Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Dedication
- Contents
- List of figures and tables
- Notes on contributors
- Acknowledgements
- Foreword
- The formation of Gypsy, Roma and Traveller organisations in the UK
- Gypsy and Traveller accommodation policies
- List of abbreviations
- one Introduction
- two Pedagogies of hope: the Gypsy Council and the National Gypsy Education Council
- three ‘Ministers like it that way’: developing education services for Gypsies and Travellers
- four Charles Smith: the fashioning of an activist
- five Friends, Families and Travellers: organising to resist extreme moral panics
- six Building bridges, shifting sands: changing community development strategies in the Gypsy and Traveller voluntary sector since the 1990s
- seven The Gypsy and Traveller Law Reform Coalition
- eight Below the radar: Gypsy and Traveller self-help communities and the role of the Travellers Aid Trust
- nine Gender and community activism: the role of women in the work of the National Federation of Gypsy Liaison Groups
- ten The Roma in Europe: the debate over the possibilities for empowerment to seek social justice
- eleven Roma communities in the UK: ‘opening doors’, taking new directions
- twelve Conclusion: in search of empowerment
- Appendix 1 Directory of Gypsy, Roma and Traveller organisations
- Appendix 2 The numbers game
- Index
nine - Gender and community activism: the role of women in the work of the National Federation of Gypsy Liaison Groups
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 04 March 2022
- Frontmatter
- Dedication
- Contents
- List of figures and tables
- Notes on contributors
- Acknowledgements
- Foreword
- The formation of Gypsy, Roma and Traveller organisations in the UK
- Gypsy and Traveller accommodation policies
- List of abbreviations
- one Introduction
- two Pedagogies of hope: the Gypsy Council and the National Gypsy Education Council
- three ‘Ministers like it that way’: developing education services for Gypsies and Travellers
- four Charles Smith: the fashioning of an activist
- five Friends, Families and Travellers: organising to resist extreme moral panics
- six Building bridges, shifting sands: changing community development strategies in the Gypsy and Traveller voluntary sector since the 1990s
- seven The Gypsy and Traveller Law Reform Coalition
- eight Below the radar: Gypsy and Traveller self-help communities and the role of the Travellers Aid Trust
- nine Gender and community activism: the role of women in the work of the National Federation of Gypsy Liaison Groups
- ten The Roma in Europe: the debate over the possibilities for empowerment to seek social justice
- eleven Roma communities in the UK: ‘opening doors’, taking new directions
- twelve Conclusion: in search of empowerment
- Appendix 1 Directory of Gypsy, Roma and Traveller organisations
- Appendix 2 The numbers game
- Index
Summary
“Very strong women – wherever you look there has been a strong woman.”
Introduction
This chapter outlines the work of key women activists within the National Federation of Gypsy Liaison Groups (NFGLG) who are working to support their communities locally and nationally to gain stable places to live and to promote improved understanding and relationships between the settled and Gypsy/Traveller communities. A major aspect of their work involves advocating for planning permission for families, as well as educating officials and the public about Gypsies’ and Travellers’ culture, lives and needs, and commemorating Gypsy history.
Through reflections on their experiences, underpinned by feminist community work theory and insights from other theory and research, the chapter explores the gender dimensions of activism for Gypsy and Traveller women, the deep roots in their communities that generate both strengths and barriers and the theoretical developments their practice suggests. It reflects a partnership between activism and research in being co-written by Gypsy activists and a non-Gypsy researcher who had the privilege of joining these discussions. The authors also acknowledge the inspiring contribution of other women, some of whose work is reflected in other chapters or referred to below.
After outlining a feminist perspective on community development and the experience of gender within Gypsy and Traveller communities, the chapter considers the development of Gypsy and Traveller women's activism, before focusing on the experience of NFGLG activists. It concludes by examining some of the main differences from and parallels with ‘mainstream’ feminist community action, reflecting minority group experiences.
Women and community development
Gypsy and Traveller women, like many other women who are active on behalf of their communities, may not identify as ‘feminist’. Media portrayals have not assisted understanding of this term. However, feminist writers, including activists, practitioners and academics (for example Mayo, 1977; Curno et al, 1982; Ledwith 2005; Dominelli 2006) have focused on the activities of women in communities that had otherwise remained obscured because men often took the prominent roles while women undertook vital activity behind the scenes. They have brought women's wide-ranging activism to light in order to celebrate it and analyse its relationship to women's lives and the principles that inform its specific contributions to community development (and have in turn informed community development more broadly).
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Hearing the Voices of Gypsy, Roma and Traveller CommunitiesInclusive Community Development, pp. 155 - 176Publisher: Bristol University PressPrint publication year: 2014