Feminist groups in Europe and Eurasia are continuing to resist the far-right rollback of women’s rights. But the international media usually focuses on mass demonstrations for women’s reproductive and sexual rights, overlooking the budding intersectional feminist movements fighting for change.
openDemocracy spoke to five small-scale, grassroots feminist initiatives in Italy, Poland, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan and Tajikistan – countries in which the authors have expertise and local contacts – which transcend mainstream narratives about women’s rights. From transfeminist alliances to disability rights and sexual and bodily autonomy, these groups aim to tackle complex forms of injustice.
Italy: transfeminism against the far right
While abortion is legal in Italy for up to 90 days from conception, it is often not accessible. In the central Italian region of Marche, which has been governed by prime minister Giorgia Meloni’s far-right Brothers of Italy party since 2020, 70% of gynaecologists refuse to terminate pregnancies on moral grounds.
