Title: Gender and Social Movements - Sociology of Gender - iResearchNet
Headings: Gender and Social Movements
Gender and Social Movements
References:

Content: Gendered divisions of labor within movements vary considerably across time, space, and among movements, of course. In movements that explicitly challenge the gendered status quo, such differences may be much less marked or even at times inverted; while in movements that seek to restore traditional gender roles, they may be exaggerated. Fifth, tactics and strategies are affected by gender. Women and men may draw on established social activities in order to work for change, as in men’s use of violent intimidation compared with women’s reliance on boycotts and vicious gossip in the US racist movement of the 1920s (Blee 1991). Here, too, incorporating tactics grounded in traditionally feminine activities into social movement theory suggests a broader definition of tactics and strategies that includes actions previously not seen as part of social movements. Sixth, gendered external social structures and mainstream culture delimit the opportunities and constraints for social movements. Political opportunities are affected by gender because women and men have differential access to the state, both as elected officials and as outside activists. On a subtler level, the state and other major social institutions operate through gendered structures, procedures, and discourses (sometimes termed gender regimes). When activists target or enter institutions, therefore, they face particular opportunities or barriers depending both on their actual gender and on the way their movement engages with or challenges existing notions of gender.