SheMurenga: The Zimbabwean Women's Movement 1995-2000

Chapter 1: Women’s Movement Literature: Pushing the Boundaries

1 Chapter 1 WOMEN’S MOVEMENT LITERATURE: PUSHING THE BOUNDARIES Historically, Western feminists largely initiated the contemporary interest and subsequent writing on women’s movements in the 1960s.1 The initial body of work aimed to recover the hidden history of female activism in the North, whilst suggesting that women’s political involvement was of a distinctive character and VLJQLÀFDQFH,WZHQWRQWRVXJJHVWDVRPHZKDWQDwYHFRPPRQDOLW\LQWKHIRUPV of women’s oppression and women’s movements worldwide with its forays into the experiences of women in Southern contexts. This myth of ‘homogenous sisterhood’2 was soon challenged through the research and writings of Southern feminists. This critique generated a new corpus that shifted the thinking around women’s organising in two ways. It highlighted the heterogeneity of women’s struggles. It also suggested that in a post-colonial context, women’s abilities to form collective identities to articulate their demands are shaped by political processes: these involve shifts in state power, whether they occur through democratic, anti-imperialist or nationalist struggles.3 Within the trajectory of women’s movement literature one has to acknowledge the importance of this re-orientation, and the political message it embodied in chal1 Rowbotham, S. (1992). Women in Movement. New York: Routledge & Kegan Paul. 2 This train of thought prevalent in the 1970s and 1980s is embodied in the concepts underpinning Morgan, R. (1984). Sisterhood is Global: The International Women’s Movement Anthology. New York: Anchor Press. 3 See, Basu, A. (1995). The Challenge of Local Feminisms. Boulder: Westview Press. Mohanty, C. T. et al, (1991). Third World Women and the Politics of Feminism. Bloomington: Indiana University Press. 2 Shemurenga: The Zimbabwean Women’s Movement 1995-2000 lenging Northern hegemony and knowledge production. Under the rubric of ‘third world studies’ a body of literature emerged that aimed to explore regional similarities in Africa and elsewhere,4 but by necessity this leads to the trap of generalisation. As such, this body of work tends to raise PRUHTXHVWLRQVWKDQDQVZHUVDVWRWKHSDUWLFXODULWLHVRIVSHFLÀFFRQWH[WVDQG WKHLULQÁXHQFHRQZRPHQ·VRUJDQLVLQJDQGJHQGHUSROLWLFVWKHUHE\RXWVWULSSLQJ its usefulness. Nonetheless, this perspective did pave the way for deeper contextual case-studies of women’s organising, which I will discuss later in this chapter. Categorisation of Movements Much time and space has been devoted to categorising women’s movements. Many such attempts have drawn from mainstream/malestream social movement theory. This, it can be argued, has obscured the unique features of women’s organising , and precluded treating them in their own right. Needless to say there are contrasting views as to what constitutes a movement, but in sum, the literature would suggest that while a movement may be characterised by a diversity of interest, forms of expression and spatial locations, to speak of a movement implies: $VRFLDORUSROLWLFDOSKHQRPHQRQRI VRPHVLJQLÀFDQFHWKDWVLJQLÀFDQFHEHLQJJLYHQ by numerical strength, but also capacity to effect change in some way or another be it in legal, cultural, social or political terms.5 This criterion denotes a particular kind of movement, yet, in reality, this is not the only, or even the most important, kind. Sonia Alvarez6 in her work on Brazil goes a long way in showing forms of ‘female collective action’ which are, in effect, marked by the absence of one or other of the criteria outlined above. This broader understanding seems more likely to resonate with the diverse manifestation of women’s mobilisations in Zimbabwe. Indeed, it is quite possible WKDWWKHQDUURZGHÀQLWLRQVW\SLFDOO\IRXQGLQWKHOLWHUDWXUHZKLFKDUHIDPLOLDU WR=LPEDEZHDQZRPHQDFWLYLVWVPD\KDYHLQÁXHQFHGWKHLURZQFRQFHSWLRQVRI the movement. 7KHSRLQW,DPPDNLQJLVWKLV,IGHÀQLWLRQDOERXQGDULHVDUHJRLQJWRORFNXV in and blind us to alternative manifestations of movements and organising, then 4 Davies, M. 1983-1987. Third World – Second Sex: Women’s Struggles and National Liberation: Third World Women Speak Out. London: Zed Press. 5 Molyneux, M. (1998). ‘Analysing Women’s Movements’ in Development and Change 29 (2) p. 225. 6 Alvarez, S. (1990). Engendering Democracy in Brazil: Women’s Movements in Transition Politics. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press. 3 Women’s Movement Literature ZHQRWRQO\KDYHWRDVNZKHUHWKHGHÀQLWLRQVFRPHIURPDQGZKRVHLQWHUHVWV they serve, but we also have to challenge them, precisely...