The NGOization of Social Movements: Between Opportunities and Constraints

As women gained access to influence politics through formal official channels, social justice concerns of feminist activists started to be pursued through institutionalized forms of political intervention. Scholars have argued for a shift in feminist activism from participation in political movements to lobby and advocacy within formal organizations. The institutionalization and professionalization of the feminist movement were widely associated with feminist and women NGOs collaborating with governmental gender equality bodies to advance movement goals and achieve policy success. While some insisted on the benefits of infusing feminist ideas and practices within the state, others considered that NGOization made the feminist movement susceptible of co-optation, contributing to its demobilization and depoliticization. The financial dependency on public or private subsidies studded the NGOization hypothesis and urged scholars to analyze the effects of funding on feminist organizations and their capacity for mobilization. Despite the general diagnosis of a co-opted movement comprising an overabundance of depoliticized NGOs, contemporary feminist movements reveal as a space in which formal official organizations and informal groups co-exist, using both disruptive and disciplined strategies, in different political locations, with various material resources, from friends and comrades’ contributions to state funds or private grants.