ABSTRACT
Social movements move. They are coordinated activities, not things, so attempts
to define women’s movements need to focus on the work they do, the purposive
human activities specifically aiming to transform the gender relations that subor-
dinate and devalue women. This activity is feminist work; it is done especially
but not exclusively by women, and will thus generally be found in women’s
movements, groups organised and led by women. But as the research in previous
chapters indicates, feminist transformation is better defined by its purpose than
its form; feminism is more about the work of change-making than the particular
structures in which this work is done. Nonetheless, these institutional venues
vary in interesting and important ways. Indeed, the intention of achieving gender
relations that support autonomy and equality for all women means that feminist
activities will be joined in movement practices to other kinds of work for social
justice, in varying degrees at diverse moments.
