ABSTRACT
Feminist movements use many strategies and deploy various political and social theories for the attainment of their goals. In the new globalized order, ‘third world’ feminisms have taken recourse to a language of rights, seeking to bring in processes like the world conferences or conventions such as the Convention for the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) for the framing of national agendas and demands. Whilst this has been an empowering strategy, what remains in the background is the notion of ‘liberation’. Rights speak a language of equality and fair play, of entitlements and access. From within this arena of a rights-oriented movement, I would like to seek spaces where a redress of women’s subordinated position translates not only into a movement for justice and equality, but also highlights the questions of freedom and liberation. These may be the spaces where women’s problematic social positioning is highlighted, where the meaning of ‘freedoms’ as it pertains in a gender-discriminated world can be debated.
