Weft Yarns: Evolving characteristics of feminist movements
Frameworks
Not everyone sees themselves as ‘feminist’, and we have seen women’s movements align themselves with various frameworks in the fight to address violence against women and girls. For example, in the 1970s and 80s, women’s movements we deeply aligned with movements for democracy, civil rights and racial justice. Then, in the 1990s, VAWG was framed within a Human Rights context. Women’s rights are human rights, was the catchphrase. There was a focus on documenting VAWG as violations of women’s rights and presenting them to regional and international bodies.
In Australia, we see this with a greater recognition that First Nations women experience disproportionately high rates of violence, driven by the intersection of gender inequality and the ongoing impacts of colonization. This led to a world-first National Plan on ending VAWG for and buy First Nations women, and the Senate inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, the report handed down this year (LINK to report).