Gender and Urban Social Movements: Women's Community Responses to Restructuring and Urban Poverty

THIS PAPER ANALYZES case studies from earlier research, which illustrate the implementation by community organizations and volunteer groups of innovative methods for combating grave urban problems. Two unifying themes run through the diverse case studies. The first is the gender dimensions of women’s community action within the context of economic restructuring and urban poverty, and the crucial role played by women both individually and collectively in developing survival mechanisms. The second is the fundamental need for local government to provide a stronger framework within which communities can develop effective responses to urban crises. The analysis highlights the lack of knowledge on the impact of economic policy upon low-income groups, where women are the main providers of the community’s social safety net. It also questions the assumption that a decentralization of power to the local level leads to the empowerment of women.

The paper is divided into three sections. The first addresses some of the conceptual issues relating to gender and community action and looks at different types of women’s organizations. It also examines the ways in which gender affects women’s participation. Referring to extensive gender-related literature, the report begins by tracing the emergence of women’s grassroots organizations in the 1970s, and the economic and political realities with which they were contending. The focus then moves to the current situation and the changing relationship between donor organizations and women’s organizations. The authors contrast dependence on state welfare with the retreat towards family networks of support; the potential impact of women’s movements in shaping state policy is also explored.

The second section discusses three case studies of women’s community action and the ways in which the specific movements have confronted economic crises, inequality and discrimination. The case studies are: the women-run communal kitchens in Lima; the emergence of mothers’ anti-violence movements in various countries; and women’s participation in housing and homeless movements.

The final section of the paper examines the implications of women’s community actions for broader policy processes and for community development. It explores the potential sustainability of the movements, which is affected by institutional constraints, by the organizations’ relations with local government, business and non-profit sectors, and multiple other economic, political and social factors. It becomes particularly complex against a background of state restructuring and decentralization. Local power structures and their implications for the role of women are discussed: the paper argues that increased empowerment of the community does not necessarily improve existing gender inequalities. Having highlighted the critical, although frequently unacknowledged, role of women’s movements in developing methods of urban survival, the paper concludes by making several policy recommendations: the integration of gender analysis into community development processes; the creation of political space for women’s participation at a decision-making level; and the engendering of all social and economic policy at a national and international level.