“I Became a Lioness”: Pathways to Feminist Identity Among Women’s Movement Activists

Feminist identity is a powerful predictor of activism on behalf of women. However, little is known about how feminist identity develops worldwide, either in terms of social identity theory or the stage model of feminist identity development. Moreover, some women’s movement advocates view feminism with suspicion, as focused only on concerns of a narrow group of women. For this study, 45 women’s movement activists from China, India, Nicaragua, Poland, and the United States were interviewed as part of the Global Feminisms Project. Participants’ personal narratives were examined to identify themes activists used to describe their own feminist identity development. The six themes that emerged were education, social relationships, gender-based injustice, violence, activism, and emotion. Alternating least squares analysis of the concurrence of these themes revealed four pathways to feminist identity: (1) education, (2) social relationships and gender-based injustice, (3) violence, and (4) activism and emotion. These findings suggest that individuals come to feminist identity in different ways. Instructors aiming to encourage understanding of women’s movement activism should point to these different pathways, and feminist activists seeking to promote feminist identity development should consider different approaches to successfully engaging people. Online slides and a podcast for instructors who want to use this article for teaching are available on PWQ's website at http://journals.sagepub.com/page/pwq/suppl/inde