Antiracist Feminist Activism in Women’s Social Service Organizations: A Review of the Literature

Abstract

Drawing from the historical successes of the antiracist and feminist movements of the 1980s and 1990s, antiracist feminists of colour continue to challenge inequitable practices within women’s organizations. In this paper, I review five strands of interrelated literature that help us to understand the contexts through which social justice activism is negotiated. I argue that in order to understand more fully women’s experience of ‘doing’ antiracist feminism within women’s organizations we need to understand intersecting arenas of activism. The literature points to several interconnected layers of social relations that need to be unpacked and examined, namely: restructuring of funding and accountability regimes within the non-profit sector broadly; unique challenges found within women’s movement organizations; politics of racism and antiracism in the feminist movement; everyday antiracist action within women’s organizations; and the relationships among politicized action, identity, subjectivity, and personal relationships.