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Who is the 99%? Feminist Perspectives on Occupy

Masculinities

April 2013

By Vinita Sahasranaman

“Occupy” is an international movement that protests against current economic structures that distribute wealth unevenly. It advocates the creation of an alternative economic paradigm that will be fair in its distribution of wealth and economic power. Occupy’s powerful slogan, “We are the 99%”, succinctly captures the concentration of power among the top 1% of corporations and billionaires who dominate political and economic discourses. Some of Occupy’s key demands include ending the corrupting influence of corporations on politics, penalising the financial fraudsters of the 2008 crash, and creating a truly participatory democratic processes. Although women are everywhere in the movement, there were no specific demands related to women’s economic rights.

Has the feminist and queer agenda, questions of the poor, homeless, people of color been included in Occupy? The following case study looks to feminist perspectives on Occupy to answer this question.

“Who is the 99%? Feminist Perspectives on Occupy” was written by Vinita Sahasranaman, who worked with The YP Foundation as the Director of Programmes and Advocacy. It was originally published as part of the BRIDGE Cutting Edge programme on gender and social movements in April 2013 under the creative commons license.

link to creative commons license details

Who is the 99%? Feminist Perspectives on Occupy

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