Transnational Feminist Organizations

Books: Climate Girls Saving Our World: 54 Activists SpeakOut. They’re from 30 countries.

Young Global Activists for a Feminist Future. 15 activists from 12 countries, including climate activism. (I mention both your films in this book).

Resist: Goals and Tactics for Changemakers

Calm: How to Thrive in Challenging Times

60 Feminist Transnational Organizations

More on: http://ieg-ego.eu/en/threads/transnational-movements-and-organisations/international-social-movements/leila-j-rupp-transnational-womens-movements

https://cwgl.rutgers.edu/campaigns/150-resources/governmentngo-resources/223-womens-organizations

*AllianceForFeministMovements: https://allianceforfeministmovements.org

*African Women’s Development fund: http://www.awdforg

*Association for Women’s Rights in Development https://www.awid.org/resources/what-has-feminism-got-do-it

*Black Feminist Future

*Black Womxn Caucus: feminist group based in South Africa https://youngfeministfund.org/grantees/black-womxn-caucus/

*Brigada Migrante Feminista, Chile https://youngfeministfund.org/grantees/brigada-migrante-feminista/

*#BuiltByGirls: Encourages girls to use technology to identify and develop solutions that empower the 62 million girls that don’t have access to a traditional education across the globe.

#Center for Reproductive Rights: a legal center  https://reproductiverights.org/about-us/

*Coalición Feministas de Cubana: a collective of Cuban Feminists https://youngfeministfund.org/grantees/coalicion-feminista-cubana/

*Coalition Against Trafficking in Women

*Code Pink

*Development Alternatives with Women for a New Era (DAWN)

*Equal Measures 2030 is a collaboration to achieve the UN’ Sustainable Development Goals. https://www.equalmeasures2030.org/who-we-are/

*Equality Now: “use the law to change the world” https://reproductiverights.org/about-us/

*Feminist Civil Society and Young Feminist Activist Education Coalition

*Feminist Majority Foundation

*FemSolution in Ukraine is a feminist, horizontal, anti-homophobic, anti-xenophobic student association.

*Flickforsk! Nordic Network for Girlhood studies

https://www.oru.se/english/schools/law-psychology-and-social-work/contact-and-presentation/staff-social-work/flickforsk/

*Free Chinese Feminists founded by Lu Pin. www.facebook.com/feministchina/

*Frida: Fund for Young Feminists. www.youngfeminstfund.org

*Future Coalition, a network of over 25 youth-led organizations

*Gender at Work https://genderatwork.org/analytical-framework/

*Gender Cool for trans kids https://gendercool.org/champions/

*Generation Equality Forum convened by UN Women 2022

*Girl Boss https://girlboss.com

 *Girl Up: actively works to empower adolescent girls around the world. https://girlup.org/

*Girls Opportunity Alliance (includes interviews with girls) https://www.obama.org/girlsopportunityalliance/stories/

*Girls Globe feminist media platform  founded in Sweden https://www.girlsglobe.org/about/ Founder Julia Wilander offers “Hey Changmaker!” podcast

*Girls Learn International

*Girls Studies listserv   https://mailman.sydney.edu.au/mailman/listinfo/girls_studies

*Global Fund for Women. www.globalfundforwomen.org

*Global Grassroots conscious social change for women http://www.globalgrassroots.org

*Global Voices: international media stories https://globalvoices.org

*Kvinna till Kvinna: supports women’s rights in over 20 conflict-ridden countries https://kvinnatillkvinna.org

*Let Girls Learn: founded by Michele Obama

*MADRE

*Malala Fund for girls’ education

*MenEngage Alliance: gender equality https://menengage.org

*MeToo www.metoomvmt.org

*Miss Deaf Pride Zimbabwe is an organization led by deaf Young Feminists

*National Organization for Women

*National Women’s Political Caucus https://www.nwpc.org

*Plan International Young Leaders Directory https://thewowfoundation.com/young-leaders-directory-2021

*One Billion Rising: mass action to end violence against women https://www.onebillionrising.org/about/campaign/

*Pro Mujer: empowering Latin American women financially https://promujer.org/b2b/en/

*Rise Up global movement for gender equity

*Save Generations Organization: Rwanda for girls’ and women’s rights https://sgorwanda.rw/about-us/

*Shining Hope for Communities (SHOFCO) in Kenya provides a community-based Kibera School for Girls. Journalist Nicholas Kristof also recommends model programs BRAC in Bangladesh and Fonkoze in Haiti.

*Sisterhood is Global

*SheSays youth-led against sexual violence

*She Should Run: provides community, resources, and growth opportunities for aspiring political leaders. media@sheshouldrun.org

*SuperGirls Society

*Tech Girls Are Superheroes

*1000BlackGirlBookscampaign

*Transform Education (hosted by the UN)

*UltraViolet

*Womankind Worldwide: supports women’s rights movements in developing countries https://www.womankind.org.uk

*Women Living Under Muslim Law

*Network Women in Development Europe (WEDO)

*UN-PAC  youth group for democracy reform

*UN Women. www.unwomen.org

*UNICEF’s UN Girls Education Initiative https://www.ungei.org/feminist-education-coalition organized the Feminist Education Coalition

*UN Women’s Generation Equality Youth Task Force

*Women’s Peace Network

*WriteGirl: matches girls with women writers who mentor them in creative writing.

*World Pulse: international forum for women  https://www.worldpulse.orgs

*Young Feminist Hub Beijing+25 https://www.youngfeminist.eu/beijing25-gef/young-feminist-hub/ 

*Young Feminist Europe https://www.wecf.org/young-feminists-want-system-change/

*Young Feminist Wire created in 2010 by AWID

*Young Women’s Leadership Network

*The Youth Coalition for Sexual and Reproductive Rights https://youthcoalition.org

Articles about Young Feminist Leaders

https://www.genderanddevelopment.org/263-young-feminisms/resources-young-feminisms/

https://www.vogue.in/culture-and-living/content/12-gender-equality-activists-to-know-in-2021

https://genevasolutions.news/peace-humanitarian/five-young-women-activists-to-watch-a-moderator-s-takeBelow

Shirley Steinberg, ed. Activists Under 30: Global Youth, Social Justice, and Good Work. Brill Sense, 2018.

How can we help create a just future? Please add your thoughts.

What would you add? To be included in “Young Global Changemakers for a Feminist Future.”
Ideas for action for an equitable and fair future:
*Speak out against the global norm leading to inequity that boys will be boys and girls should be very good.
*Read Senator Elizabeth Warren’s This Fight is Our Fight, Steinem’s Outrageous Acts and Everyday Rebellions, and my Resist Goals and Tactic for Changemakers
*Ponder my summary of successful strategies.
*Easy actions are vote for and campaign for progressive candidates and give money to activist non-profit organizations.

Successful Strategies for Changemaking

Also see “Young Global Changemakers for a Feminist Future” and “Resist: Goals and Tactics for Changemakers” by Gayle Kimball

It always seems impossible until it’s done. Nelson Mandela

Identify widespread outrage about injustice that violates deeply held values, such as it’s not fair that the rich are getting richer and the poor are getting poorer or that school food is unhealthy. Define the problem: The unfair economic system is the focus of recent activism. People also need to have hope, Obama’s campaign slogan along with “Yes We Can.” Many student groups work on environmental issues. Email me for a list of them.

Reach out to potential activists on social media and with face-to-face meetings. Include incentives such as food, live music and raffle.

Decide on your top priority and action to achieve it. Think of planning a non-violent battle strategy including gaining allies, coalitions, and mentors. Create a power chart of who has control around your issue, such as a principal, school board, or city council. Who are the pillars of support for the power holders and celebrities that you can influence? Soccer fans helped out in uprisings in Egypt and Turkey and Leonardo Decaprio speaks for the environmental movement. Pope Francis told a Brazilian crowd of young people, “The young people in the street are the ones who want to be actors of change. Please don’t let others be actors of change.”

Form a local organization based on an issue: Models are Quebec and Chilean student groups working for affordable education. Study successful campaigns such as the Civil Rights Movement or the campaign for GLBT acceptance.  Read Gandhi’s autobiography, and Bill Moyer and Gene Sharp analysis about how to create a sustained movement.

            For example, the women’s movement in the US greatly changed attitudes. Betty Friedan named the problem that had no name in The Feminine Mystique. Women and male allies held huge marches and lobbied politicians to change laws. They organized influential groups like NOW and the Moral Majority. They publicized concepts with skilled speakers like Gloria Steinem who advised doing an outrageous act daily. High schools and colleges formed feminist groups.

In organizing, involve people by giving them specific tasks that they report on to the group. Teach skills like how to facilitate a meeting, rotate leadership positions and conflict resolution. Successful groups like immigrant Dreamers provide direct action training. Large meetings can use hand signals such as a twinkle with fingers for approval or thumbs down. People are more likely to get involved if their friends are participating and they think success will result. Celebrate small successes and give praise for good work. Why Civil Resistance Works review of resistance movements indicates they succeed if 3.5% of the population participates and non-violent tactics are the most effective because they invite more participation.

Brand your campaign as if were Nike shoes. What do you want your audience to learn? Educate them. Pick a logo, symbol, color, and slogan. A popular symbol is a flag or a black fist, created by Serbian Otpor to overthrow their corrupt president. Otpor said “We’re trying to make politics sexy.” Quebec students used a red felt square pinned on your shirt to symbolize being in the red. Popular slogans during the recent youth-led uprisings were “Enough” and “We’re the 99%.” Create a “frame” or identity such as it’s cool to be an activist.

            Create stickers, posters, flyers and YouTube videos that educate about the facts, graffiti, and T-shirts with your slogan and logo. See the Arab Spring slogans and art at http://en.qantara.de/content/symbols-and-slogans-arab-spring?page=4

            Create polls and petitions where people give input into decisions and feel they have power.

            Get attention from many people and media with marches, demonstrations, boycotts or “buycotts,” strikes, sit-ins, and occupations of public spaces—the main tactic of recent uprisings. Think in terms of photo opps for media with banners, costumes, symbolic actions such as presenting a petition to a city mayor. Environmentalist Bill McKibben advised keep up the pressure, be a pain in the neck, and never give up as 350.org did with their campaign against the XL oil pipeline. Organize fun fundraisers such as a race. German high school students raised money with solar panels on their school.

Make activities fun and attractive to media, such as Chilean student demonstrators dressed as superheroes. They also held a kiss-a-thon and danced to Michael Jackson songs.

Resources

Erica Chenoweth and Maria J. Stephan. Why Civil Resistance Works: The Strategic Logic of Nonviolent Conflict. Columbia University Press, 2011.

Gene Sharp’s books. http://www.aeinstein.org/free-resources/free-publications/english/

Bill Moyer, “The Movement Action Plan,” Spring 1987.

http://www.historyisaweapon.com/defcon1/moyermap.html

Mark Engler and Paul Engler. This is an Uprising: How Nonviolent Revolt is Shaping the 21^st Century by brothers (2016).

* https://globalyouthbook.wordpress.com/

*Photos of global youth and their homes: http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.348956001796264.91437.160382763986923&type=1

*Video interviews with global youth: www.youtube.com/user/TheGlobalyouth?feature=mhee#p/u

*Literacy project in NW Pakistan: http://opendoorsliteracyproject.weebly.com.

young global feminist activist

Key Resources: Young Feminisms

Brave: Young Women’s Global Revolution (2017) Gayle Kimball, Volume 1, Global Themes, ISBN: 9780938795582, 566 pp., Volume 2: Regional Activism, ISBN: 9780938795605, 660 pp., Chico, CA: Equality Press

This thoughtful and informative two-volume work, based on interviews and surveys undertaken across 88 countries, examines young women’s activism across the globe. For the author, much of the political activism of the 21st century is notable for being youth-led and electronically connected. The author characterises those in their teens and twenties (at 1.5 billion individuals, the largest youth generation in history) as the ‘Relationship Generation’, which tends to ‘defy or ignore large bureaucratic institutions including government and religion’, and ‘focus[es] instead on direct democracy on the local level and loving their family and friends’ (Volume 1, p. 1). In Volume 1, Global Themes, the author considers the following topics: ‘The Future is Female’, ‘Global Desire for Equality’, ‘Global Status of Young Women’, ‘Consumerism Targets “Girl Power”’, and ‘Global Media Both Helps and Inhibits Girls’. Each of these chapters ends with discussion questions and activities, making the volume useful as a teaching aid. Volume 2, Regional Activism, includes discussion on feminist waves in the global North and in the field of development, as well as young women’s activism in Latin America, Africa, the Middle East and North Africa, Russia, China, and India, plus Egyptian women’s experiences of the 2011 Revolution.

https://www.genderanddevelopment.org/263-young-feminisms/resources-young-feminisms/

What are feminist tactics for change? Is Pelosi a feminist? Your thoughts?

Excerpt from a 2023 book: “Young Global Changemakers for a Feminist Future.”

One of the most powerful women in US history, first woman Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, is comfortable with patriarchal power games used for good. She said, “Every morning, I put on a suit of armor, eat nails for breakfast and go out and do battle.”[i] A New York Times headlines her as a “total badass,” a demanding control freak.[ii] With a mother’s twist on politics, she emphasized she fights for “the children, the children, the children” (she gave birth to five children in six years), as when she strong-armed passage of Obamacare health legislation—her proudest achievement. In addition to her management skills and abundant energy fueled by chocolate, she frequently raised money for and campaigned in Democrat’s districts so they owed her favors.

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[i] https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/announcement/frontline-documentary-pelosis-power-announcement/

[ii] https://www.nytimes.com/2022/11/17/opinion/pelosi-speaker.html

Youth Activists’ Issues

https://www.goodgoodgood.co/articles/teen-activists

Youth Activists Making A Difference

Out of 19, five are female.

Race, gender and LGBTQ: Thandiwe Abdullah (Black Lives Matter), Zyahna Bryant (racial justice), Marley Dias (literary activist), Olivia Julianna (Gen Z for Change abortion rights), Desmond Naples (LGBTQ+ youth activist), ), Jack Petocz (LGBTQ+), Malala Yousafzai (Pakistan, UK girls’ education).

 

Environment and climate: Genesis Butler (animal rights and climate), Mari Copeny (clean water), Jerome Foster and Elijah McKenzie-Jackson ( climate and LGBTQ),  Sophia Kianni (environmental), Jamie Margolin (climate), Xiuhtezcatl Martinez (indigenous climate justice),  Autumn Peltier (Canadian indigenous water-rights, Greta Thunberg (Sweden, climate), Melati and Isabel Wijsen, Bali ocean protection and youth empowerment)

Gun reform:  Naomi Wadler, (gun reform), Never Again

Gen Y Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Politics

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One of the most famous Gen Y politicians (born in 1989), Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (AOC) is a former restaurant worker and educator. She explained, “We beat a machine with a movement. We’re in the middle of a movement in this country,” which will come from voters. AOC posted a viral video titled “The Courage of Change” where she said, “Women like me aren’t supposed to run for office.” Before she ran, although she campaigned for Bernie Sanders, “I felt like the only way to effectively run for office is if you had access to a lot of wealth, high social influence, a lot of high dynastic power, and I knew that I didn’t have any of those things.”[i] What changed her mind was her participation in the Standing Rock protests against the Dakota Pipeline in 2016. The day she got back home, a national organization called Brand New Congress asked her to run for Congress. She reported she spent two years talking with the voters in her New York City district. Her strategy is illustrated in a documentary about four women running for office in 2018 to Knock Down the House by Rachel Lears (followed by her  film To the End, about the climate crisis). AOC’s district is half Hispanic and 70% minorities–she’s fluent in Spanish. She recruited volunteers to campaign in six languages, basing her campaign on human contact. AOC said they built power by organizing the grassroots: “We won because I think we had a very clear, winning message and we took that message to doors that had never been knocked on before.” The message had to do with dignity and opportunity for working-class people, part of what she sees as a national movement from the bottom up from voters. For AOC, “It’s all about leading with our values and leading with our issues…in a moral society.”  The group People for Bernie commented about AOC’s victory, “Welcome to the political revolution.” AOC posted a viral video titled “The Courage of Change” where she said, “Women like me aren’t supposed to run for office.” She has a Puerto Rican mother, was born in the Bronx, is a member of the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA), supports Black Lives Matter, doesn’t accept corporate donations, and was outspent by at least 10 to 1. Like other Democratic Socialists led by Bernie Sanders, AOC advocated eliminating ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency) and supported universal healthcare, a $15 federal minimum wage, tuition-free public colleges, criminal justice reform, green jobs to rebuild the infrastructure, and making living in New York City affordable for working-class people. She said these policies could be funded by revoking Trump’s tax cut bill of 2017 that helped “people with yachts.”For AOC, “It’s all about leading with our values and leading with our issues…in a moral society.” Hopeful, she says, “We are never beyond repair.” Her victory led to a surge in DSA membership from 10,000 to 32,000 (mainly young white males). She tweeted that she is one of over 60 “Justice Democrats” for the working class and not controlled by corporations. She works closely with three other Congresswomen of color called the Squad: Ilhan Omar, Ayanna Pressley, and Rashida Tlaib–all re-elected in 2022. They added another woman and a man to the Squad. 

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[i] Gabriella Paiella, “The 28-Year-Old at the Center of One of This Year’s Most Exciting Primaries,” The Cut, June 25, 2018.

https://www.thecut.com/2018/06/alexandria-ocasio-cortez-interview.html

Russian Feminists Oppose Putin’s War in Ukraine

In Russia, members of Pussy Riot continued to be jailed for criticizing Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, as when Masha Alekhina went to prison multiple times in 2022 for her Instagram posts.[i]) A brave St. Petersburg member of local government, Zenia Torstrem (age 38) posted a petition calling on Putin to resign in September 2022. This takes great courage as most opposition leaders have been jailed, killed, or go into exile. A Russian TV producer, Marina Ovsyannikova (age 44), bravely interrupted a Chanel One news program holding a sign saying “No War. They’re lying to you here.” She posted a video with more explanation, was arrested and put under house arrest to await a trial with her 11-year-old daughter, but escaped in October of 2022.

Famous pop legend Alla Pugacheva (age 73) criticized the war on her Instagram account, with it’s 3.5 million followers. She called for “the end of the deaths of our boys for illusionary goals” and could be sentenced to up to 15 years in prison for posting false information about the military.[ii] In response to Putin calling up around 300,000 reservists around the same time, protests spread around the country, thousands of protesters were arrested, and many men left the country to escape the draft. The Vesna Youth Democratic Movement urged more demonstrations, despite arrests.

Putin stepped up the domestic war on “Western values,” backing legislation to outlaw media portrayals of LGBTQ relationships, punished by large fines.[iii] He said that that the West can have “dozens of genders and gay pride parades,” but should not spread these “trends” elsewhere.

A youth group called Oborona also tried to oppose Putin’s authoritarianism from 2005 to 2011, using a horizontal structure. Their tactics were mass demonstrations, direct action, street performances, and educational activism, but the group didn’t last–perhaps partly because their “look” was masculinity.[iv]

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[i] https://www.theartnewspaper.com/2022/02/09/pussy-riot-member-arrested-for-second-time-in-two-months

[ii] https://www.latimes.com/world-nation/story/2022-09-20/russian-pop-star-criticizes-ukraine-war

[iii]

[iv] Laura Lyytikainen. Performing Political Opposition in Russia: The Case of the Youth Group Oborona. Routledge, 2016.

Feminism in Iran and Saudi Arabia

Examples Bayat gives are women in Muslim countries letting their hijab fall off (Iranian women organize civil disobedience by posting photos of uncovered hair and pasting “No2Hijab” stickers[i]), or youth expressing themselves on social media and cell phones. This practice allows young Saudi women and men to communicate without their parents’ knowledge. The transformation of the Muslim world brought by women working is described by Saadia Zahidi in Fifty Million Rising, 2018.

Activist Aziza Al-Yousef delivered the first petition to repeal male guardianship in 2018 without results. Over 17 women’s rights activists in the Women To Drive Movement were arrested around the time when women were allowed to drive in 2018 (and attend concerts). A petition is online asking for their release.[ii] Jailed activists, such as Lujain Hthloul, were accused of contact with “foreign entities.” This is the usual blaming tactic of autocrats, along with blaming terrorists to restrict freedom. Although Hthloul and others were released in 2021, they were prohibited from leaving the country or speaking to journalists.[iii] Liberation, like being able to drive or vote in local elections, can be superficial when a strong man rules.

Real change is slow. The Saudi guardianship system still treats women as if they were children despite the fact that women are the majority of university students. Some relaxation is occurring under Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s rule, such as allowing women to drive or the 2021 decision to allow women to live alone without permission from a male guardian. Yet, he’s still the ruler behind the dismemberment of journalist Jamal Khashoggi.

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[i] https://www.iranintl.com/en/202207120933

Feminism Inshallah: A History of Arab Feminism. Directed by Feriel Ben Mahmoud. New York: Women Make Movies, 2014. 52 minutes.

[ii] https://globaljustice.regent.edu/2022/03/when-will-saudi-women-celebrate-their-own-womens-history-month/

[iii] https://www.dw.com/en/saudi-arabia-many-activists-remain-in-jail/a-60902374 https://www.dw.com/en/saudi-arabia-many-activists-remain-in-jail/a-60902374

Differences Between 2nd & 3rd Wave Feminists

Generation Gap Between the Second and Third Waves

Holly Morris explained the difference between the Second and Third Wave feminists on her blog.[i]

We were raised on pop culture…and pot tarts, not pop political movements. We know computers, not the Dewey Decimal System, divorce not devotion, Email, gang-rape, rage, websites and the Webster Decision, androgyny and AIDS, Bikini Kill, and the battered women’s movement. We know there is not one way to be; we embrace multiplicity and contradiction. We know about harassment and rape.

We know how empowering fun can be. We know that feminism lets us know ourselves; and we know it has a history and a legacy… It can be heterosexual, homosexual, or bisexual, and most importantly, just plain sexual. Somewhere within this splinted kaleidoscope we exist.

In a 2013 letter to Ms. Magazine, Gail Bjorkman defined Third Wave feminism as emphasizing “multiplicity, pluralism, contradiction, playful resistance, cyberculture, and relational power.” She dated the Third Wave from about 1988 to 2010. The Third Wave founding editor of Bitch magazine, Lisa Jervis viewed younger women as more comfortable with sexuality, pop culture, and broader definitions of feminist issues.[ii] Older feminists think of young ones as “spoiled and ignorant,” while younger women criticize older ones for monopolizing power.

Two activist professors, Ruth Lewis and Susan Marine, faulted generational infighting and the lack of empirical studies about young feminists in the UK and US. They recognized a resurgence of interest in feminism, especially in universities, and the need to include young female voices.^[iii]They interviewed 33 feminist students from UK universities and the US who reported widespread experience of “everyday sexism” or “microaggressions,” resulting in resistance by young feminists to campus lad or rape culture in the UK and US.^[iv]

The first and largest Second Wave organization, founded in 1966, NOW tries to bridge the generation gap. It formed a Young Feminist Task Force in 2003, stating, “Our purpose is to help bring young women and men into feminist activism and give a greater voice to young feminists, who feel underrepresented at times.” It sponsors a Young Feminist National Committee with resources for college and high school chapters, including an online chapter called Young Feminists and Allies.[v] Passing the ERA is a major goal.

NOW reached out to young women with campaigns for Love Your Body and Title IX. The latter was passed as part of the education amendments to the Civil Rights Act of 1964. It prohibited sex discrimination in any educational program that receives federal funding. It improved girls’ participation in sports and extended to sexual harassment policies. Interestingly, the amendment adding “sex” to the list of discriminations was proposed by a Southern Congressman, Howard Smith, as a joke in order to block the Civil Rights Act.[vi] His addition was greeted by laughter in the House so he assumed the act wouldn’t pass.

Student advocacy groups have since used Title IX to push for gender equity; for example, Harvard Students Demand Respect lobbied for compliance with Title IX, which resulted in ongoing investigations of discrimination at Harvard.

Another Second Wave effort to reach out to young women is The Feminist Majority Foundation’s (FMF) Campus Program, begun in 1997 “to inform young feminists about the very real threats to abortion access, women’s rights, affirmative action, and lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender rights posed by right-wing extremists.” The Campus Program is built upon FMF’s belief in informed activism, called “study to action;” they state that FMF is the largest campus feminist organization.[vii]

Another source for young feminists, Campus Progress, is a website for “young people working for progressive change;” (it changed its name to Generation Progress in 2014). This and other resource organizations are included in the endnote.[viii]

The authors of a chapter on women activists in Occupy Wall Street in a book on Cyberactivism trace the forms of direct democracy used in Occupy Wall Street in 2011 to Second Wave feminist consciousness-raising (C-R) groups of the 1960s and ‘70s. The Second Wave realization that the personal is political included group dynamics, who speaks and who leads. C-R opposed elitist “stars” because each woman’s experience should be respected equally.

These organizing techniques include assemblies, people’s mic, working groups, and the “progressive stack,” prioritizing speakers by those traditionally not heard.[ix] “Check your privilege!” (CYP) and “Safe space” were frequent feminist requests heard in Occupy assemblies. Stephanie Rogers wrote in her blog “Bitch Flicks” that in using the C-R process, Occupy was empowered by people talking to each other about their personal struggles.[x]

Janet Fredman described C-R in her book Reclaiming The Feminist Vision: Consciousness-Raising and Small Group Practice (2014): “Along with many who discovered feminism during the sometimes maligned ‘Second Wave,’ I participated in a C-R group.” In an email, she described it as an underutilized strategic tool that led participants to abortion rights activism, rape crisis intervention, battered women’s shelters, health care for all, finding and celebrating and learning from our forebears. “Had it been seen as an ongoing process rather than a gateway to activism, the ‘feminist vision’ may have continued to grow in ways that it has not.”

The authors of Awakening, a bookabout the #MeToo movement, Vogelstein and Stone, observed “Revolutions begin when groups discover that their grievances are not individual, but collective and systemic.”[xi] Today, the internet provides a way to quickly share stories globally, which makes it the new revolutionary power. As she ended her term as head of UN Women, Chilean Michelle Bachelet acknowledged the role of women human rights defenders, who she said are often “the ones bringing to the table the unheard voices of the most vulnerable.”[xii] A former president of Chile (and the first elected in South America), she also observed in a report on women in politics in Latin America, “If many women go into politics, it changes politics.”[xiii]

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[i] http://www.wigmag.com/word/holly_morris_3_18_2001.html

[ii] Lisa Jervis, “Goodbye to Feminism’s Generational Divide,” in Melody Berger’s We Don’t Need Another Wave. Seal Press, 2006.

[iii] Ruth Lewis and Susan Marine, “Weaving a Tapestry, Compassionately: Toward an Understanding of Young Women’s Feminisms,” Feminist Formations, Vol. 27, Issue 1, Spring 2015, pp. 118-140.

[iv] Ruth Lewis, Susan Marine and Kathryn Kenny, “’I Get Together with my Friends and Try to Change It.’ Young Feminist Students Resist ‘Laddism,’ ‘Rape Culture’ and ‘Everyday Sexism,’” Journal of Gender Studies, March 17, 2016.

[v] http://www.now.org/chapters/campus/action_essentials.html http://youngfeministtaskforce.blogspot.com/

https://now.org/yfnc/

[vi] Clay Risen, “The Accidental Feminist,” Slate, February 7, 2014.

http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/jurisprudence/2014/02/the_50th_anniversary_of_title_vii_of_the_civil_rights_act_and_the_southern.2.html

[vii] http://feministcampus.org/know/global/index.asp

[viii] http://www.campusprogress.org

https://genprogress.org/the-new-campus-progress-is-generation-progress/

http://www.campusactivism.org/html-resource/ccoguide/helpfulorganizations.html

[x] Stephanie Rogers, “Bitch Flics,” October 17, 2011.

http://www.btchflcks.com/2011/10/occupy-wall-street-and-feminism-and-misogyny-oh-my.html#.VGPZW5PF9SQ

[xi] Rachel Vogelstein and Meighan Stone. Awakening: #MeTo and the Global Fight for Women’s Rights. Public Affairs, 2021, p. xiii.

[xii] https://www.ohchr.org/en/press-briefing-notes/2022/08/press-conference-un-high-commissioner-human-rights-michelle-bachelet

[xiii] https://www.institutoupdate.org.br/eleitas/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/Elected-WomenInPoliticsLatamStudy_ENG.pdf