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Short histories of 65 feminist movements, India and South Asia first. Each has a timeline, links to read more elsewhere, and books from our shelf where we have them. These are starting points, not the last word: tell us what is missing through the complaints box or a discussion thread.
10 movements1948 to 1989 ×Still going ×
1972 onwardStill going
A trade union for women in the informal economy, from street vendors and head-loaders to home-based workers, founded in Ahmedabad by Ela Bhatt. It grew into one of the largest unions of women workers in the world, with…
1984 onwardStill going
Founded in Kohima, the association works for peace in Nagaland, mediating between armed groups and the state and campaigning against drug and alcohol abuse. It has also pressed for women's representation in local…
1970s onwardStill going
The 'torch bearers' of Manipur: Meitei women who patrol their neighbourhoods at night with lit torches. Begun against alcoholism and drug abuse, they became a leading force against human rights abuses by security forces…
1977 onwardStill going
Founded in Kabul by Meena Keshwar Kamal, RAWA opposed the Soviet occupation, the mujahideen and the Taliban alike, running secret schools and clinics and documenting abuses. Meena was assassinated in Quetta in 1987.
War, peace and memoryEducation
Timeline and booksRead more on Wikipedia ↗ (opens in a new tab)
1972 onwardStill going
During the 1971 war, Pakistani soldiers and their collaborators raped many thousands of Bengali women. The new state called survivors 'Birangona' (war heroines), but many were shunned. Decades of activism led to their…
Violence and safetyWork and moneyWar, peace and memory
Timeline and booksRead more on Wikipedia ↗ (opens in a new tab)
1981 onwardStill going
Formed in Karachi against General Zia-ul-Haq's Islamisation laws, especially the Hudood Ordinances and a law of evidence that halved the worth of women's testimony. On 12 February 1983 women marching in Lahore were…
Timeline and booksRead more on Wikipedia ↗ (opens in a new tab)
1965 onwardStill going
Founded in Jerusalem as part of the Palestine Liberation Organization, the union organised women in the occupied territories, refugee camps and the diaspora through literacy, health and vocational work alongside the…
Timeline and booksRead more on Wikipedia ↗ (opens in a new tab)
1977 onwardStill going
Founded by Wangari Maathai, the movement paid rural women to plant trees, tackling deforestation, firewood shortages and poverty together, and grew into a wider fight for democracy in Kenya. Maathai won the Nobel Peace…
1977 onwardStill going
Mothers of people 'disappeared' by Argentina's military dictatorship began walking every Thursday around the Plaza de Mayo in Buenos Aires, wearing white headscarves. Three of the founders were themselves disappeared;…
1973 onwardStill going
A forest protection movement in the Garhwal Himalaya, in today's Uttarakhand. Village women, who depended on the forests for fuel, fodder and water, became its most visible protectors, famously holding on to trees to…
