June 27, 2004

At a time when the so-called ‘free-world’ is spreading democracy around the globe, at gunpoint no less, it is useful to look at the great disparities between the rich and the poor, and between the wealthy and the impoverished countries and how these challenge the notion of popular control of governance. Centralization of power in the hands of corporations and regional and world bodies outside existing states has reduced the citizen’s input in decisions that profoundly affect people’s lives. And many women, the poor, as well as ethnic, religious, and other groups in numerous countries, continue to be excluded from meaningful political participation.

The book under review contends that with the fall of the communist regimes in Eastern Europe and of dictatorships in Latin America democratic movements worldwide gained greater attention. Most of the focus was on national activities, electoral politics and the expansion of capitalist markets. However, although much has been written about social movements, the connections between women’s grassroot organizations and democratization have been neglected. This book then purports to explore how these movements contribute to the expansion of public and private spaces and democratic processes through sixteen case studies, which highlight women’s grassroot movements in as many countries.

Grassroot and other nongovernmental organizations are an integral part of civil society, and a strong civil society is an indicator of greater democracy at the national-state level. They are important in ensuring that the state institutions are responsive to its citizens and perform a mediating role between the state, local community, and the family. A civil society that consists at its core of a rich and complex associational life cannot be imposed from above, but must be continually created and recreated in daily life with the participation of all societal members. This book illustrates how community-based actions, programmes and organizations that empower women contribute to the creation of a civil society and thus enhance democracy.

In the introduction, the editors make clear, “The conceptions of democracy reflected in the case studies derive mainly from the participatory perspectives.” Democracy is conceived as both a political system and a culture that allows for the fullest realization of the human creative potential. The case studies document women’s contribution to the struggle for and creation of, participatory democratic forms of social life in various parts of the world. Each case is placed in the larger political, economic and cultural context to identify factors affecting the process of democratization, and the relationship of women’s grassroot movements to more general societal developments.

Analysis of efforts of a grassroot women’s organization working in low-income communities with women, children, and youth in Delhi, is the first feature in the Asian section. The chapter on Hong Kong documents the struggle for indigenous women’s inheritance rights in 1994, which involved a coalition of twelve grassroot women’s groups. This successful action is set in the context of top-down initiatives at democratic reforms that resulted in the opening up of the legislature to popular contestation.

An NGO is studied in Singapore, with its development and activities, its relationship to the ruling People’s Action Party and the Singaporean polity and society at large being examined. Women in Singapore, despite functioning in a highly constrained quasi-democracy, can and do assume public roles, particularly through participation in the few politicized NGOs which allow them to offer alternative perspective to policy makers and to influence policy by formal and informal means.

The section on Africa and the Middle East contains chapters that focus on countries contending with varying degrees of political liberalization and social change. In the chapter on South Africa, the authors examine three projects in the impoverished province of Mpumalanga where adult popular education has been used as a means for women’s participation and empowerment. The two chapters focusing on Egypt and Syria provide contrasting views of women’s grassroots activity as they complement each other.

The section on Central America presents case studies from two countries, El Salvador and Honduras, but raises issues that are relevant to democratization in Latin America generally. There is an examination of the struggles of women in El Salvador to sustain the gains they had made as refugees during the civil war in the settlement of Comunidad Seguno Montes. Here, while women have participated in all aspects of the community and many have become empowered both within the family and in political and economic institutions, such gains are fragile and may not withstand neo-liberal market forces and long standing patriarchal traditions. The chapter on Honduras, discusses how new feminist organizations that emerged in the late 1980s view women’s rights above all as human rights.

In Eastern Europe the case studies surmise that the demise of communism in the former Soviet Union and its satellites has had mixed consequences for women. While these states failed to implement gender equality, they promoted women’s education and employment, legalized abortion, and instituted a social welfare system that to some extent supported women’s family needs. Such gains have come under attack with the advent of capitalism, and paradoxically, have stimulated the growth of women’s activism in response to the problems created by economic and political transition.

The last section contains studies from the so-called advanced liberal democracies —countries of Western Europe, North America and Australia. Nations in the western world pride themselves on being democratic and often impose their brand of democracy on countries in other parts of the world. However, as these chapters show, women only have limited participation in the formal institutions of western societies, but grassroots movement that struggle to achieve meaningful participation for women and other oppressed groups have difficulty in maintaining participatory structures within the context of liberal-democratic states.

In the conclusion the editors point out that the relationship between state and grassroot organizations is complex and varied. In many instances, women’s organizations have either chosen, or struggled, to remain autonomous from the state. State support and funding often entails co-option or control of women’s groups. Autonomy from the state, though limiting in some respects, has allowed many groups to expand spaces for political action, to broaden the definition of politics, and also challenge state patriarchy.

In the end the editors contend, “Democratization also requires women and men to organize, often across social, economic, and ideological divisions, in order to bring about meaningful and progressive change And while there is no single path to democratization, there is no substitute for human participation in the democratic process.”

Democratization and Women’s Grassroots Movements
Edited by Jill M. Bystydzienski and Joti Sekhon
Kali for Women, K-92 Hauz Khas Enclave, New Delhi-110016. Tel: 91-11-6864497, 6964947.
Email: kaliw@del2.vsnl.net.in
ISBN 81-86706-56-9
397pp. Price not listed

Please Visit our Sponsor (Ads open in separate window)