Young feminists working globally to end violence against women and girls: key challenges and ways forward

ABSTRACT

Drawing from our experience as young feminists working with an emerging feminist advocacy collective focused on addressing violence against women and girls (VAWG), our article focuses on some of the key challenges young feminists face while advocating for feminist-informed programming in efforts to address VAWG in humanitarian and development settings. Drawing on our own experience as young feminists to prevent and address VAWG in a patriarchal world, we see ourselves as walking a tightrope. On one hand, our radical activism is instrumental in achieving a world where no one is left behind. Yet we are often told, in direct and indirect ways, to dial down the feminism, to be ‘inclusive’ and ‘intersectional’ with limited meaningful accountability to women and girls. We conclude by offering a set of recommendations aimed at advancing young feminist activism in VAWG work and retaining a feminist space that is political, while working in partnership with other movements and actors.

Sur la base de notre expérience en tant que jeunes féministes travaillant avec un collectif féministe émergent de plaidoyer cherchant à lutter contre les violences faites aux femmes et aux filles (VFF), notre article traite de certains des défis clés auxquels sont confrontées les jeunes féministes dans le cadre de leurs actions de plaidoyer en faveur d’une programmation éclairée par le féminisme en vue de lutter contre les VFF dans les contextes humanitaires et de développement. Sur la base de notre propre expérience en tant que jeunes féministes pour prévenir et lutter contre les VFF dans un monde patriarcal, nous nous voyons maintenir un équilibre délicat. D’un côté, notre activisme radical est essentiel pour parvenir à un monde sans laissés-pour-compte. Cependant, on nous dit souvent, de manière directe et indirecte, de mettre le féminisme en sourdine, de nous montrer inclusives et « intersectionnelles », ce qui limite toute véritable reddition de comptes aux femmes et aux filles. En conclusion, nous présentons une série de recommandations visant à faire avancer l’activisme des jeunes féministes dans le travail contre les VFF et à préserver un espace féministe qui est politique, tout en travaillant en partenariat avec d’autres mouvements et acteurs.

A partir de nuestra experiencia como jóvenes feministas integrantes de un colectivo emergente centrado en cómo enfrentar la violencia contra las mujeres y las niñas (vcmn), en el presente artículo damos cuenta de algunos de los principales retos que deben sortear las jóvenes feministas en su trabajo de incidencia en pro de programas —fundamentados en el feminismo— cuyo objetivo es oponerse a la vcmn en el ámbito humanitario y de desarrollo. Considerando nuestra propia experiencia como jóvenes feministas abocadas a prevenir y responder a la vcmn en un mundo patriarcal, vemos que caminamos en la cuerda floja. Por un lado, nuestro activismo radical constituye un elemento clave para lograr un mundo en el que nadie quede rezagado. Pero por otro, a menudo se nos dice, de manera directa e indirecta, que debemos suavizar el componente feminista, a fin de ser “incluyentes” y “transversales”, aun a costa de que ello signifique tener poca rendición de cuentas real ante las mujeres y las niñas. Concluimos ofreciendo un conjunto de recomendaciones destinado a impulsar el activismo de las jóvenes feministas en su trabajo contra la vcmn y a preservar un espacio feminista y político; mientras tanto seguimos trabajando en alianza con otros movimientos y actores.

KEYWORDS:

• Feminist activism
• violence against women and girls, VAWG, gender-based violence
• GBV
• humanitarian
• international development
• intersectional analysis

Notes on contributors

Divya Chandran is a feminist activist, researcher, and independent consultant specialising in protection against sexual exploitation and abuse (PSEA), gender-based violence/VAWG work, migrant workers’ rights, and gender mainstreaming. Email: [email protected]. Twitter: @_divyac

Rita Lo is a project consultant for the Coalition of Feminists for Social Change (COFEM), with a particular interest in protection and education in emergencies. Email: [email protected]

Christine Homan is a consultant for the Coalition of Feminists for Social Change (COFEM). Postal address: c/o The Editor, Gender & Development. Email: [email protected]

Notes

1 We wrote this article in our personal capacity. The views expressed are our own and do not necessarily represent the views of COFEM.

2 For more information on COFEM, see www.cofemsocialchange.org.

3 Unfortunately, we cannot name the institution because there are feminists still working in the institution who are at risk of exposure. Paradoxically, this institution is specifically mandated to address gender issues within the international aid system.

4 For more information on the UN/EU Spotlight Initiative, see www.un.org/en/spotlight-initiative/index.shtml (last checked 3 October 2018).

5 The Combahee River Collective, a Boston-based organisation active from 1974 to 1980, was a collective of Black feminists, including lesbians. Their statement, widely known as the Combahee River Collective statement, laid out key tenets of intersectionality and examined the interlocking systems of oppressions experienced by Black women. To read the Combahee River Collective statement, see https://americanstudies.yale.edu/sites/default/files/files/Keyword%20Coalition_Readings.pdf (last checked 3 October 2018).

6 Professor Kimberlé Crenshaw’s seminal work in 1989 introduced the metaphor of intersectionality (in a legal academic context in the USA) to theorise what had been the practice, discourse, and scholarship of Black feminists and other women of colour for centuries. In this section, we are referring specifically to the Black feminist movement in the USA that grew out of the Black Liberation Movement and emphasised that the struggle for women’s rights cannot be delinked from the struggle for civil and human rights. We use the term ‘women of colour’ to articulate a political definition of solidarity for all women experiencing multiple layers of discrimination and marginalisation based on race and ethnicity and other shared global experiences textured by colonialism, displacement, stolen legacy, loss of autonomy, and racism.

7 For further analysis on funding trends, see Arutyunova and Clark (2013) and COFEM (2017d).

8 Interviewee preferred to remain anonymous.