The feminization of resistance: the narratives of #NiUnaMenos as social transformative action

ABSTRACT

The Argentinean movement #NiUnaMenos (NUM) represents one of the most relevant transnational examples of Latin American feminist mobilization against gender-based violence and can be understood as vanguard of a current tide of feminized resistance on a global scale. This article addresses two central narratives in the discourses and social practices of three founders of the NUM; one about feminist mobilization as a social transformative moment that creates distinctive protest performances in the pursuing of a liveable life despite the challenging restrictive possibilities; and the other about the intersection between gender and class in the struggle against the neoliberal patriarchal precarization of life, related to the lack of the collective systems of social protection against gender-based violence. The analysis of these narratives highlights a feminization of resistance that promotes a radical transformation of the social system, where politics also at a micro level question capitalism, colonialism, and patriarchy by producing alternative knowledges, subjectivities, and epistemologies. Particularly, the study of the experience of enhanced precariousness created by the operation of patriarchal violence, and the resistance expressed in engendered alternative ethical and non-violent responses, reveals in the narratives the strength of a precarity awareness becoming a network of transnational and cross-identities solidarity.

KEYWORDS:

• Ni Una Menos
• narrative
• resistance
• precarity
• collective action
• feminization

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

1. See UNDP & UN Women, 2017, Report: From Commitment to Action. Policies to eradicate violence against women in Latin America and the Caribbean (https://lac.unwomen.org/en/digiteca/publicaciones/2017/11/politicas-para-erradicar-la-violencia-contra-las-mujeres-america-latina-y-el-caribe). More recently, in November 2022, ECLAC (UN) claimed for the urgent implementation of strategies in Latin America that address gender-based violence as a ‘shadow pandemic’, based on four pillars: financing, prevention, public response and information systems (https://www.cepal.org/en/pressreleases/eclac-least-4473-women-were-victims-femicide-latin-america-and-caribbean-2021).

2. The fundamental differentiations between conventional murder legislation and the legal framework addressing femicide predominantly pivot upon the discernment of motivations underpinned by gender, the acknowledgment of deeply ingrained systemic gender-based violence, and the amplification of protective measures and resource allocation directed towards victims of gender-related lethal occurrences. Femicide, specifically, denotes the deliberate act of terminating the lives of women or girls predicated upon their gender identity, frequently encompassing motives imbued with misogyny, discriminatory inclinations, or violence that emanates from entrenched gender disparities. Femicide legislation, in its essence, seeks to cater to the distinctive nuances inherent in gender-based killings and aspires to engender a heightened level of consciousness regarding the precise nature of targeted violence that women and girls may confront. These legislative provisions potentially entail escalated punitive sanctions for homicides rooted in gender bias, an encompassing engagement with issues linked to domestic violence, the active advocacy for preventive initiatives and victim support mechanisms, and an overarching endeavour to challenge societal norms that perpetuate and sustain such egregious forms of violence.

3. The concepts of rights-holder and rights-bearer are a prevalent topic in the field of Human Rights. Rights-holders are defined as entities, whether individual or collective, that possess legally recognized rights or claims and expect the State to uphold and protect such rights, including but not limited to, equal basic liberties. Conversely, rights-bearers refer to entities, individual or collective, that are entitled to the enjoyment and exercise of these rights and anticipate the State to acknowledge the importance and sanctity of such rights in accordance with their human dignity. Both concepts are integral to the discourse on human rights and underscores the obligation of the State to respect and uphold the rights of its citizens. See e.g. Samantha Benson’s “The bearers of human rights’ duties and responsibilities for human rights: a quiet (r)evolution?”, Social Philosophy and Policy, 32:1, Fall 2015, pp. 244–268

4. ‘Judith Butler: las violencias machistas y las migraciones forzadas exigen una movilización transnacional’, in https://latinta.com.ar/2019/05/judith-butler-violencias-machistas-migraciones-forzadas-exigen-movilizacion-transnacional/ (Accessed February 3, 2023).

5. One feature that NUM and previous resistance movements in the region would have in common is ‘(…) that the resistance has not taken the form of a class struggle for state power’ in any case (Veltmeyer 2019, p. 1266). A remarkable similarity to other very effective but non-class based nationalist, ethno-centered or anti-colonial resistance movements, such as the EZLN or Black Lives Matter.

6. See e.g. the documents Mujeres Indígenas por El Buen Vivir, Columna Negras Indígenas Racializadas y Disidencias, and Coalición de Mujeres Negras (Una Menos 2018).

7. This observation is also consistent with Langlois (2020).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Maria Clara Medina

María Clara Medina is since 2007 Assistant Professor at the School of Global Studies, Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Gothenburg. Her current area of research and recent publications focus on sexual and reproductive rights as human rights, contemporary feminist movements and gender-based violence in a context of precariousness and master suppression techniques. Originally from Argentina, and as founder of international networks and member of the Editorial Board of international journals, Medina is widely travelled and have lived in multicultural contexts in Latin America, Asia and Europe. Her previous academic appointments have been at the University of Tucuman (Argentina), the University of Delhi (India) and Linnaeus University (Sweden).