Reclaiming Feminist Futures: Co-Opted and Progressive Politics in a Neo-Liberal Age

Abstract

This article engages with the influential narrative about the co‐optation of feminism in conditions of neo‐liberalism put forward by prominent feminist thinkers Nancy Fraser, Hester Eisenstein and Angela McRobbie. After drawing out the twin visions of ‘progressive’ feminist politics that undergird this narrative – couched in terms of either the retrieval of past socialist feminist glories or personal reinvention – we subject to critical scrutiny both their substantive claims and the conceptual scaffolding they invoke. We argue that the proleptic imaginings of all three authors, in different ways, are highly circumscribed in terms of the recommended agent, agenda and practices of progressive politics, and clouded by conceptual muddle over the meanings of ‘left’, ‘radical’ and ‘progressive’. Taken together, these problems render the conclusions of Fraser, Eisenstein and McRobbie at best unconvincing and at worst dismissive of contemporary feminist efforts to challenge neo‐liberalism. We end the article by disentangling and redefining left, radical and progressive and by sketching a contrasting vision of progressive feminist politics enabled by this re‐conceptualisation.

‘We were fighting for our place’: Resisting gender knowledge regimes through feminist knowledge network formation

“…Prof. J illustrates this, saying she is ‘ really unashamedly vocal about that now and I think [as an organization] we’ve reached a tipping point ’. In line with Eschle and Maiguashca (), we see such interventions as offering an optimistic view of the future of feminist knowledge in a postfeminist world. As such, we seek to ‘transform organisations into more democratic and equitable places for those who are judged “different”’ (Sinclair, , p. 245), highlighting and resisting the gendering processes under patriarchal capitalism and neoliberalism (Calás et al, ).…”

“…Prof. J illustrates this, saying she is 'really unashamedly vocal about that now and I think [as an organization] we've reached a tipping point' . In line with Eschle and Maiguashca (2014), we see such interventions…”

Gendered Mobilizations against Austerity in Ireland

“…To assess how gendered mobilizations have responded to austerity in the Irish context we draw upon work that has interrogated the relationship between neoliberalism, gender inequality and feminist mobilization (Fraser, ; McRobbie, ; Newman, ). This work generated important insights into the constraints but also the opportunities that shape feminist efforts to challenge neoliberalism (Eschle and Maiguashca, ; Newman, ; Walby, ). Longer‐term trends of managerialism have generated depoliticized contexts where new public‐management logics pull gender‐equality advocates into service‐level agreements that act to narrow and moderate advocacy efforts.…”

“…Other analyses support a less pessimistic account, arguing for a more nuanced notion of resistance and radicalism that emerges from shared projects generated through encounters between feminist and other activist claims (Eschle and Maiguascha, ; Evans and Chamberlain, ). Although acknowledging the constraints that exist when feminist justice claims are advanced in populist political and movement contexts (Emejulu, ), we argue in agreement with Newman () for exploring the situated agency of women as evidence of how women work the contradictions of neoliberalism in real life, in their work and in activism.…”

Leading the debate for the business case for gender equality, perilous for whom?

“…Rottenberg (2014, p. 424) suggests identifying and working within the potential fault lines of this neoliberalizing project highlighting the gaping irreconcilability between the notion of true gender equality and the turn towards intricate processes of individuation. Other analyses support this call to critically engage with neoliberalism, arguing for a more nuanced notion of resistance and radicalism that builds shared projects generated through encounters between feminist and other activist claims (Eschle & Maiguashca, 2013;Evans & Chamberlain, 2015). Newman (2013, p. 210) reminds us how while women's activism helped neoliberalism to adapt and flex, and work the spaces of power, it made new demands on capitalism (including those of equality, rights, welfare benefits and provision for 'care').…”