We are thrilled to be back with our Student Spotlight series being kicked off by Margot Sterckman’s excellent essay on transnational women’s movement for Dr. Tom Davies’ module IP2019: Transnational Social Movements.
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Transnational Women’s movements are political and social movements to change women’s conditions. These transnational women’s movements have common objectives which are promoting equal rights, the rule of law, and preventing violence. Furthermore, they seek to influence norms and ideas to improve women’s status in society. During the 19th and the beginning of the 20th century, transnational women’s movements became significant and were mainly focused on women’s suffrage and the right to vote. In the 1960s, women started to denounce the culture of patriarchy and violence. There is a “global awareness of the problem of sexual violence in conflict” (Davies and True, 2017, p. 702). Transnational women’s movements fought against social dominance and campaigned against violence against women. From the end of the Cold War, the rise of women has thoroughly increased. However, inequalities persist, and minority groups campaign against oppressions of gender, sexual orientations, and social class. Recently, networks have emerged and enabled women to have a new form of mobilization. Activist groups played a fundamental role in the empowerment of women, gender equality, human rights, and the peace process including women’s protection.
This essay will demonstrate the successes of transnational women’s movements. This topic can best be treated by focusing on two case studies which are both against violence against women and the violation of their human rights. The first case study is the campaign against violence against women. The second case study is the MeToo movement. It will argue that the opportunity, mobilizing, and framing structures helped the success of the campaign against violence against women. Then, by examining the opportunity, mobilizing, and framing structures, the evolution of the MeToo movement can be analysed. This essay will compare how these two movements succeeded in different ways and will also consider their limitations.
First case study: The campaign against violence against women Opportunity structures
The campaign against violence against women was set up to combat female genital mutilation, sexual abuse, rapes, and domestic violence. Opportunity structures which were political context, in the national, international, and transnational arena, promoted the success of the campaign. The creation of nongovernmental organizations at the domestic and international level gathered women, helped them to improve their rights, and avoided gender and social exclusion. In the late 1960s and in the early 1970s, women raised their voices for social changes about sexuality, violence, and domestic work called “the second shift” (Hochschild, 2012, p. 4). Moreover, the context of “the UN Decade for Women (1975–1985)” (García- Del Moral et al., 2019, p. 229) enabled global conferences in Mexico City, Copenhagen, and Nairobi. The UN conferences “emerge as a force, both within and outside the UN global governance institutions, in ways that continue to inform feminist organizing forty years later” (Baksh-Soodeen and Harcourt, 2015, p. 2). These global conferences permitted massive achievements such as the Declaration on the Elimination of Violence against Women. Then, the United Nations Resolution 1325 played a momentum role in the expansion of the campaign because it appealed to every country to protect women from sexual and genderbased violence in conflict. Therefore, the purpose of the 1325 Resolution is to ensure equal rights and avoid physical, and sexual violence (Baksh-Soodeen and Harcourt, 2015). Furthermore, Hilary Clinton set up the ‘Hilary Doctrine’ to take into account violence against women as a local safety issue. In 2009, this statement participates in the evolution of Security Council Resolution 1888 on gender-based violence, rape, and sexual abuse. Thus, this political context and evolution facilitate the success of the campaign against violence against women. The mobilizing structures are also needed to understand the rise of the campaign against violence against women.
Mobilizing structures
Mobilizing structures are also “fundamental infrastructures that support and condition citizen mobilization” (Smith et al., 1997, p. 61). Mobilizing structures were significant for the campaign. Gender imbalances cover many aspects of inequalities such as equal pay, access to jobs, opportunities, discrimination, education, poverty, and human rights. The gender gap categories are really broad and many people can relate to these concerns and therefore emphasize mobilization and global participation. Transnational Women’s movements mobilized citizens and triggered mass protests and global and local involvement. The global contribution and mobilization for this campaign were based on transnational coordination and communication. During conferences, violence against women was one of the main key points: “objections to clitoridectomy, revulsion at the use of rape in war, and questions of coercion in prostitution and the international trafficking in women for sex, also came increasingly onto the agenda of other UN conferences, under the rubric of ‘‘women’s rights are human rights” ”(Ferree and Muller, 2004, p. 577). Conferences such as Beijing Conference in 1995 and Vienna Conference in 1993 on Human Rights, gave chances for women’s activists to accentuate the requirement to human rights and especially to expose the issue of violence against women. Moreover, the creation of organizations, committees, and forums all over the world such as the Caribbean and Latin American Committee for the Defence of Women’s Human Rights (CLADEM), the Asia Pacific Forum on Women Law and Development (APWLD), the Women in Law & Development in Africa (WiLDAF), and the Women Against Violence in Europe (WAVE) strengthened the global momentum (Davies, 2021). Therefore, a decentralized mobilization facilitated the empowerment of the campaign against violence against women. Then, the framing structures also explain the success of the campaign.
Framing structures
By framing violence against women, the goal was to extend women’s rights as human rights. The global common objectives and the unifying themes of this campaign led to the success of the framing process. In 1976, more than one thousand women from many countries at ‘International Tribunal on Crimes against Women’ in Brussels exposed their personal stories, testified, and disclosed physical and sexual violence that they went through (Davies, 2021). This human touch triggered a bridging process in which more women felt more comfortable telling their stories. This frame extension spreads to the entire world. According to Margaret Keck and Kathryn Sikkink (1998, p. 176), “the case of the comfort women underscores the importance of personal testimony for networks in diverse cultural settings, even where such testimony is perceived as profoundly shameful”. These personal testimonies were a turning point for women who had been raped, sexually assaulted, and abused because they finally set up free women’s voices. Furthermore, the context of gender defines gender as socially constructed feminine or masculine characteristics. Rationality and aggressiveness are often associated with men whereas emotional and kindness are related to women. These cultural factors and stereotypes increase these preconceived norms and categorize gender. Indeed, Simone de Beauvoir claimed, in her book called The Second Sex, that women have been determined as an abnormality from the standard male sex. According to Simone de Beauvoir, “one is not born a woman, one becomes one” (Simone de Beauvoir, 1949). She successfully exposed the difference between sex which is a biological trait, and gender which is a feminine or masculine behavior gradually acquired. By framing the campaign, socially constructed norms are steadily deconstructed. The framing structures empower women and lead to the success of the campaign against violence against women. However, the campaign against violence against women has known some inconsistencies.
Limitations
The campaign against violence against women improves women’s rights and ensures women’s protection against violence. However, this essay should keep in mind that social injustices still remain and violence against women persists. The significant role of conferences, committees, and forums also demonstrates a division between women specifically between the underdeveloped and developed countries. The underdeveloped and developed countries diverge on many assumptions because of development imbalance. For instance, they differ on standard of living, education, health, political choices, and social changes and goals. Indeed, “for feminists in the South, issues of sexuality and personal autonomy assumed importance, while feminists in the North began to recognize the salience of economic factors and forces in their lives” (Moghadam, 2005, p. 87). Women from the western world are more likely to fight for their current issues such as discrimination, inequalities in equal pay, access to jobs, and opportunities, and access to higher education. However, in developing countries, women are more likely to combat female genital mutilations, sexual slavery, and human trafficking. The culture of patriarchy, related to the dominance of powerful white male also emphasizes these divergences. Peggy Antrobus successfully explained the cause of the division: “the relationship between women’s concerns and the socio-economic structural imbalances in the economies of the North and the South, and that in this sense all of the women’s concerns within patriarchal societies were indeed about structural power imbalances between men and women and therefore ‘political’ ” (Antrobus, 2004, p. 45). Thus, the campaign denounces violence against women, yet disperses certain women’s objectives. Next, the essay will analyze the MeToo movement.
The second case study: MeToo movement
Opportunity structures
The opportunity structures of the MeToo movement are mainly the elections of D. Trump, the accusations against Harvey Weinstein, the rise of the social networks, especially the “Hashtag activism” (Murdie and Lee, 2020, p. 2), and digital activists. From 2007 to 2017, many campaigns against rape, sexual harassment, and abuse tried to emerge, yet these campaigns were not successful (Murdie and Lee, 2020). In 2017, Donald Trump’s presidential victory set off mass protests and rebellion for women’s rights. The political context was tense and encouraged demonstrations and indignations. Opportunity structures that fostered the spread of the MeToo movement were the allegations against Harvey Weinstein. The American producer has been accused of sexual abuse, harassment, and rapes by more than one hundred women. The famous American activist Allyson Milano tweeted: “If you’ve been sexually harassed or assaulted write ‘me too’ as a reply to this tweet. Within 24 hours, the phrase had been shared on Twitter half a million times. Internationally, in the weeks that followed Milano’s tweet, individuals from more than 85 countries sent #MeToo-related tweets” (Murdie and Lee, 2020, p. 1). The movement has known a huge improvement and expansion all over the world. Digital activism and the traditional march protests also enabled the success of the MeToo movement. Therefore the ‘Weinstein effect’ has had universal consequences on women’s voices in public. This effect has still an impact because many recent accusations have been revealed such as the allegations against Patrick Poivre d’Arvor, a French columnist. The mobilizing structures also enable large-scale participation in the movement.
Mobilizing structures
The mobilization on social networks and media accentuate the momentum of the MeToo movement. Munshi-Kurian argued that the MeToo movement “does not have a formal structure at all” (Munshi-Kurian et al., 2019, p. 3). In spite of that, this online mobilization embraces women and men across the globe and popularises the MeToo movement. The creation of the electronic network is a new space for women to gather and fight for equality and justice. It also allows access to new knowledge. According to Moghadam (2005, p. 87), “each day more women’s organizations are joining a growing ‘virtual sisterhood’ that is breaking barriers, building new networks and shifting power”. The fourth-wave of feminism raises the issue of rape and sexual abuse against women through digital communication, internet activism, and the fourth estate, which can influence new policies. Besides, women’s activism is led by emotions. Fear, anger, shame, and revenge trigger a massive and universal mobilization for the MeToo movement. As Castells (no date, quoted in Munshi-Kurian et al., 2019, p. 2) argues “social movement can be helpful in allowing people with suppressed identities – in this case, victims of sexual violence and rape – to transform their feelings of fear or shame with assertiveness and a feeling of power”. By campaigning and mobilizing for the MeToo movements, women victims of rape and sexual harassment release anger, fear shame, revenge, and grieve. The framing process of the MeToo movement is also significant to understand the success of the MeToo movement.
Framing structures
The framing process of the MeToo movement embraces online and traditional activism. The role of social media and networks such as Twitter and its hashtags provoke the diffusion processes across countries. The traditional media, through newspaper or TV programs also emphasizes the frame extension and bridging and reach an international diffusion of the MeToo movement. The MeToo movement had repercussions in Canada, Europe, Nordic countries, Asia, and the Middle East. For instance, in France, the MeToo movement brings up the #BalanceTonPorc movement to denounce rapists’ names. Women victims of sexual violence in universities such as the institute of political studies create #SciencesPorcs to denounce sexual abuse in the academic environment. In her article, Xiong successfully explained that Hon “found that activism through online platforms reflect framing processes that enable activist organizations to contribute to the formation of public attitudes and beliefs around salient issues” (Xiong et al., 2019, p. 11). Furthermore, the traditional march protest and demonstrations played a significant role in framing the MeToo movement across the world. The success of these march protests and demonstrations can be explained by their common objectives. Stopping violence as domestic violence as sexual abuses and rapes against women is a shared goal. The MeToo movement is one of the most successful and shed the light on the taboos of violence. Nonetheless, the MeToo movement has some limitations.
Limitations
The MeToo movement is progress in women’s history. Notwithstanding, the essay should bear in mind that the movement has shown some limitations and critics. This movement is mostly online activism. Nevertheless, there are some underdeveloped places in the world without technologies, internet connections, or access to social networks especially Twitter. This online communication can penalize the empowerment of women and prevent women to have access to the help they need in underdeveloped regions. Besides, we have seen that media played an important part in the rise of the MeToo movement, yet media can be unreliable. The media can reveal fake news or subjective information about the MeToo movement and biased citizens’ opinions. Then, during the MeToo movement, “there has been a tendency to frame these cases through the lens of the accused, with a focus on the effects of an assault accusation and/or trial on his reputation and career” (Cuklanz, 2020, p. 259). And not on the victim who had been sexually assaulted. However, certain persons have been wrongly accused. A better framing on social networks, by the government, for instance, could reduce these wrong allegations. Next, this essay will compare the campaign against violence against women and the MeToo movement.
Comparison between the campaign against violence against women and the MeToo movement.
The campaign against violence against women realized many achievements in the political field. For instance, the creation of international, and national organizations, the UN decade, the UN Resolution 1325, and the Declaration on the Elimination of Violence against Women, unify women and make political progress. However, the MeToo movement started on social networks specifically on Twitter to denounce sexual abuses and rapes. The opportunity structures are different because of the change of period and the technological advances. The campaign against violence mobilized women through many UN conferences, international committees, and global forums. Whereas, the MeToo movement mobilizes women through a new wave of communication mostly on social networks and media. The two mobilizing structures are therefore diverse because of the changing norms of communication and the traditional mobilization and the online mobilization. The campaign against violence against women and the MeToo movement are both framed by common objectives which are to fight against violence against women and denounce sexual harassment and rape. Their shared goals are the empowerment of women, the reduction of gender inequalities, and the prevention of domestic and sexual violence. The campaign against violence against women and the MeToo movement also have international repercussions. The framing structures of the campaign against violence against women and the MeToo movement mostly shared the same goals and both had global diffusion.
Conclusion
To conclude, the campaign against violence against women was a thriving transnational social movement campaign. Many factors should be taken into account: the UN decade; the mobilization of global conferences, committees, and forums; international and national organizations; the revelation of personal testimonies; and the common objectives, facilitate the success of the campaign. The MeToo movement was also a triumphant transnational women’s movement. The allegations against Harvey Weinstein, Allyson Milano’s activism, citizen’s online involvement, and women’s emotions enable communication to cross borders and have multinational and multicultural participation. The opportunity, mobilizing, and framing structures lead to the success of the campaign against violence against women and the MeToo movement. Therefore, the MeToo movement and the campaign against violence against women are two outstanding transnational women’s movements.
Bibliography:
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Baksh-Soodeen, R., Harcourt, W. (2015) The Oxford handbook of transnational feminist movements. New York: Oxford University Press.
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