The future of feminism and other politics

Researcher: Prof Chilla Bulbeck

This project was supported by a large Australian Research Council grant (2001-2004). My research interests in generational, socio-economic and cultural/ethnic differences frame an analysis of the future of feminism and other left political movements in Australia, situated in an Asia-Pacific perspective. The research was precipitated by the so-called generation debate in feminism and claims that western women's movements are in decline. Cross-cultural analysis is based on results from a survey focusing on gender issues and the women's movement of young high school and university students in each of Hanoi, Beijing, Chiang Mai, Bangkok, Delhi, Mumbai, Seoul and Jogjakarta, Tokyo, Winnipeg, Portland and Los Angeles, as well as samples in South Australia, Western Australia and New South Wales.

Two monographs are planned from the project:

Speaking Gender: How young people in the Asia-Pacific imagine feminism, sex and family

This case study focuses on gender identities in cross-cultural comparison, exploring the discourses through which young people discuss the women’s movement, sexual relations and family arrangements. The book explores young people’s responses to gender issues in a world made smaller by economic, informational and political globalisation⎯from Microsoft to microcredit.

‘Equality biographies’ in a divided Australia: Young people’s modern gendered identities, family and citizenship engagements
Contextualised within the tension between individualisation and increasing material inequality in Australia, the research involves an analysis of the planned family and work trajectories and citizenship engagements of young Australians. The project addresses the prospects for mutual understanding (if not agreement) around contentious political issues such as reconciliation, immigration, environmentalism and feminism and also asks if Australian youth are apathetic and interested only in the accumulation of commodities or are engaged in new forms of politics.