Postfeminist individuating of a women collective and the strugglesome emergence of a relational collective feminist solidarity: the story of Kudumbashree, a Kerala state-instituted women empowerment program

Abstract

In a patriarchal caste- and class-inflicted gendered work setting in an Indian state, Kerala, we explore the process of mobilizing neoliberal postfeminization and subsequent collectivization and collective acting of women from lower socioeconomic classes. We identify neoliberal postfeminism's structural contradictions and lingering individuating forces within a state-instituted yet bottom-up women empowerment collectivization program, enriching the emerging critique of neoliberal postfeminization, particularly within intersectionality conversations. Despite these impediments, the collective gradually developed a situational embodied relational collective feminist solidarity that facilitated possibilities for creating alternatives to neoliberal postfeminist patriarchal ways of organizing work and working bodies. By narratively mapping these processes, we hope to advance the emerging discussions on the development of feminist solidarity and solidaristic alternatives.