Organizing Women Workers in the Informal Economy: Beyond the Weapons of the Weak (Feminisms and Development)

Women have often been divided by intersecting inequalities: class, race, ethnicity caste, amongst others. Their weapons of resistance have been the traditional weapons of the weak: hidden subversions and individualized struggles. This book explores the emergence of an alternative repertoire among women working in the growing informal sectors of the global south: the weapons of organization and mobilization. It offers vibrant accounts of collective action by organizations of women working as farm workers, sex workers, domestic workers, waste pickers, fisheries workers and migrant factory. With first-hand accounts from authors closely involved in emerging organizations, this collection documents how women workers have come together to carve out new identities, define their own agendas and develop collective strategies of resistance and struggle.