Introduction to the Special Issue: Feminist Solidarity, Resistance, and Social Justice

1. Introduction

This Special Issue of Social Sciences, titled “Feminist Solidarity, Resistance and Social Justice”, brings together critical perspectives and original scholarship illuminating how feminist resistance and solidarity are theorized and practiced across geopolitical, cultural, and institutional contexts. Understanding feminist struggles through the lenses of specificity and intersectionality is essential to advancing an inclusive, justice-driven feminist agenda (Crenshaw 1991; Hooks 2000; Collins 2000). Feminist praxis remains urgent in a world increasingly marked by political polarization, gendered violence, and systemic inequalities; this Special Issue aims to foreground voices often sidelined in dominant discourses (Lorde 1984; Mohanty 2003).

What unites these diverse contributions is a shared commitment to feminist praxis that centers the voices of women and marginalized communities navigating the dual burdens of personal and structural violence. Whether through empirical research, narrative reflection, or theoretical innovation, these studies demonstrate how feminist resistance manifests in spectacular public movements and intimate, everyday acts (Butler 2015; Mahmood 2005; Narayan 1997). From the streets of Tehran to academic hallways in the United States, and from intergenerational Somali households to the necropolitical terrain of Greece, these articles trace the dynamic intersections of gender, race, class, culture, and power (Anzaldúa 1987; Hill Collins 2016). The analyses presented here challenge simplistic binaries of oppression and emancipation, offering instead nuanced portraits of feminist struggle and resilience in the twenty-first century.

This issue opens critical conversations about the nature of solidarity across differences, the role of transnational feminist networks, the pedagogical possibilities of hope, and the necessity of dismantling dominant epistemologies that sustain gender-based violence and inequality (Lugones 2010; Ahmed 2017). It affirms the intellectual and political importance of feminist scholarship that is deeply rooted in lived experience and collective action.

2. Critical Analysis: Mapping Feminist Resistance Across Borders

The Women, Life, Freedom (WLF) movement in Iran, as examined by Tohidi and Daneshpour (2025), is one of the most robust illustrations of feminist resistance as both a local and global force. Rooted in existentialist and humanist traditions, particularly the writings of Simone de Beauvoir, the WLF movement champions self-realization and autonomy in defiance of a theocratic state that suppresses gender agency (De Beauvoir [1949] 2011). More than a response to the compulsory hijab or legal discrimination, this movement represents an ongoing revolutionary shift in how Iranian identity and freedom are conceptualized, replacing imposed patriarchal roles with a dynamic reimagining of national and personal liberation. The authors also emphasize the importance of male allies, demonstrating that feminist resistance is not women’s exclusive domain but a humanist struggle for dignity and self-determination (Bayat 2013).

Delpazir and Sadeghi (2024) offer a grounded ethnographic perspective on women’s resistance within Iranian households in an intimately connected study. They explore how domestic spheres have become microcosms of political struggle—what they term “small Islamic Republics”—where women reconfigure power dynamics in ways that challenge the regime’s moral and ideological authority. Their “resilient resistance” framework captures the sustained, often invisible ways women claim agency through everyday acts of dissent. Together, these two articles reveal a vital aspect of feminist theory: the interpenetration of public and private spheres in contexts of authoritarianism and the capacity for familial and social life to become transformative political sites (Kandiyoti 1988).

An equally powerful contribution comes from Christou (2024), who shifts the lens to Greece and interrogates femicide through the intersecting frameworks of ecofeminism and necropolitics. She frames gendered violence as not merely a personal or cultural issue but as a function of necrocapitalism, which is an economic system that thrives on the disposability of marginalized lives (Mbembe 2003; Shiva 1989). In this analysis, the state’s failure to protect women from violence is not passive neglect but an active consequence of systemic structures that prioritize profit over people. Christou calls for new pedagogies of hope, a radical political strategy rooted in resistance to capitalist terror and heteropatriarchal domination (Freire 1970; Hooks 2003). Her work is particularly salient in drawing attention to how structural violence manifests not only in death but also in the slow erosion of rights, security, and dignity, especially under austerity regimes in the Global North.

These broader political movements and frameworks are complemented by studies that center on women’s lived experiences in institutional and diasporic contexts. Seshadri et al. (2024) contribute an evocative autoethnographic narrative highlighting the intersectional barriers faced by South Asian Indian women in academia. The article unpacks systemic challenges such as racialized expectations, lack of mentorship, and institutional invisibility. Yet, it also documents the power of feminist solidarity, particularly through peer mentorship and shared cultural identity. These narratives underscore that feminist resistance is not always spectacular; it can also be quiet, relational, and deeply personal (Lorde 1984; Hooks 2000). This study demonstrates that even within elite institutions, women of color must navigate the contradictions of visibility and marginalization, and their success often relies on constructing counterspaces of belonging and affirmation (Patton and Catching 2009).

Dini et al. (2024) further enrich the issue by focusing on Somali refugee women in the diaspora, highlighting how displacement and resettlement reshape cultural and intergenerational dialogues surrounding sexuality, family, and gender roles. Their findings challenge monolithic narratives about tradition and cultural preservation, instead demonstrating how familial relationships adapt and evolve across generations. The shift in roles, where sisters and grandmothers assume maternal functions, illustrates the flexibility and resilience of diasporic communities. The study positions these women not as passive recipients of Western norms but as active agents negotiating complex cultural, legal, and social terrains (Al-Sharmani 2010; Abdi 2007). This work provides a necessary corrective to pathologizing discourses surrounding refugee populations by foregrounding agency, adaptation, and the everyday labor of cultural transmission.

Finally, Killian (2024) provides an empirical grounding for many theoretical assertions throughout the issue. Using a national U.S. sample, he quantifies the predictors of sexist attitudes, revealing how racism, Islamophobia, authoritarianism, and limited critical thinking correlate with support for patriarchal norms. His findings underscore that feminist solidarity cannot be assumed in liberal democracies; rather, it must be actively cultivated against entrenched ideologies of white supremacy, nationalism, and heteropatriarchy (Bonilla-Silva 2010; McIntosh 1988). Killian’s work is vital for educational and policy interventions, emphasizing that combating sexism requires an intersectional and structural approach (Sensoy and DiAngelo 2017).

These articles exemplify a broad spectrum of feminist resistance, from grassroots uprisings to quiet acts of institutional defiance. They expand the terrain of feminist inquiry by engaging multiple methodologies such as qualitative interviews, autoethnography, statistical analysis, and theoretical synthesis, as well as foregrounding Global South and Global North perspectives. Together, they argue that feminist solidarity must be systematically relational and structural, attentive to historical context and future possibilities.

3. Conclusions: Toward a Transnational and Intersectional Feminist Praxis

This Special Issue is more than a compilation of studies; it is a manifesto for feminist praxis grounded in justice, shaped by lived experience, and directed toward systemic change. The voices represented here articulate feminism that is neither confined by geography nor diluted by abstraction. Instead, they provide situated analyses that address broader structures of domination and liberation (Spivak 1988; Lugones 2007).

As we reflect on the insights offered by these articles, we are reminded that feminist resistance is an evolving and collective endeavor. Whether through the reconfiguration of family in Iran, the disruption of necrocapitalist narratives in Greece, the rewriting of academic belonging by South Asian scholars, or the renegotiation of cultural knowledge among Somali refugees, feminist praxis emerges as a site for critical intervention and hopeful transformation.

To sustain this momentum, scholars, educators, and activists must continue to center marginalized voices, question dominant epistemologies, and imagine new worlds. Audre Lorde said, “The master’s tools will never dismantle the master’s house”. The authors in this Special Issue remind us that feminist tools of care, solidarity, resistance, and critique are not only dismantling that house but also building something radically new in its place.