Latina activists across borders: women's grassroots organizing in Mexico and Texas

Abstract

Background on the Michoacán andEl Paso/Ciudad Juárez Communities Some time ago a friend told me about an exchange she had witnessed at a women's forum in El Salvador.The meeting brought together women from di√erent socioeconomic, educational, ethnic, and racial backgrounds to discuss a host of women's issues and plans for action.At the meeting the word feminismo was used by women active in feminist circles.On the last day of the meeting a woman stood up and asked if someone could clarify for her the word's exact meaning.She asked if it meant ''fe-en-mi-mismo,'' literally ''faith in myself.''If so, she added, then she believed in it. My friend's story left a lasting impression on me, because it highlightedLatinas' ∞ more general struggle with what feminism means and with what kind of feminism we embrace in our activism.In fact, feminist activist researchers in gender and development studies have lamented that ''outside of academia, within policy and activist arenas, the utility and relevance of 'gender' has been highly contested''; further, they argue, '' 'gender' has come to lose its feminist political content,'' in particular in grassroots circles (Baden and Goetz 1997: 37).I disagree.This book highlights how grassroots women process their situations and inform themselves and each other

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