PHD SCHOOL IN SOCIAL SCIENCES AND ECONOMICS

Thesis title: FEMMINISMO TRANSNAZIONALE E NAZIONI UNITE La Commission on the Status of Women come luogo di resistenza.

Transnational Feminism and the United Nations: The Commission on the Status of Women as a Site of Resistance is an ethnography that examines the collective action of the transnational feminist movement within the context of the United Nations, specifically during the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW). The study focuses on a transnational feminist network active in this space. The methodology combines participant observation, semi-structured interviews, document analysis, and field notes, allowing exploration of collective action at the micro, meso, and macro levels. The ethnography reveals the internal dynamics of the network, including conflicts, alliances, organization, and meaning-making, demonstrating how activists negotiate power in a transnational arena. Moreover, it emphasizes forms of everyday resistance and the survival of feminism even during phases of apparent dormancy, overcoming the “success/failure” dichotomy of movements. This illustrates how the study of feminist movements can enhance collective action analysis and ethnographic methodology, offering new epistemological perspectives and encouraging theoretical rethinking. In sum, the paper makes an innovative contribution by showing how CSW serves as a site of resistance and a laboratory of transnational feminist practices in dialogue (and conflict) with global institutions.