Transnational Feminist Movements to End Violence against Women (VAW): Pathways from Protest to Policy

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Violence against women is increasingly recognized as the widest human rights violation onearth. Impacting more than 1.2 billion individuals globally, it is unparalleled in its scale, scopeand complexity. Although violence against women sits high on the policy and developmentagenda of intergovernmental institutions, national governments and civil society; peoplehave not always considered it a crime. By interrogating this shift in attitude and awareness,and documenting the role of feminist organising in influencing norm development, myresearch aims at contributing to the design of transformative policy interventions whichtackle the structural roots of underlying prejudices.2015 celebrated the 20-year anniversary of the landmark Beijing Declaration and Platformfor Action. In real terms, a feminist born in 1995 has navigated the delicate transition fromadolescence into adulthood with positive political rhetoric around women's empowermentringing in her ears. And yet, as 2017 begins, she continues to awake each morning todevastating stories of inequity, violence and discrimination; whether it be Russia'sdecriminalisation of domestic violence, a daughter burnt in Pakistan for marrying withouther family's consent, Brock Turner's '20 minutes of action' with an unconscious woman, orthe rape and murder of 16 year-old Lucia Perez in Argentina. Headlines sit astride articlesannouncing gender policy priorities and new investment in women's empowerment andemancipation.No matter the year, the violent act or the country, history pays testament to the role offeminist organising in holding governments to account and challenging the gendered powerdynamics which underpin inequality. Be it in the collective proliferation of the BeijingPlatform for Action, the catalysing role played by women in the Arab Spring uprisings or thetens of thousands of women who mobilised across Latin America to express outrage overthe death of Lucia Perez; feminist organising takes many forms. However, the questionposed by a banner at the recent Women's March Movement in Washington DC resonates:'Why are we still fighting these same campaigns?' Why - despite the development ofoppositional consciousness and mobilisation of feminists; despite the championing bygovernments and influential development donors - does violence against women (VAW)remain an endemic part of everyday life in every corner of every continent? Perhaps it isbecause, unlike the simplicity sought by fast-track development agendas, this kind ofstructural change is not linear and requires the challenging of fundamental developmentassumptions, the recognition of complex power relationships and the importance ofinstitutionalising new norms.Rooted in the perspectives of feminists, my research hopes to identify factors which haveproven critical to navigating pathways from protest to power and highlight good practiceexamples of feminist organising to inform the design of transformative policy interventionsto end VAW.Research Question:In what ways can transnational feminist movements influence the adoption oftransformative policy to end VAW?Related questions- What is the historic role of feminist organising in combatting VAW and what factorshave influenced the effectiveness of feminist interventions?- What are the current challenges with respect to combatting VAW and how wellplaced are transnational feminist organisations to respond to those challenges?