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Viewing report
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The Representation of Feminists as Political Actors. Edition No. 1
VDM Publishing House, Dec 2008, Pages: 176
There has been renewed interest in the history of
second wave feminism, as it is forty years since the
political upheavals of 1968 which prompted this new
movement for women’s liberation. A key feature of
that movement was its challenge to liberal democracy,
tackling not just political issues but the very
nature of the political system itself. This work
takes the feminist movement in Aotearoa/New Zealand
to be broadly representative of that challenge, with
due attention to cultural particularities. Feminist
writings, designed to bring new converts and to
communicate the aims and views of the movement were
crucial in formulating the challenge. Yet these have
been largely ignored. By analyzing writings New
Zealand feminists produced between 1970 (when the
movement took off in New Zealand) and 1984 unique
insight into second wave feminist movement can be
gained. The challenges feminists made to liberal
democratic forms impacted on how they represented
themselves as political actors. By examining these
impacts we can move away from tales of fragmentation
ruining early unity towards a new story about a
diverse and vibrant movement which has changed how
politics is seen and done.
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