FROM “SOCIAL JUSTICE AND THE CITY” TO WOMEN-FRIENDLY CITIES? FEMINIST THEORY AND POLITICS

The early 1970s was a period of immense social upheaval, with new social movements dominating the urban social landscape. Social scientists were dealing with a crisis of relevance and David Harvey's Social Justice and the City was one response to this crisis. Despite the growth of the contemporary women's movement in the early 1970s, women are practically invisible in the book. This invisibility was typical of much academic writing at the time, and was being addressed by feminist scholars in their critiques of traditional Marxist theory. Within a broader societal context, women began to problematize the public-private divide, which ushered in a shift toward representations of women as individuals rather than auxiliaries to men. Women redefined "political" in a bid to make cities (and North America) more women-friendly. Feminists took supposedly "private" issues and placed them squarely on the municipal agenda. This point is illustrated with the example of Toronto feminists' activism around male violence against women. In the last 20 years, feminists have gained momentum from the assumption of the universality of women's oppression. In the 1990s, social scientists are facing a crisis of representation regarding the viability of universal truths and totalizing discourses. This necessitates a revision of urban social justice that is sensitive to difference and diversity.