ABSTRACT
The Network of East–West Women (NEWW) is an important case for reexamining the development of transnational feminist activism in Central-Eastern Europe and Eurasia (CEE&E) and the debates this activism has inspired. The work of western feminists has been criticized by some scholars and activists as imperialist and, in its gender-essentialist conceptualization of solidarity, neglectful of class. The work of NEWW challenges these critiques. By design, women from the region played a central role in shaping NEWW and were influential in reshaping the work of western feminists. NEWW’s focus on gender equality was not gender essentialist, but rather recognized the intersectional nature of postsocialist inequalities, which included class-based inequalities. Feminist NGOs in CEE&E and their donors have also been criticized for promoting neoliberalism or focusing only on the private sphere. But NEWW, and many of the most active women’s NGOs in CEE&E, including NEWW’s partner NGOs, opposed neoliberalism and did not generally focus on the private sphere. Some of the most important funders of women’s NGOs in CEE&E also refused to fund neoliberal practices.
