Rose Marie Muraro
Building Feminist Economies
Building Feminist Economies is about creating a world with clean air to breath and water to drink, with meaningful labour and care for ourselves and our communities, where we can all enjoy our economic, sexual and political autonomy.
In the world we live in today, the economy continues to rely on women’s unpaid and undervalued care work for the profit of others. The pursuit of “growth” only expands extractivism - a model of development based on massive extraction and exploitation of natural resources that keeps destroying people and planet while concentrating wealth in the hands of global elites. Meanwhile, access to healthcare, education, a decent wage and social security is becoming a privilege to few. This economic model sits upon white supremacy, colonialism and patriarchy.
Adopting solely a “women’s economic empowerment approach” is merely to integrate women deeper into this system. It may be a temporary means of survival. We need to plant the seeds to make another world possible while we tear down the walls of the existing one.
We believe in the ability of feminist movements to work for change with broad alliances across social movements. By amplifying feminist proposals and visions, we aim to build new paradigms of just economies.
Our approach must be interconnected and intersectional, because sexual and bodily autonomy will not be possible until each and every one of us enjoys economic rights and independence. We aim to work with those who resist and counter the global rise of the conservative right and religious fundamentalisms as no just economy is possible until we shake the foundations of the current system.
Our Actions
Our work challenges the system from within and exposes its fundamental injustices:
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Advance feminist agendas: We counter corporate power and impunity for human rights abuses by working with allies to ensure that we put forward feminist, women’s rights and gender justice perspectives in policy spaces. For example, learn more about our work on the future international legally binding instrument on “transnational corporations and other business enterprises with respect to human rights” at the United Nations Human Rights Council.
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Mobilize solidarity actions: We work to strengthen the links between feminist and tax justice movements, including reclaiming the public resources lost through illicit financial flows (IFFs) to ensure social and gender justice.
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Build knowledge: We provide women human rights defenders (WHRDs) with strategic information vital to challenge corporate power and extractivism. We will contribute to build the knowledge about local and global financing and investment mechanisms fuelling extractivism.
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Create and amplify alternatives: We engage and mobilize our members and movements in visioning feminist economies and sharing feminist knowledges, practices and agendas for economic justice.
“The corporate revolution will collapse if we refuse to buy what they are selling – their ideas, their version of history, their wars, their weapons, their notion of inevitability. Another world is not only possible, she is on her way. On a quiet day, I can hear her breathing”.
Arundhati Roy, War Talk
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What issues does AWID work on?
AWID works towards the realization of gender justice and women’s human rights worldwide. We work to strengthen the voices and impact of women’s rights advocates, organizations and movements. Our main Priority Areas relate to themes that are closely linked to dominant global trends.
These themes reflect growing challenges that negatively impact women’s rights worldwide.
- Economic Justice
- Resourcing Women’s Rights
- Challenging Religious Fundamentalisms
- Women Human Rights Defenders
- Young Feminist Activism
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What Our Members Say
2005: Second High-level Dialogue takes place
Second High-level Dialogue on Financing for Development
- The overall theme of the Second High-level Dialogue on Financing for Development, from 27-28 June 2005 was The Monterrey Consensus: status of implementation and tasks ahead.
- Apart from the traditional six roundtables on each of the individual chapters of the Monterrey Consensus, there was an informal interactive dialogue with the participation of a range of stakeholders including women’s rights groups.
- There was a call from ‘developing’ nations that global challenges and local needs and possibilities be taken into account when interacting with different groups including women, youth, people with disabilities etc. on the themes identified in the Monterrey consensus.
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On autonomous resourcing alternatives
- Discover the Feminist Economies We Love
- Feminist Economic Realities: Building the Worlds we Need and Deserve
- No care economies without domestic workers! A Manifesto
How to get involved?
- Visit the official FfD3 conference website for details and updates
- Join the Women’s Working Group on Financing for Development and learn more about their contributions to the FfD process (or send an email to: wwgonffd@gmail.com)
- Join the CSO FfD group (or email addiscoordinatinggroup@gmail.com or submitting a request to join: https://groups.google.com/forum/#!forum/global-social-economy)
Other useful links to stay informed:
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A Universe of Funders & Funding Commitments
What happens to the activity proposals submitted through the CfA?
- Activity proposals will initially be screened by AWID staff.
- Organizers of shortlisted proposals will then be invited to participate in a voting process, to choose among the shortlisted activities. Those with the most votes will be included in the Forum program. AWID may make a few adjustments to the final selection to ensure our program has an adequate balance across regions, constituencies, issues and methodologies.
- Our Forum Content and Methodology Committee will reach out to the organizers of selected proposals to support them in further developing their activities.
We will update the outcomes of this process in the website in due time.
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Regional focus:
Filter for funders that support initiatives in your geographical area.
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How feminists resource themselves
Feminist and women’s rights organizations don’t just rely on institutional funding, we resource ourselves. Our organizing is powered by passion, political commitment, solidarity and collective care.
These resources are self- generated and autonomous, and often invisible in our budgets, but they are the backbone of our organizing.
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What We Reject:
- Market-based false solutions
- Ecosystem service trading
- Green neoliberal economies mining
- Geo-engineering
- Fossil fuels
- Military spending over climate funds
- Climate finance as loans
Snippet - What's happening at HRC61 Intro
The 61st Human Right Council takes place amid, what has been called by the UN Secretary-General, an ‘imminent financial collapse.’ Powerful member states’ refuse to pay up their contributions to the UN: the United States alone accounts for 95% of the USD 1.6 billion shortfall in the UN’s 2025 budget. This continues to erode the Council’s ability to deliver on its mandate, limiting its capacity to support human rights mechanisms, monitor accountability, and respond to global crises.
This lack of accountability is starkly obvious with the global surge of military spending and ongoing genocides in Gaza, Sudan and Myanmar. From the farcical “Gaza Peace Plan,” and unbridled imperial intervention in Venezuela, led by the US, the mask that “there is just no money” for people- social support, healthcare, education is off.
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Young Feminist Activism
Organizing creatively, facing an increasing threat
Young feminist activists play a critical role in women’s rights organizations and movements worldwide by bringing up new issues that feminists face today. Their strength, creativity and adaptability are vital to the sustainability of feminist organizing.
At the same time, they face specific impediments to their activism such as limited access to funding and support, lack of capacity-building opportunities, and a significant increase of attacks on young women human rights defenders. This creates a lack of visibility that makes more difficult their inclusion and effective participation within women’s rights movements.
A multigenerational approach
AWID’s young feminist activism program was created to make sure the voices of young women are heard and reflected in feminist discourse. We want to ensure that young feminists have better access to funding, capacity-building opportunities and international processes. In addition to supporting young feminists directly, we are also working with women’s rights activists of all ages on practical models and strategies for effective multigenerational organizing.
Our Actions
We want young feminist activists to play a role in decision-making affecting their rights by:
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Fostering community and sharing information through the Young Feminist Wire. Recognizing the importance of online media for the work of young feminists, our team launched the Young Feminist Wire in May 2010 to share information, build capacity through online webinars and e-discussions, and encourage community building.
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Researching and building knowledge on young feminist activism, to increase the visibility and impact of young feminist activism within and across women’s rights movements and other key actors such as donors.
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Promoting more effective multigenerational organizing, exploring better ways to work together.
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Supporting young feminists to engage in global development processes such as those within the United Nations
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Collaboration across all of AWID’s priority areas, including the Forum, to ensure young feminists’ key contributions, perspectives, needs and activism are reflected in debates, policies and programs affecting them.
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Les femmes autochtones défenseuses de droits
Ces défenseuses ont fait campagne pour les droits fonciers et ont lutté pour les droits des femmes et des peuples autochtones. Elles se sont opposées aux industries extractives, ont écrit de la poésie et se sont battues pour que l'amour prévale. L'une d'entre elles nous a quitté il y a dix-neuf ans. Nous vous invitons à vous joindre à nous pour rendre hommage à ces défenseuses, à leur travail et à l’héritage qu’elles nous ont laissé. Faites circuler ces mèmes auprès de vos collègues et amis ainsi que dans vos réseaux et twittez en utilisant les hashtags #WHRDTribute et #16Jours.
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