Feminism and Counter-Trafficking: Exploring the Transformative Potential of Contemporary Feminism in Portugal
| Published date | 01 June 2023 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1177/09646639221119361 |
| Author | Mara Clemente |
| Date | 01 June 2023 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
Feminism and Counter-
Trafficking: Exploring the
Transformative Potential
of Contemporary Feminism
in Portugal
Mara Clemente
ISCTE –Instituto Universitário de Lisboa, Centro de
Investigação e Estudos de Sociologia (CIES-IUL),
Portugal
Abstract
Focusing on the Portuguese case, this article explores the role of feminism in counter-
trafficking. Through analysing feminist discourse on human trafficking, the article inter-
rogates feminism’s ability and its limitations in challenging or reinforcing some of the
most controversial policy outcomes. The article argues that, due to a structural weak-
ness within feminism itself and the profound institutionalisation of counter-trafficking,
any possibility of challenging dominant discourses on trafficking remains a distant
dream. Rather, counter-trafficking attempts ultimately help create a controversial neo-
liberal space that strains feminism’s transformative potential while simultaneously
strengthening bureaucratic state feminism.
Keywords
human trafficking, counter-trafficking, feminism, state feminism, Portugal
Introduction
Feminism has played a prominent historical role in counter-trafficking activism.
Nineteenth-century feminists, in close collaboration with conservative faith-based
Corresponding author:
Mara Clemente, ISCTE –Instituto Universitário de Lisboa, Centro de Investigação e Estudos de Sociologia
(CIES-IUL), Av. das Forças Armadas, 1649-026, Lisboa, Portugal.
Email: mara.clemente@iscte-iul.pt
Article
Social & Legal Studies
2023, Vol. 32(3) 420–440
© The Author(s) 2022
Article reuse guidelines:
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DOI: 10.1177/09646639221119361
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groups, contributed towards making ‘trafficking’
1
one of the first feminist issues to be
addressed in a series of international agreements that in 1949, were superseded by the
United Nations (UN) International Convention for the Suppression of the Trafficin
Persons and of the Exploitation of the Prostitution of Others (Doezema, 2010;
Limoncelli, 2010; Outshoorn, 2015).
After a period in which prostitution
2
and ‘trafficking’faded from feminist and indeed
broader international concern, when trafficking re-emerged in feminist debate during the
mid-1980s, second-wave feminism
3
began to disagree about the definition of prostitution,
its links to trafficking, and the consequent requests made to national governments, as well
as in the UN and European Union (EU) (Outshoorn, 2005). Between the late nineteenth
century and the early decades of the twentieth century, feminist demands –identifying
trafficking with the transport of (white) women across international borders for the
purpose of prostitution –converged, insisting on the abolition of state regulation of pros-
titution, and an end to the so-called ‘white slave trade’(Doezema, 2010). Conversely, at
the end of the twentieth century, feminist advocates and activists agreed solely on the
need for a new international mandate addressing trafficking and targeting, in particular,
women.
Despite adopting divergent discourses and advocacy paths, feminists and feminist
organisations have once again firmly placed trafficking on the transnational political
agenda, creating identity categories such as ‘victims of trafficking’and providing evi-
dence about the problem. Divisions and tensions within feminism have played a signifi-
cant role in shaping international and national conventions and legislation, such as the
2000 UN Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially
Women and Children (also known as the Trafficking Protocol or Palermo Protocol;
Sullivan, 2003). This has produced an increasing number of material effects. A contro-
versial focus on criminal justice objectives, the stiffening of migration policies, an
increasing number of what might (at best) be termed ‘questionable’controls at borders
as well as in the sex market, and ‘voluntary’or ‘forced’return practices are just some
examples of ‘collateral damage’involving migrants and ‘trafficking victims,’who are
most often described as ‘illegal’immigrants (GAATW, 2007). These effects, together
with the historical role that feminism has played in shaping trafficking and prostitution
discourses, make relevant an analysis of the feminist contribution to more recent articu-
lations of counter-trafficking in different national contexts.
With this aim, this article focuses on Portugal where counter-trafficking has been
addressed through the actions of one of the main gender equality official mechanisms -
the Commission for Citizenship and Gender Equality (CIG), and with its attempts to
include the women’s movement demands and actors in the state, this public body has
come to be described as an expression of Portuguese ‘state feminism’(Monteiro and
Ferreira, 2016; see also Kantola and Outshoorn, 2007). Also in this national context,
both the neoliberal outsourcing of social services to non-state actors and the logic of
multi-sector partnerships informing counter-trafficking have favoured the presence of
feminist and women’s organisations in counter-trafficking. All this contributes to
making Portugal an interesting case study for analysing contemporary feminism in
counter-trafficking. More broadly, the article explores if and how contemporary counter-
trafficking interventions can be strengthened by a feminist approach. It affects the social
Clemente 421
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