Third-world feminism

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Although women from the so-called third world have always been engaged in the feminism movement, some criticise mainstream Western feminism on the grounds that it is ethnocentric and does not take into account the unique experiences of women from third world countries or the existence of feminism(s) indigenous to third world countries. Third world women accuse mainstream Western feminists of looking at women's experiences as homogeneous, based on the perspectives of middle-class white Western women. According to Mohanty (1991), third world women feel mainstream feminism bases its understanding of women on "internal racism, classism and homophobia" (Mohanty: 7).

Within this discourse is also African feminism. Its development is associated with concepts such as "womanism" (Walker 1983, Ogunyemi 1985, Kolawale 1997), "Africana womanism" (Hudson-Weems 1993), "Motherism" (Acholonu 1995), "Stiwanism" (Ogundipe-Leslie 1994), "negofeminism" (Nnaemeka 1995), "femalism", "Black feminism" (Kohrs-Amissah 2002) and "gender activism and femalism".

The main concern here appears to be the creating of spaces for women to participate in the management of their society through access to key resources such as education, health and housing. The sheer size of Africa and the complexities of issues in different regions makes it difficult to depict a single African feminism. Among other things, the debate here has two faces: those who call themselves feminist and those who do not.

Other common thoughts are that there is no problem working with men, that women need not neglect their biological roles, and that motherhood is idealized.

[edit] See also

• Transnational feminism
• Postcolonial feminism
• Gayatri Spivak
• Kumari Jayawardena
• African Cinema
• Feminism and Nationalism in the Third World
• Igbo Women's War of 1929

[edit] Further reading

• Kumari Jayawardena (1986): "Feminism and Nationalism in the Third World". London: Zed Books.
• Mohanty (1991): Mohanty, Chandra Talpade. "Under Western Eyes: Feminist Scholarship and Colonial Discourses". In Third World Women and the Politics of Feminism, ed. Mohanty, Chandra Talpade, Ann Russo, and Lourdes Torres. Indianapolis: Indiana University Press, 1991.
• Ogunyemi, C. O. (1985): "Womanism: The dynamics of the contemporary black female novel in English". Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society, 11 (1), 63-80.
• Oyewumi, O. (1997), The invention of women: Making an African sense of western gender discourses, University of Minnesota Press 1997
• Alice Walker, In Search of Our Mothers Gardens, 1983