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Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons

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2000

University of Wollongong

Faculty of Arts - Papers (Archive)

Civil society

Articles 1 - 2 of 2

Full-Text Articles in Social and Behavioral Sciences

A State Of Ambivalence: Feminism And A Singaporean Women’S Organisation, Lenore T. Lyons Mar 2000

A State Of Ambivalence: Feminism And A Singaporean Women’S Organisation, Lenore T. Lyons

Faculty of Arts - Papers (Archive)

There has been some interest in recent years in identifying the features or characteristics of an ‘Asian’ or ‘Third-World’ feminism (Moraga and Anzaldua 1983; Jayawardena 1986; Grewal et al. 1988; Mohanty 1991; Basu 1995; Alexander and Mohanty 1997). Part of this concern has focused on a costs-benefits analysis of Asian women ‘coming out’ as feminists in overtly hostile political climates. For many women embracing the identity ‘feminist’ continues to be a difficult process. Caught within multiple and shifting discourses that serve to inscribe place, allegiance and behaviour, being a feminist is not only an expression of individual political belief, but …


The Limits Of Feminist Political Intervention In Singapore, Lenore T. Lyons Jan 2000

The Limits Of Feminist Political Intervention In Singapore, Lenore T. Lyons

Faculty of Arts - Papers (Archive)

In recent years increasing attention has focused on the Singapore government’s new attitude towards limited public participation in civil society. The women’s rights organisation the Association of Women for Action and Research (AWARE) is one example of a nongovernment organisation (NGO) that is directly engaged in this newly emerging ‘civic’ society. AWARE’s activities are constrained, however, by a state demand that its objectives remain overtly ‘non-political’ and reformist in character. This has led some observers to comment that as a state-defined practice, feminism in Singapore is unable to address issues of structural inequality and difference.