Gender and Sexuality
Women Professional Associations: A Response to Gender Inequality Between the Private and Public Spheres
Men and women across racial and class divides have disparaged women’s
organisations at various times and places (Abdullah 1995; and Molyneux 1998).
The literature is replete with the tendency to categorize and label women groups
and as ‘elitist, middle-class, academic’ (Reddock 1991:19). Other descriptions
have included ‘militant’, ‘short term’, and ‘propagandist’. But a critical look at
such categorization suggests that the rapidity in condemnation can be traced to
an inadequate examination of women’s organisations. Moreover, as Reddock
(1991) opines, it is necessary for gender scholars to study all organisations, to
find out who joins them and why such groups continue to be popular. This is
even more important for this researcher, as there is little reference to women’s
participation in worker’s organisations (Sokunbi et al. 1995) and especially little
reference in existing literature to their involvement in professional associations.
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