second wave goggles

(left: women in Tahrir Square in Cairo; right: women in Cartello Sforzesco in Milan)

Sometimes it feels like we're still surfing the second wave... As I was reading this post from La ventisettesima ora - un blog al femminile curato da 15 giornaliste del Corriere della Sera - I remembered Kathleen Sheldon's conversation with Raquel Fernando, a cashew worker and OMM (Organizaçao da mulher moçambicana) activist from Beira, which may be found in the introduction to Pounders of Grain: A History of Women, Work and Politics in Mozambique. Here's a quick summary. Walking along a dusty road, Fernando asked Sheldon if women in the US had a women's organisation like OMM. Katheen explained that "American women's organisations were not only autonomous from governmental structures, but were even antagonistic to them", whereas in Mozambique there was a very close connection between the women's organisation and the ruling party Frelimo. As the discussion unfolded, Fernando suggested that perhaps Sheldon could use her experience in Mozambique to help American women develop their political organisations. This chat led Sheldon to rethink her own assumptions about women and political organisations. I think the insights of Sheldon's thought-provoking introduction (and whole book) would help answering (or perhaps rephrasing?) Cecilia Zecchinelli's question: "ma l'esperienza di noi italiane può servire oggi alle donne arabe?"