Form Follows Function: The Evolution of Feminist Strategies

Abstract

The contemporary feminist movement that emerged in the mid-1960s had dual origins: liberal women's rights organizations that pursued legislative and judicial reforms, and a radical movement based in numerous small local groups. Over the past 25 years, both movements have been transformed in ways that reflect and complement American federalism. In order to influence legislative policy-making that dominates on the national and state levels, women's rights groups have become professionalized interest group lobbies and have formed policy networks that pursue diverse agendas. Because urban politics are uniquely bureaucratic politics, local feminists currently act through issue-specific women's policy networks composed of advocacy groups, women-run alternative services, and urban bureaucracies responsible for funding, delivering, or regulating programs that meet the special needs of women.