AWID REPORT: Challenging corporate power: Struggles for women’s rights, economic and gender justice

In early 2016, AWID and the Solidarity Center convened a Cross Movement Dialogue facilitated by JASS in São Paulo, Brazil, which brought together women trade unionists, LGBTQI activists, feminists, indigenous women and women human rights defenders to discuss, debate and share what corporate power is, and what it means to their struggles and their lives. The reflections, insights and theoretical frameworks explored during the dialogue shaped and informed this paper. In the first section, the paper explores how corporations in collusion with elites and other powerful actors are exerting their power to transform economic and political systems. The report then illustrates how this power impacts women and oppressed peoples. The final section looks at the power women and oppressed peoples are exercising through five stories of resistance shared during the Cross Movement Dialogue. The recommendations and reflections at the end of this report are informed by the conversations within and across different movements.