involves attempts to mobilise collective identity and shared meanings across diverse groups of women; coalition-building is one of its most characteristic modes of operation.Much social movement theory, however, dates from the 1960s and is based on male-dominated movements and their repertoire of action. It often differentiates between social movements and other political actors on the grounds that social movements are non-institutionalised and characterised by contestation and disruptive action. In contrast, Australian Feminist Studies, 2014 Vol. 29, No. 82,[403][404][405][406][407][408][409][410][411][412][413][414][415][416][417][418] http://dx.

Campaigning for the Female Vote in the Scottish Independence Referendum: Comparing Women For Independence and Women Together

“…However, it would be a mistake to say that these were the only two organisations involved in the referendum campaign. Women's movements ebb and flow, taking on different forms both inside and outside of state institutions (Sawer and Jamieson, 2014), often moving into a state of abeyance but maintaining challenging discourses (Sawer and Grey, 2008 ' (McAdam et al, 1996: 8). The independence referendum offered an opportunity in that it was a high-profile policy area that drew attention to a broad range of issues, including gendered ones, but also existed as a threat to the 'political authorities', namely the UK Government and those who supported continuing membership of the UK, because of the 'national interest' profile of the referendum and the preceding campaign (Kriesi et al, 1995: 97).…”