Democracy Today.indb - Universidade do Minho

ii. Trans-local Networking among Female Movements at
various levels
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DEMOCRACY TODAY
Global geopolitics, especially women mobilising at the international
level has had positive effects on the course of women’s regional networking
(Tripp 2003, Mbilinyi 2006: 46 - 48). Incremental gains can be
recounted: from government’s relaxing some of the coercive means of
governance to a renewed interest in bringing the state back in on developmental
and governance issues and holding it accountable through
global and regional checks. Notable among these global and regional
checks are social movements, UN bodies and the recently enacted
International Criminal Court. Due to their nature of formation, social
movements manifest a more communal spirit, participatory democracy,
mutual support and networking. Above all, they offer new visions of
society (Mamdani, Mkandawire and Wamba dia Wamba 1988). For
young women, these different forms of socially embedded movements
offer avenues for self-organisation and arenas for interaction, discussion
and information sharing on critical social and political issues.
Increasingly, young women are forming professional groups which
are linked in one way or another to the enterprise of society. They (the
young women) not only meet their peers in such groups but are often
accorded opportunities for mentorship by other feminist women holding
positions of influence and who have defined themselves as agents
of a transformative agenda (Mbilinyi 2006:46 – 48).
However, I am of the opinion that young women have not yet fully
capitalised on the opportunities offered by trans-local networking. This,
as earlier explored, is either because governance issues and agendas
that could form the basis for inter-linkages are still poorly defined.
This could be due to different factors, for example, either being overwhelmed
by information, not having the correct information/having no
information that could enlighten the basis of analysis of major issues.
This leaves young women isolated and forces them to trend the ‘known
paths’ before branching off by which time many of the issues are passé
and devoid of their (young women) points of views. It seems to me that
men have developed better coping mechanisms in this regard, which
help them quickly sieve through information, get correct information
and thus stay abreast of governance issues, thereby being competitive