Ortak Kimlik ve Farklılıklarımız

Abstract

The search for a common identity is both the beginning and one of the most diffıcult tasks of the vvomen's movement. Identities consisting of social, cultural, religious and ethnic elements of which some become more significant than others during the course of one's life, can have unifying as well as splitting effects. The vvomen's movement has experienced both. First, women were united on the basis of a common gender identity, but later the women's movement fell apart because of differences between vvomen. Through this process, the women's movement lost some of its capacity for action and the motivation to participate in the movement. On the other hand, the women's movement has gained new power from this significant question about a unifying basis for a movement and has become a model for other social movements. In times of the movement's decline and its loss of common goals, it is important to regain the ability of action. Do vvomen need a common identity in order to regain the capacity for action or do actions unite vvomen? How can the mistakes be avoided which have led to separation and loss of power in the past? This article reflects on these questions and discusses suggestions for some ansvvers.