1 - Feminist Bandung: The Asian-African Conference of Women and Women's Social Development in the Third World

Held in Colombo in 1958, The Asian-African Conference of Women (AACW) was the first Afro-Asian flagged conference organised by a transnational network of feminists from Asia and Africa. The conference marked a new phase of the formation of transnational feminist networking circles between women activists from Asia and Africa who previously had limited platforms to meet. Designed as a non-political conference, the AACW’s mission was to bring together Asian and African women activists for the first time to discuss basic social problems encountered by women (and children) in Asia and Africa. I argue that the conference was a cooperative effort by women activists to push for social and political change for women across Asia and Africa where crucial discussions on the situation of women were excluded by state leaders and statesmen at the Bandung Conference. Improving women’s rights and the status of women in newly independent countries was one of the most fundamental issues not only for women’s development but also national development in general. The exchange of ideas at the AAWC is important to see in today’s context as the issues and concerns discussed are still relevant.