Fighting Precarity: The Liminal Experiences of Female Activists

Women are increasingly active in the public sphere fighting precarity. However, current research shows that women still encounter exclusions and barriers when it comes to activism and that their experience of becoming active(ist) is still poorly understood. We propose to look at female activism through the lenses of liminality and embodied identity work by exploring how a group of Spanish female activists experience their activist journey when fighting against precarity. We use a qualitative study conducted over 11 years in Spain. We focused on the experiences of participants of two collectives in Seville, southern Spain, that emerged in consequence of the Great Recession. Our analysis illustrates how our female activists' performances against precarity were carried out as ‘public liminal’ acts using the body and embodied non-linguistic practices as part of their identity journey. Our results expand current understanding of activism in liminal conditions, especially among female activists, by looking at their experiences of activism and at the tensions emerging between potentially new and customary identities and behaviours as an important aspect of activist experiences of fighting precarity. Keywords: Equality/inequality, female activism, gender, identity, liminality, precarity, social change.