The book moves us to rethink definitions of feminism and social justice. Feminism is not just a fight for gender equality. In societies, where forms of oppression are interlinked, a sole battle for gender equality is futile. The book raises critical questions that will motivate every feminist researcher, practitioner, educator, and activist to rethink and reconceptualize their own work through a feminist social justice lens. * Anindita Bhattacharya, Affilia: Feminist Inquiry in Social Work *
Margaret A. McLaren's book Women's Activism, Feminism, and Social Justice is a valuable contribution to the discussion of transnational feminism...Readers who are interested in global justice, transnational feminism, and feminist theories and practices in India will find this book informative and thought-provoking. - Radical Philosophy Review
...excellent...McLaren's book brings together many often-disconnected threads of philosophy: abstract and pragmatic, analytic and political, systemic and small scale, global and local... I found this book well-structured, -written, and -argued. McLaren's critiques of the shortcomings of existing models are very effective, and her conception of relational cosmopolitanism is very provocative, an important concept that is greatly needed in the debates over globalization, worthy of future research and debate. I used this book in a mixed under/graduate seminar in feminist theory last spring and they found the argument provocative and engaging, and the book enjoyable to read. Highly recommended. * American Philosophical Association Newsletter on Feminism and Philosophy *
The book moves us to rethink definitions of feminism and social justice. Feminism is not just a fight for gender equality. In societies, where forms of oppression are interlinked, a sole battle for gender equality is futile. The book raises critical questions that will motivate every feminist researcher, practitioner, educator, and activist to rethink and reconceptualize their own work through a feminist social justice lens. * Anindita Bhattacharya, University of Washington-Tacoma, Journal of Women and Social Work *
Margaret A. McLaren's monograph is a fabulous addition to the growing body of work in Oxford's Studies in Feminist Philosophy ... I highly recommend this book as a supplemental text for undergraduate classes in social philosophy, women's and gender studies, economics, and other social sciences. It is also accessible for a general audience, for organizers and policy analysts, as well as graduate students and experts in the field. It provides a rich overview of pressing political and economic global issues by using two outstanding case studies from India. * Mechthild Nagel, Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews *
This rich and important book offers nothing less than a new philosophical approach to justice and injustice. Against a trenchant critique of rights based accounts of justice, liberal and neoliberal theories of economic justice, and ideas of justice based in a transnational cosmopolitanism, McLaren develops a social justice feminism that makes a feminist transnational solidarity possible. Recognizing the need for both a critique of structural inequity or systems of power and attention to social location, she shows that cultural difference is not an impediment to transnational justice, but a resource and a basis for solidarity. Valorizing interdependence, intersectionality, and imagination over individuality, identity, and interest, McLaren maps a better way of thinking about justice, as well as concrete norms for action and collaboration. * Mary C. Rawlinson, Professor and Director of Graduate Studies, Stony Brook University *
In this timely book, Margaret McLaren deftly weaves the threads of scholarship and activism together into a rich tapestry informed by over a decade of work with SEWA (Self-Employed Women's Association) and MarketPlace India. The theoretical centerpiece of the book - a feminist social justice framework - explores the complexity of gender oppression in ways both lucid and incisive. Her multi-layered approach to transnational feminism is ambitiously designed to address oppression and injustice as they function on individual, institutional, and structural levels and the possibilities of empowerment of an ethical, social, and political nature... This is important reading for feminist scholars of many disciplinary stripes. * Sarah Clark Miller, Associate Professor of Philosophy, Penn State University *
Women's Activism, Feminism and Social Justice theorizes global feminism(s) as intersectional and interdependent by engaging with both Western and Indian feminists. It argues for a responsive and responsible framework of feminist agency that addresses socio-economic oppression in culturally specific contexts. McLaren's pioneering explorations on decolonizing feminism promise to inform and enrich endeavors of transnational solidarities integrating theory and activism. * Kanchana Mahadevan, Professor, Department of Philosophy, University of Mumbai *
