Focusing on four jurisdictions where abortion facilities and providers faced violent attacks following the Morgentaler decision of 1988, this study compares provincial government responses to core feminist demands in the area of women's reproductive health: enhanced hospital access, public funding of clinic abortions and safe zone protections. Consistent with previous research on childcare and anti-violence policies, the study finds that in neoliberal times, the presence of left governing parties in Alberta, British Columbia and Ontario generally favoured abortion rights interests while conservative regimes disadvantaged them. The article contributes valuable new insights in revealing (1) the importance of centrist leaders in Ontario and at the federal level to pro-choice policy changes, (2) the significance of feminist critical actors to these outcomes, and (3) major variation among New Democratic Party provincial governments on abortion policy. The conclusion discusses implications of these results and proposes directions for further research.

Dans cet article, je présente le potentiel d'utiliser une approche féministe radicale de l’empowerment comme grille d'analyse dans les études fédérales. Pour ce faire, je développe un cadre analytique qui s'inscrit dans la quatrième vague d’études sur le genre et le fédéralisme qui s'intéresse aux interactions entre oppressions imbriquées et dispositifs fédéraux (institutions, pratiques, discours). J’étudie les processus d’empowerment des personnes agricultrices s’étant mobilisées à la fin de l'année 2020 en Inde contre l'entrée en vigueur de nouvelles lois agricoles. Par ce cas, j'illustre d'abord comment le fédéralisme participe à la fragmentation de groupes marginalisés, tout en soulevant la nécessité d’élaborer des dispositifs fédéraux à partir des réalités, écosystèmes et environnements locaux. Puis, je montre comment une conception féministe radicale de l’empowerment peut modifier les perspectives d'analyse en études fédérales et rendre visibles des structures qui perpétuent les oppressions imbriquées au sein d'une fédération.

This article addresses second-wave feminist interventions in Canadian foreign policy debate with reference to two analytic streams: (1) political science and international relations (IR) perspectives since the late 1990s that stress the formal decisional aims of advocacy and the role of transnational networks in pressuring reluctant governments and (2) sociological approaches that underline movements’ cultural as well as statist dimensions and the significance of their domestic political strategies. Examining engagement by the Voice of Women (VOW) in nuclear weapons debates and National Action Committee on the Status of Women (NAC) in free trade controversies confirms sociological expectations of campaigners’ varied claims and contributions and the importance of their political rootedness in Canada. Consistent with political science and IR arguments, the study finds NAC paid growing attention to international political opportunities in 1990 and following. The conclusion considers implications of the analysis and directions for future research.

The phenomenon of female migration to ISIS (Islamic State in Iraq and Syria) is in fact an undervalued form of revolution for Muslim women. It is, however, a bitter form of striving for women’s emancipation. By transmitting extremist thoughts in the education of children and on the Internet, women empower their position in a patriarchal environment. The women of ISIS use their traditional role of motherhood to participate in the global jihad. By staying in her own tradition, the mother is the first one to create would-be fighters. Hence, the martyr becomes the mother’s creation. They use the mass weapon of education in a reactionary way to demand their place between the men. The process of jihadism amongst women is multidimensional. Herein lies the girl power that can be considered as a manifest aspect. Women recruit potential supporters of ISIS, translate documents, write poems and give Islamic lectures on the Internet. The phenomenon of female migration to IS can also be seen as a romantic urge to return to the golden era of the Moorish caliphate and even to the beginning of Islam in the 7th century. The women of ISIS make efforts to emancipate, however, by making a U-turn.

Until recently, the health promotion movement has focussed primarily on individual responsibility for health behaviours rather than on broad social determinants of health. The movement has been targeted primarily at young rather than older persons, at men rather than women. There is an emerging call for a feminist approach to health promotion for aging women, an approach which would address the current gender, class, race, and age biases in health promotion practice, research, and policy. Feminist theories suggest that sexism limits women's health opportunities and subjects them to an array of situations including marginalization, powerlessness, and exploitation. The purpose of this paper is two-fold: to use a feminist analysis to critique health promotion, identifying gender, class, race, and age biases that influence older women's health, and to recommend changes in health promotion theory, research, practice, and education. Health promotion researchers, practitioners, and educators are challenged to work with older women to increase their visibility and empowerment, and to bring about a transformation of the society in which women age.