Biblio

Ireland voted in 2018 to remove its constitutional ban on abortion in almost all circumstances. This overturned a previous vote by referendum to institute such a ban in 1983. The 2018 vote demonstrated how far Irish society has moved in a socially liberal direction. The 2018 referendum is also of interest to scholars of deliberative processes, given the key role played by Ireland’s Citizens’ Assembly in fostering the debate and shaping both the referendum question and the draft legislation that was to follow. This report provides the historical context of this referendum and discusses the deliberative processes and the dynamics of the referendum campaign itself.

Reports on how women in Bolivia, Brazil, Honduras and Mexico who are willing to hold public offices experience violence and do react against intimidation. Relevant document on political violence against women for each of these countries can be found below. International: INCLUDE PDF; http://archive.ipu.org/wmn-e/classif.htm Bolivia: http://observatorioparidaddemocratica.oep.org.bo/ (Spanish). For further readings, please see http://www.unwomen.org/en/news/stories/2018/11/take-five-katia-uriona Brazil: http://www.brasil5050.org.br/ (Portuguese) Mexico: https://www.gob.mx/conavim/documentos/protocolo-para-la-atencion-de-la-violencia-contra-las-mujeres-en-razon-de-genero-2017; http://mexico.unwomen.org/es/digiteca/publicaciones/2017/10/protocolo-oaxaca

The author investigates two questions: How did the politics of disappointment unfold among female activists after the 2011 Egyptian uprising and specifically under the current regime? What were the effects of the strong sense of emotional disappointment on women’s activism and collective action? She argues that disappointment did not mark the end of politics and activism among women’s groups in Egypt. Although the situation is complicated and activism is restricted in Egypt, in this research participants affirm that their experience in the uprising has changed them, and that “things cannot go back to the old days.” A focus on hope and disappointment makes the experiences of activists central to the analysis. It allows researchers to reclaim the voices of female activists in explaining the challenges and opportunities that developed after the uprising, and how these developments influenced and shaped their experience, movement, and mobilization.

The authors show how university students were able to challenge sexual violence in South Africa in practical and locally relevant ways. They used formal methods of influencing policy, but prioritised the young women’s own views and voices, in ways that they felt empowering. What remains to be further explored, by both researchers and organizations, is how to act as a good ally and supportive collaborator to these kinds of semi-autonomous youth groups navigating formal power.

The authors examine legal reforms relating to gender and violence against women in states emerging from the Arab Spring, such as Egypt, Libya, Morocco, Tunisia, and Yemen. They argue that, while legal reform has been uneven, women’s organizations and movements (particularly those that are feminist or feminist-oriented) are key, though not sufficient, to ensure positive legal reforms.

Starting from the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) Programme of Action of 1994, the revised African Union (AU) Maputo Platform of Action (MPoA) 2016–2030 commits African leaders to guarantee women's universal access to sexual and reproductive health and rights. The MPoA 2016–2030 addresses women's sexual and reproductive health throughout their entire life to improve the poor sexual and reproductive health outcomes on the continent. The MPoA 2016–2030 also aligns itself with the United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the AU Agenda 2063, both of which have made women's health a priority. This briefing reports on the findings of the policy review through a comparison of key themes/action strategies and an analysis of both weaknesses and gains.

Elucidates the differences between the conditions that led Ireland to a pro-abortion vote in May 2018 and the obstacles that Northern Ireland still then faced. See also https://www.npr.org/sections/parallels/2018/06/05/616915043/ireland-voted-to-allow-abortion-but-its-still-strictly-banned-in-northern-irelan

Poirier reflects on the open letter published in Le Monde, which was signed by 100 French women, including the film star Catherine de Neuve, and became news around the world. The letter suggested the Hollywood campaign was intolerant and promoted censorship, and that MeToo reflected a puritanical strain in feminism, and led to intolerance of those not politically correct.  It asserted that 'rape is a crime, but trying to seduce someone, even persistently or cackhandedly, is not'. The letter provoked anger among feminists, with many younger French feminists accusing the signatories of being over-privileged and not caring about victims of rape and harassment. Poirier argues that, although the letter included clumsy and provocative wording, it did represent an important strand in French feminism, inspired by Simone de Beauvoir, which is still the mainstream position. It is opposed to a younger American-inspired movement, which is seen by more traditional French feminists as extremist, and leading to censorship of the arts. Poirier also points out that although the Le Monde letter is usually identified with Catherine de Neuve, its initiator was Abnousse Shalmani, a 41 year old Iranian refugee from Ayatollah Khomeini's regime, who had herself experienced rape, and who had found in French culture the inspiration to become free 'as a woman and a sexual being'.  Shalmani said on French radio after the letter's publication that the signatories did not dismiss those who had the courage to speak out against Weinstein, or their struggle, but wished to 'add our voice' to the debate.

Margaret Attwood’s argument that the #MeToo movement should not turn into ‘vigilante justice’ – i.e. condemnation without a trial. She voiced her opinion following the firing of an employee, Prof. Steven Galloway, from the University of British Columbia in Canada. Serious allegations were cited without further comments on their nature. The accusations were presumably related to allegations of sexual assaults, but the hearing found no evidence and Galloway was fired after signing a non-disclosure agreement. Attwood’s view met with a backlash of accusations that she used her power to silence less powerful victims. For a follow-up by The Guardian, please visit: https://www.theguardian.com/books/2018/jan/15/margaret-atwood-feminist-backlash-metoo

The authors explore some concerns about #MeToo and how feminist have responded to sexual harassment and sexual violence. #MeToo started in the USA a decade ago as activism by Black women who had experienced sexual violence to ‘let other survivors know they are not alone’ and create solidarity with the victims. The #MeToo campaign claims to be doing this now, but the authors query if this is actually what is being accomplished.

This article describes the case of Linda Loaiza López Soto, who was kindapped and repeatedly raped and tortured by her abductor for months in 2001, when she was 18 years old, after over 16 years of struggling for justice and exhausting all avenues in Venezuela. Her case was heard by the Inter-American Court of Human Rights. It was the first case related to gender-based violence in Venezuela to be judged by the court. On November 16, 2018, in a decision with potential implications for survivors around the world, the Inter-American Court of Human Rights ruled that the State of Venezuela is responsible for the torture and sexual slavery of a young woman, who had spent half her life fighting for justice. See also https://womensenews.org/2018/11/after-17-years-venezuelan-survivor-finally-wins-justice/ For more legal details on the case see https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/wps/2019/12/05/gender-based-violence-as-torture-the-case-of-linda-loaiza-lopez-soto/

In South Korea, punitive measures in response to extreme sex-crimes against children have emerged since the mid-2000s. Some scholars have argued that this punitive turn is a result of the feminist movement against sexual violence and so has been labeled as “carceral feminism.” In this paper the author argues that the Korean feminist movement against sexual violence in fact offers a counter-example to the discourse of “carceral feminism” with respect to their activities and the dynamics surrounding the movement.

This book illustrates how Arab women have been engaging in ongoing, parallel struggles before, during, and after the Arab Spring. It focuses on three levels: 1) the political struggle to pave the way to democracy, freedom, and reform; 2) the social struggle to achieve gender equality and combat all forms of injustice and discrimination against women; and 3) the legal struggle to chart new laws which can safeguard both the political and the social gains. The contributors argue that while the political upheavals often had a more dramatic impact, they should not overshadow the parallel social and legal revolutions, which are equally important, due to their long-term impacts on the region. The chapters shed light on the intersections, overlaps and divergences between these gendered struggles and unpacks their complexities and multiple implications, locally, regionally, and internationally.

Records the approval of the Micaela Law in December 2018, which made the training on gender and violence against women mandatory for all state officials and workers. It also summarises the key points of the Law.

In a positive light, Belski discusses the advances in the fight to legalise abortion in Argentina, despite the Senate refusing to pass a bill legalising abortion in 2018. She notes the change in language by the media whilst referring to women and men; the establishment of mainstream discourses on sexual harassment and gender-based violence, and the recognition of the symbolic power of the handkerchiefs that identify the widespread pro-choice movement in Argentina and the rest of Latin America. See also http://socialistworker.org/2018/08/16/the-people-versus-the-parliament-in-argentina For the re-launch of the campaign for legal abortion see https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2019/02/abortion-rights-campaigners-flood-streets-buenos-aires-190220143549930.html

Cooper celebrates this under-reported 'velvet revolution' that 'boiled up from the streets' and was not influenced by outside forces. He notes that although there had been limited protests in the previous decade on specific economic, environmental or gender issues, no one expected a major political revolt.  See also: Avedissian, Karina, 'A real revolution? Protest leader Armen Grigoryan on what's happening in Armenia', Open Democracy, 30 April 2018. 

An extensive examination of the possibilities and implications of artificial intelligence applied to the battlefield, from drones to 'killer robots', with varying degrees of autonomous ability to make decisions without human intervention. Scharre interviewed engineers creating new weapons and those in the military who might use them. He disagrees with campaigners seeking  a total ban, which he thinks impossible, arguing instead for ensuring a minimum degree of human involvement in their deployment.   See also: Trying to Restrain the Robots', The Economist, 19 Sept. 2019, pp. 26-27. A succinct examination of autonomous weapons and of issues arising, starting with the 'Harop' drone produced by Israeli Aerospace Industries, which can be classed as either a remote-controlled weapon or as an autonomous robot, depending on its software at the time. The article reports briefly on the Campaign to Stop Killer Robots, a coalition of 89 NGOs, and  concludes by noting that in 2017 the UN Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons  (also known as  the Inhumane Weapons Convention, agreed  in 1980) appointed an expert group to examine the implications of autonomous weapons and different approaches to controlling their use. 

Discusses Australia’s decision to hold a national inquiry into workplace sexual harassment as part of the government’s response to the ‘Me Too’ movement.

Writer and academic Leta Hong Fincher discusses the feminist movement in China in connection with the development of #MeToo in the USA. She also discusses the impact of the arrest in 2015 of the Feminist Five on the struggle for Chinese women’s equality and the patriarchal authoritarianism’ of Chinese leader Xi Jinping, noting similarities with other world leaders.

Kehinde sees blackness as a unifying factor for people of African descent across different continents.  He examines different political approaches adopted in the past, such as pan-Africanism, black nationalism, Marxism and liberalism, and argues for black radicalism as the best strategy today - to resist racism by embracing African descent. The focus of the book is on the UK, but it covers the US, Caribbean and Africa and other parts of the world. 

Gives Beatrice Finh’s personal account of her experience as ICAN’s Director, the story behind the idea of the international treaty for the prohibition of nuclear weapons and her activism immediately after its approval at the United Nations. International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN) – Nobel Lecture See also Beatrice Fihn’s speech on the occasion of the acceptance of the Nobel Peace Award in 2017: https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/peace/2017/ican/26041-international-campaign-to-abolish-nuclear-weapons-ican-nobel-lecture-2017/ and https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2017/10/anti-nuclear-weapons-campaign-ican-wins-nobel-peace-prize-171006065955247.html

Abortion in Poland was legal under Communism and became illegal (with a few exceptions) after the political shift to multi-party democracy. Feminists opposing the abortion law had little impact. This changed in 2016, when hundreds of thousands of Poles across the country took to the streets in the Czarny Protest, or Black Protest. They opposed a bill that would remove some of the exceptions in the existing legislation and impose criminal sanctions on abortion. The scale of the protest meant that the proposal was stalled, despite the newly elected right-wing populist government. It was a surprising victory for the feminist movement, especially after a similar proposal in 2011 received almost no public attention and failed to mobilise resistance even among feminists. This paper looks back at the pro-choice movement before the mass mobilisation in 2016. It draws on interviews and focus groups conducted with pro-choice activists in Poland between 2011 and 2012, when the feminist movement was predominantly active online rather than on the streets. The paper concludes with questions about the success of the mass mobilisation that took place five years later in 2016, which was largely mobilised from online platforms. It asks whether there has been a shift within the pro-choice feminist movement or a sudden interest in feminist politics among the Polish public or whether the 2016 protest reflected a broader dissatisfaction with the current regime. If the third exploration is correct, what are the implications for feminist activism in Poland and the wider resistance to right-wing politics?

Story of the 'Feminist Five' who were jailed in 2015 for a protest against sexual harassment, and the art and activism of their supporters.  The book also examines the official gender equality policy of the Communist Party since 1949, and the recent suppression of dissidence and bans on foreign support for NGOs. See also ‘Talking policy: Leta Hong Fincher on feminism in China’, World Policy, 2 June 2017: https://worldpolicy.org/2017/06/02/talking-policy-leta-hong-fincher-on-feminism-in-china/ Leta Hong discusses her book Leftover Women: The Resurgence of gender Inequality in China and the development of feminism in China from the post- socialist era up to today. To read the first-hand account on the arrest of one activist of the ‘Feminist Five’ and other initiatives to free them, see this comprehensive article https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/mar/08/feminist-stickers-china-backash-women-activists See also https://www.scmp.com/news/china/society/article/2093973/fight-against-gender-violence-goes-chinas-feminist-five and https://chinadigitaltimes.net/2018/02/people-week-feminist-five/

Describing China’s feminist activists in relation to their political and historical circumstances, the author elucidates the development of China’s feminist movement and discusses China’s history from a feminist perspective.

Mary Ziegler examines how Roe influenced a wide range of issues, including sexual liberty and the right to refuse medical treatment. The author explores a much wider range of political protest than simply abortion, and describes how social movements debated the meaning of privacy and struggled to use this concept to pursue political ends.