ABSTRACT
Feminisms look back on a long history of movements, some of which have become institutionalised and firmly embedded in their political system. This chapter takes stock of institutionalised feminisms in the form of national women’s umbrella organisations by comparing Belgium and Germany. While both countries have an increasingly diverse population, and while institutionalised feminisms embrace the idea of representing all women, the various women’s councils seem to struggle with a shift to a more intersectional approach. Their management structure, priorities, activities, practices, and discourse seem to reflect little intersectionality, notwithstanding the different history and position of the women’s councils in the two countries. The chapter documents this lack of an intersectional approach by looking into the evolution of these women’s councils over time and current expressions of any form of intersectionality in their descriptive and substantive representation. By scrutinising intersectionality in national women’s umbrella organisations, which function as a node between diverse women’s organisations and different levels of policy-making, this chapter illuminates how and when exclusion and inclusion play out and how intersectionality shapes (or not) alliances, practices, and discourses.
