The Limits of Rights-Based Discourse in Romani Women’s Activism: The Gender Dimension in Romani Politics

Abstract

Until recently, most political scientists and historians writing about the Romani ‘movement’ eschewed a consideration of the conjunction of ethnic and gender identity in their analyses, partly as a result of the traditional emphasis on forms of political struggle in which men have taken a leading role. Moreover, recent scholarship on Romani politics or political mobilization tends to be celebratory, and excludes critical consideration of gender as it operates to produce political identity, to ground ideology or to inform leadership structures, goals or dynamics. The lack of gender awareness deprives us of a crucial perspective which could serve to rework key concepts such as power, resistance and identity within this area of engaged scholarship. It also hinders our understanding of how gender systems have been shaped by — and have profoundly shaped — other forms of power in social relations.