In his reflections on the early days of the 1994 Zapatista (EZLN) uprising that garnered global a... more In his reflections on the early days of the 1994 Zapatista (EZLN) uprising that garnered global attention, Subcomandante Marcos acknowledges the real impetus for change behind this Mayan political and cultural movement that was hidden from the headlines: the women. As Vinding (1998, 12) notes, Indigenous women have been “underrepresented in Indigenous organizations and are seldom heard in international fora.” Although women’s rights and Indigenous rights are now officially codified as human rights,1 both women’s rights and Indigenous rights movements have been problematic spaces for Indigenous women’s participation in treaty making and standard setting in domestic and international legal fora. Due to colonization and ongoing imperial influences, both rights movements often require Indigenous women to make trade-offs (either as women or as Indigenous peoples) rather than make space for the more fully intersectional frameworks that Indigenous women have been demanding through strategies that go beyond political lobbying.
This paper asks to what extent does Canada’s New Feminist International Assistance Policy (FIAP) ... more This paper asks to what extent does Canada’s New Feminist International Assistance Policy (FIAP) represent a more transformational and intersectional approach to gender equality and neo-liberal international development? In other words, what is “new” about Canada’s international development policy when it comes to gender equality and women’s empowerment? Through a critical examination of the discourses of economic development in the FIAP on poverty, trade, market citizenship, and the private sector, I argue that the FIAP embodies both neoliberal feminism as well as feminist neoliberalism, which limit the transformational potential and impact of the FIAP on gender and international development strategies.
In his reflections on the early days of the 1994 Zapatista (EZLN) uprising that garnered global a... more In his reflections on the early days of the 1994 Zapatista (EZLN) uprising that garnered global attention, Subcomandante Marcos acknowledges the real impetus for change behind this Mayan political and cultural movement that was hidden from the headlines: the women. As Vinding (1998, 12) notes, Indigenous women have been “underrepresented in Indigenous organizations and are seldom heard in international fora.” Although women’s rights and Indigenous rights are now officially codified as human rights,1 both women’s rights and Indigenous rights movements have been problematic spaces for Indigenous women’s participation in treaty making and standard setting in domestic and international legal fora. Due to colonization and ongoing imperial influences, both rights movements often require Indigenous women to make trade-offs (either as women or as Indigenous peoples) rather than make space for the more fully intersectional frameworks that Indigenous women have been demanding through strategies that go beyond political lobbying.
This paper asks to what extent does Canada’s New Feminist International Assistance Policy (FIAP) ... more This paper asks to what extent does Canada’s New Feminist International Assistance Policy (FIAP) represent a more transformational and intersectional approach to gender equality and neo-liberal international development? In other words, what is “new” about Canada’s international development policy when it comes to gender equality and women’s empowerment? Through a critical examination of the discourses of economic development in the FIAP on poverty, trade, market citizenship, and the private sector, I argue that the FIAP embodies both neoliberal feminism as well as feminist neoliberalism, which limit the transformational potential and impact of the FIAP on gender and international development strategies.
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