Women, corporate globalization, and global justice

Abstract

Women are active agents opposing the effects of neo-liberal capitalist globalization. They are involved in many grassroots movements of resistance. Some are autonomous women's and feminist movements, and some movements with both women and men around such issues as land reform, protection of the environment and welfare needs. They are a part of a broader anti-corporate globalization movement which is expanding and challenging existing paradigms of justice. I will examine three paradigms of justice found in their demands: libertarian or neo-liberal justice, welfare state/social democratic justice, and justice as solidarity. The solidarity paradigm is the most transformative, and is being made possible by the alternative economic, political, and cultural spaces created by autonomous social movements with women in leadership roles. These include the landless farmworkers in Brazil, workers' cooperatives in Argentina and Venezuela, community environmental justice movements in the U.S. and the world, and community organizing for reproductive rights and health and against violence against women in many places. © 2009 Springer Science+Business Media B.V.