This thesis, titled A for Effort, examines how three organizations that are granted state funding by the Swedish Gender Equality Agency understand the concept of intersectionality. The understandings are put in relation to previous understandings of the concept, for example the feminist debate of its advantages and disadvantages. In addition, the analysis is conducted through discourse theory and Carol Bacchi's WPR-approach that together are applied as a critical eye to how intersectionality is represented in the texts of the organizations. The study finds that while intersectionality is understood as a way to inclusion, the understandings are also constructing divisions.

Cette thèse s’inscrit dans le champ de recherche sur les organisations alternatives, et met en lumière l’intérêt de mobiliser une approche féministe pour mieux comprendre ces organisations. Je propose d’étudier un processus central pour les organisations féministes : l’empowerment. L’objectif de ma thèse est tout à la fois de voir en quoi cela permet de comprendre l’organizing féministe et alternatif, et par là-même de penser l’organizing à partir de ses marges.Pour cela, j’ai conduit une ethnographie féministe au sein d’une association féministe, pendant deux ans. Le récit ethnographique que j’élabore décrit trois dimensions de l’empowerment tel qu’il se déploie dans l’association : la conscientisation, la mobilisation et la transformation sociale. Cela me permet de définir l’empowerment comme une praxis collective, dissonante et préfigurative, qui construit performativement l’organisation comme féministe. Je suggère de penser l’empowerment comme un processus d’organizing alternatif, ce qui permet d’incarner et de politiser une ontologie du devenir pour la théorie des organisations. / This thesis is part of a conversation on alternative organizations, and underlines the potential of a feminist approach to understand these organizations. I offer to study a core process of feminist organizations :empowerment. The objective is both to explore how this sheds a new light on feminist and alternative organizing, and to rethink organizing from its margins.To do so, I have conducted a two-years feminist ethnography within a feminist collective. The ethnographic tale describes three dimensions of empowerment as it is practiced within the collective: conscientization, mobilization and social transformation. It entails a definition of empowerment as a collective, dissonant andprefigurative praxis, which performativelyconstructs the organization as feminist. I suggest to think of empowerment as an alternative organizing process, which incarnatesand politicizes an ontology of becoming fororganizations.

<p>While neoliberalism has increasingly been entrenched in the province of Ontario, it has also encountered resistance. A primary goal of this dissertation is to provide a vivid historical account of women’s organizing and feminist resistance that emerged during the Harris years (1995-2001). Drawing on the narratives of thirty three feminist activists and leaders working within three different organizational settings, namely organized labour, anti-racist, and anti-violence organizations, this research project aims to capture an important moment in time when women and feminists were speaking out against some of the most pressing issues of the day including gender (in)equality, poverty, violence, sexism, racism and discrimination. Thematically, this research highlights the numerous challenges, strategies and successes experienced by a variety of differently located feminists and women’s groups. By theoretically and analytically situating these women’s narrative accounts within a qualitative, intersectional feminist framework, this collection of stories not only allow us to (re)examine theoretical and practical issues related to intersectionality and pose questions for the present state of feminist organizations, but also contributes to our understanding of feminist organizational resistance in the future, the long-term impact of said resistance and how we might go about addressing the challenges that lie ahead.</p> / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

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This research explores how concepts of women’s independence are constituted, through neo-liberal and feminist discourses, by members of a feminist organization for women leaving abuse. Analysis of eight interviews and eight focus groups with organizational members, collected over a four year period, surface contesting discourses about individualism, choice, economic independence, collectivity and structural analyses. These discourses interact to produce complex conceptualizations of women’s independence, and produced new subjectivities for women within the organization. In the data, neo-liberal and feminist influences produced an integration of self-responsibility and collectivity, creating new ways of understanding women’s agency. Knowledge of these changing notions of gendered independence in organizations allows feminists to be strategic and reflexive about feminist political work within changing social and political terrain.

This research explores how concepts of women’s independence are constituted, through neo-liberal and feminist discourses, by members of a feminist organization for women leaving abuse. Analysis of eight interviews and eight focus groups with organizational members, collected over a four year period, surface contesting discourses about individualism, choice, economic independence, collectivity and structural analyses. These discourses interact to produce complex conceptualizations of women’s independence, and produced new subjectivities for women within the organization. In the data, neo-liberal and feminist influences produced an integration of self-responsibility and collectivity, creating new ways of understanding women’s agency. Knowledge of these changing notions of gendered independence in organizations allows feminists to be strategic and reflexive about feminist political work within changing social and political terrain.

Concern of this master thesis are action repertoires of czech feminist organizations. The main goal of this paper is to find out whether there are some types of activism in terms of following characteristics in the Czech Republic: organizational age, political opportunity structure, human and financial resources, and action repertoir to be found. The thesis is devided into two parts - theoretical and empirical. The author introduces evolution of the social movement theory in the theoretical part. Greater attention is given to an advocacy function of civil society organizations and to action repertoire, which social movement organizations use to reach their goals. Subsequently is shown how the literature talks about particular forms of action and its selection. There are characteristics mentioned above used in Hierarchical Cluster Analysis on sample of twenty-nine czech feminist organization in the empirical part. Finally, findings of this paper are being discussed. Keywords: Action repertoires, social movements, social movements organization, non-governmental organizations, feminist organizations, Czech activism.