Women’s struggles are shaped by different histories, cultures and political systems across the globe. Rather than assuming a universal experience, transnational organizing values the diversity of challenges that women face and focus on creating connections that respect these differences. This approach understands that our positions of privilege and oppression are influenced by where we live, so organizing must be flexible and responsive to the needs of every community. Transnational feminism calls for collective action that doesn’t impose a universal approach, but instead listents and amplifies the voices of those most affected. It encourages a broader view, linking local struggles to global issues and ensuring that marginalised experiences are centered and not sidelined. At its core, transnational organizing is about building a global movement rooted in mutual respect and a shared commitment to challenging global systems of power and oppression.
Here are some broad frameworks that can be useful while approaching and engaging with global issues:
Intersectionality
Intersectionality provides a nuanced understanding of how different forms of oppression intersect and affect women across diverse global contexts. Coined by scholar Kimberle Crenshaw in the late 1980s, it emphasizes that social identities- such as gender, race, class, sexual orientation, ability and more- do not exist in isolation but interact with each other to shape unique and complex experiences of discrimination and privilege. The idea that all forms of oppression are interlinked forms the foundation of intersectionality. Understanding this helps us move past having a “universal” approach and recognize diverse ways in which women’s lives are shaped by their social positions within different local, national and global contexts.
Movements that fail to account for this diversity run the risk of reinforcing the very inequalities it seeks to challenge. In the context of global solidarity, it’s important to understand that women in different parts of the world experience violence, discrimination, and marginalization through different cultural, political and historical lenses. For example, in many Global South countries, women’s rights struggles are deeply intertwined with issues of casteism, colonialism, economic exploitation and militarization. An organizing strategy that overlooks these intersections risks imposing solutions that are detached from the lived realities of local women.
Being an intersectional ally involves recognizing your own privilege and understanding how it influences the forms of discrimination you experience- and those you don't. Listen to, include and actively collaborate with diverse communities. It’s not their responsibility to educate others about their experiences- take the initiative to research and learn on your own. Centre the voices and actions of those with lived experiences, and avoid speaking for or over them. Engaging with the complexities of how multiple systems of oppression interact to shape lives is an essential approach that allows for more inclusive, equitable and contextually grounded strategies.
De-centering the western narrative
Western feminism often operates on the assumption that gender inequality is the primary reason for women’s oppression. It frequently seeks to “fix” these issues by integrating women into positions of power within existing systems, like politics, business or academia. The idea that simply promoting women into high-powered corporate or governmental positions will solve structural inequalities overlook the larger historical and structural factors that shape gendered oppression.
Transnational solidarity critiques this paternalistic, often saviour-driven complex approach of Western feminism, and focuses on building relationships based on shared struggles and mutual respect. This involves recognizing the agency of women in different regions, acknowledging that they are not passive victims to be saved, but active participants in their own liberation. It calls for listening to and amplifying the voices of marginalized women while also supporting movements led by those who are directly affected by the issues at hand.
Decentering western narratives emphasizes collaboration instead of imposition, it is an approach grounded in solidarity and mutual respect, prioritizing agency, recognizing the importance of local histories and needs and calling for collaboration rather than imposing foreign solutions.
Decolonial Frameworks
Colonial histories continue to shape contemporary gender inequalities across the world, and a decolonial framework critiques these lasting legacies of colonialism. This perspective challenges the ways in which western knowledge, governance and cultural norms have been imposed globally, creating systems of oppression that continue to disadvantage women in former colonies.
A decolonial approach seeks to amplify indigenous knowledge systems, ways of being and practices that have been marginalised by colonial histories. One example of this is the efforts of Ohlone women in Oakland focusing on reclaiming their land, reasserting their cultural practices and challenging the colonial histories that have dispossessed them. They are challenging gentrification and environmental degradation in their own terms, rejecting the idea that western solutions like corporate social responsibility can fix the complex issues of land dispossession or cultural erasure that affect indigenous communities.
Solidarity with such movements involves recognizing their autonomy, their right to lead their own movements and their deep connection to their land. By joining efforts led by those directly affected ensures that solutions are bottom-up, coming from communities that have been at the forefront of resisting colonialism, patriarchy and environmental destruction.
Together, these frameworks offer a more nuanced and globally-conscious way of understanding and addressing the diverse issues worldwide. They push us to think beyond universal solutions, and engage with specific, historical and cultural contexts of women’s struggles, fostering an inclusive and equitable approach to feminist solidarity.
Lila Abu-Lughod, in her critical essay Do Muslim Women Need Saving, writes
"I argue that we need to develop, instead, a serious appreciation of differences among women in the world—as products of different histories, expressions of different circumstances, and manifestations of differently structured desires. Further, I argue that rather than seeking to “save” others (with the superiority it implies and the violences it would entail) we might better think in terms of
(1) working with them in situations that we recognize as always subject to historical transformation
and (2) considering our own larger responsibilities to address the forms of global injustice that are powerful shapers of the worlds in which they find themselves."
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