Women's centres and women's alternative services in Nova Scotia : resisting multiple-state pressures to de-politicize

Abstract

Since 1965, feminist social activism has seeded numerous feminist social movement organizations in Nova Scotia and across Canada--women's coalitions, social advocacy groups, political caucuses, women's centres, and women's alternative services. As well it has seeded feminist research and women's studies programs. In the tradition of the women's movement and feminist social activism, this thesis uses feminist 'street theory' methodology to develop a theoretically-based understanding of the challenges and contradictions women's movement services in Nova Scotia face in their ongoing struggle for survival. It locates women's movement services within the broader women's movement, provides an historical context for their development of social advocacy mandates, identifies the multiple state pressures they face to de-politicize and provides insights into their resistance to those pressures. It maintains that feminists located in community as well as in academia can learn from the 'on the ground' experiences of women's movement services about evolving feminist organizational structures and praxis.