The Women in Red: The Committee of the Movement of Bulgarian Women and the Development of Progressive Women’s Movements in Africa and Asia, 1980-1985

Abstract

The history of the United Nations International Decade for Women, which catalyzed global women's activism between 1975 and 1985 through three key intergovernmental meetings in Mexico City, Copenhagen and Nairobi, has been primarily written by Western women. This "First World" perspective tends to ignore the the important role played by women from the Eastern Bloc and the developing countries. While Western women were concerned with gaining legal and economic equality at home, socialist women from the Eastern Bloc argued that women’s equality with men was useless in a world full of racism, violence, underdevelopment, colonialism, and war. This case study of the Committee of the Bulgarian Women’s Movement (CBWM) and their activities between 1968 and 1990 demonstrates the important coalitions that were developed between 'Second World" and "Third World" women, alliances that provided a real challenge to the neoliberalization of global women's activism.