New British feminisms, UK Feminista and young women’s activism

In recent years there has been a resurgence of feminist activism in the UK with young women becoming increasingly interested in feminist ideas as a means of making sense of their lives. This is accompanied by claims from media commentators that we are witnessing a third or even fourth wave of feminism, and debates within feminist theory over the meaning of the wave metaphor and whether it is helpful in understanding the temporality of feminist activism. In this paper we engage with this debate, suggesting that our understanding of waves and how they are amplified could benefit from an analysis of feminist activism which draws on concepts borrowed from social movement theory. In order to do this we examine the renaissance of feminist activism through the example of one of the most active and publicly visible organisations in the UK, UK Feminista. Drawing on ethnographic research into young women’s feminist activism we explore the role of UK Feminista in mobilising young women, focussing particularly on the role of the Internet in young women’s engagement with feminism, the forms of activism in which they take part, and the importance of feminist cultural memory to the construction of a collective feminist identity. We begin with a consideration of the wave metaphor and its relation to the idea of cycles of protest

L’activisme des femmes issues de communautés musulmanes en France et en Grande-Bretagne

Cet article aborde la participation civique et politique des femmes issues de communautés musulmanes en France et en Grande-Bretagne. Il explore les contraintes et les facteurs facilitateurs auxquels elles sont confrontées dans le déploiement de leur action, qu’il s’agisse de leur communauté d’origine ou des sociétés française et anglaise. Il considère leurs projets de vie et leur action dans la sphère publique et politique, cette dernière étant la plus difficile d’accès aux femmes en général et aux femmes de groupes minoritaires en particulier. Cette recherche montre que, loin des préjugés sur leur manque d’intérêt pour la politique et les questions sociales, sur leur passivité et leur cantonnement dans le rôle de mères et d’épouses, qu’elles formulent activement et mènent à bien des projets de vie et de participation à la société. Elles sont sujettes et actrices de leur vie et se distinguent par leur autoréflexivité. This article examines the political and civic participation of women from Muslim communities. First, we examine the obstacles and enablers they face in deploying certain strategies of action, whether in their communities of origin or in majority society, in France and in Britain. We also explore their life projects and action in civic and political arenas, knowing that access to the latter proves difficult for women in general and even more so for minority women. Our research challenges prevalent prejudices about their apparent lack of interest in politics and social issues, their passivity and their confinement to the role of dutiful wife and mother. Contrary to public expectation, we demonstrate that they are ambitious in developing their life projects and participation in society. They are subjects in their own right, reflecting on the values underpinning their action. Thus they analyse their environment and develop strategies to pursue their objectives of civic and political participation

Femmes de culture musulmane et participation politique

En France comme en Grande-Bretagne, la participation politique des femmes de culture musulmane souffre d’un déficit d’analyse. Perçues comme peu éduquées, cantonnées à leur foyer, elles sont doublement exclues, en tant que femmes et musulmanes, des discours publics essentiellement portés par des hommes. Si l’intérêt de ces femmes pour la politique demeure peu interrogé, leur capacité d’engagement démontre dans les faits un profond attachement pour la chose publique

Le débat français sur la burqa trouve un écho en Grande-Bretagne

L’interdiction, votée par le Parlement français le 14 septembre 2011, du port du voile intégral dans les lieux publics a suscité de nombreuses réactions outre-Manche. Comme en France, cette loi met en évidence le clivage entre les partisans et les opposants d’une intervention du législateur dans un domaine où se croisent choix privé, vie intime et respect de l’ordre public. Si une telle mesure n’est pas à l’ordre du jour en Angleterre, deux militantes musulmanes donnent leur avis sur le débat

Introduction

Ce numéro d’Hommes & Migrations est le fruit d’une recherche sur l’engagement civique et politique des femmes originaires d’un pays de tradition musulmane, en Grande-Bretagne et en France. Ces femmes sont rarement considérées comme des actrices à part entière dans l’espace public de la politique, leur participation dans ce domaine étant reléguée à la portion congrue par les médias et les discours des politiques. Elles sont, en effet, le plus souvent perçues dans la perspective de problèmes es..

‘I’m a feminist, I’m not ashamed and I’m proud’ : young people’s activism and feminist identities in Estonia, Spain and the UK

This paper explores the upsurge in young people's activism across Europe by drawing on three ethnographic studies of feminist and LGBT activism. The studies include a feminist organisation, UK Feminista, in a stable liberal democracy, the Feministes Indignades in post-fascist Spain, and the LGBT movement in post-communist Estonia. The paper argues that feminist identities, both individual and collective, are critical to the feminist and LGBT movements studied; that affect, both positive and negative, contributes to processes of mobilisation and identity formation; and that, while social media are an important element of repertoires of action in all three cases, the forms of action engaged in draw on a range of cultural resources, many of which derive from earlier cycles of protest. It pays particular attention to the ‘coming out’ stories of activists, the transformation of fear and shame into anger and pride which is central both to transforming individual identities and creating collective identities, and how these processes differ in the three case studies

French feminism: national and international perspectives

During the 1980s, the French media proclaimed the death of feminism, but although the 1970s women’s movement had demobilised, feminists were still active in issue-specific groups, in academia and within the institutions of the state. Paying careful attention to the difficulties associated with defining feminisms and national feminisms in particular, this article situates an analysis of French feminism since the 1980s in a context of growing international feminist dialogue and activism and a renewed debate about the meaning of feminism. It focuses on the question of separatism and on changing relations between theory and practice, asking how feminists can act for change and form effective coalitions with men and with other movements. It argues that feminism is plural and often fragmented and diffuse. Feminism is shaped by local social, economic, political and cultural factors and by exchanges of people and ideas, and any analysis of feminist theory and activism needs to take these into account

Gender and class in Britain and France

This article examines the treatment of women's oppression in feminist theory, focusing on the engagement of second wave feminists with the concept of class and its relation to gender. This examination is carried out with reference to British and French feminisms, identifying the main trends and shifts that have developed over the last 35 years and noting that while these are undoubtedly influenced by a particular national context they are also shaped by increasing European integration and social, political and cultural exchanges at a global level. The authors find evidence of a number of similarities in the questions that feminist theorists have asked in Britain and France but also demonstrate that there are significant differences. They conclude that areas of convergent theoretical interests will extend along with cross-border flows of peoples and information