Supporting feminist, women’s rights and gender justice movements to thrive, to be a driving force in challenging systems of oppression, and to co-create feminist realities.
In September 2016, the 13th AWID international Forum brought together in Brazil over 1800 feminists and women’s rights advocates in a spirit of resistance and resilience.
This section highlights the gains, learnings and resources that came out of our rich conversations. We invite you to explore, share and comment!
What has happened since 2016?
One of the key takeaways from the 2016 Forum was the need to broaden and deepen our cross-movement work to address rising fascisms, fundamentalisms, corporate greed and climate change.
With this in mind, we have been working with multiple allies to grow these seeds of resistance:
Movements can also benefit from new methodologies on Visioning Feminist Futures (Coming up soon!)
And through our next strategic plan and Forum process, we are committed to keep developing ideas and deepen the learnings ignited at the 2016 Forum.
What happens now?
The world is a much different place than it was a year ago, and it will continue to change.
The next AWID Forum will take place in the Asia Pacific region (exact location and dates to be announced in 2018).
We look forward to you joining us!
About the AWID Forum
AWID Forums started in 1983, in Washington DC. Since then, the event has grown to become many things to many peoples: an iterative process of sharpening our analyses, vision and actions; a watershed moment that reinvigorates participants’ feminisms and energizes their organizing; and a political home for women human rights defenders to find sanctuary and solidarity.
Il est fréquent que les populations marginalisées et les personnes vivant dans la pauvreté doivent composer avec une série d’obstacles qui les empêchent d’avoir accès à la justice. Il suffit de citer les frais juridiques élevés, la discrimination et le manque généralisé d’information. Ces situations ont fait de l’accès à la justice l’apanage des gens riches et influents, plutôt qu’un droit pour tout un chacun. À cet égard, « en tant que société mondiale, nous n’avons pas réellement progressé au-delà de l’époque féodale », affirme l’Alliance mondiale pour l’aide juridique (Global Alliance for Legal Aid, GALA).
Afin de contribuer à modifier certaines des inégalités actuelles sur le plan de l’accès à la justice, GALA, une alliance de juristes, offre gratuitement des services d’aide juridique et de défense de l’intérêt public pour ceux qui en ont le plus besoin, particulièrement dans les pays de l’hémisphère sud.
« GALA : où aucun et aucune activiste n’est une île. »
Initiatives mondiales actuelles
Certains groupes et individus éprouvent souvent des difficultés à trouver de l’aide juridique gratuite. On peut notamment évoquer les victimes d’accaparement des terres; les personnes subissant des préjudices découlant de la pollution environnementale ou d’autres lésions corporelles en raison de la conduite gouvernementale illégale ou du comportement des grandes sociétés; les femmes dont on a abusé qui souhaitent divorcer; ou encore les personnes qui ont été leurrées par des fournisseurs de services financiers non réglementés. Par exemple, suivant la mise en place d’un système pyramidal en Ouganda, des milliers de personnes ont perdu des millions de dollars. GALA représente actuellement 3 000 victimes de ce système, en collaborant avec son partenaire local, la direction de la faculté de droit/d’administration de l’Université Makerere de Kampala.
« Les enjeux qui préoccupent GALA ont une vaste portée et ils touchent entre autres aux sphères suivantes : la défense de l’intérêt public pour les victimes de fraudeurs financiers; la défense et la prévention liées à l’accaparement des terres; la protection environnementale; la réforme carcérale; les droits des femmes et des veuves; les droits des migrants; et l’aide juridique destinée aux personnes vivant dans la pauvreté. »
GALA nous affirmait qu’en Ouganda, à la suite d’une fraude impliquant de fausses institutions de microfinance, « plusieurs victimes se sont suicidées » et que « les criminels vivent au vu et au su de tous, profitant des fruits de leurs délits, l’État n’ayant intenté aucune poursuite à leur endroit ». Il en est ainsi parce qu’ils « ont soudoyé les juges et les politiciens, alors que les personnes pauvres ne peuvent se permettre de payer pour obtenir justice ». En plus des efforts investis en Ouganda, l’alliance a établi un nouveau partenariat au Koweït et dirige des initiatives en cours à la Grenade.
Créer des cliniques d’aide juridique
Outre les initiatives qui occupent actuellement GALA, l’alliance planifie des percées en Inde et en Grèce, le ‘berceau de la démocratie’. L’alliance estime tout simplement non démocratique et inconstitutionnel le fait que les tribunaux grecs « exigent que les personnes voulant faire valoir leurs droits versent un cautionnement en fonction de l’éventuelle valeur de la cause ». Il s’agit d’un obstacle évident à l’application des droits au sein des tranches marginalisées et pauvres de la société. Ainsi, l’un des projets qu’envisage GALA porte sur la création de cliniques d’aide juridique.
« À ce jour, nous avons constaté que dans les endroits où GALA est à l’œuvre, il n’existe pas de cliniques d’aide juridique ni d’avocats et avocates pro bono. »
Évidemment, ce projet exige non seulement une solide planification, mais également du financement. GALA est à élaborer une étude de faisabilité à Kampala et à la Grenade afin de commencer à offrir de l’aide juridique et à établir ses propres cliniques. Il est difficile de se l’imaginer, mais l’alliance nous a indiqué qu’à la Grenade (population de 100 000 habitants), « il n’existe absolument aucun service d’aide juridique sur l’île, [il n’y a] que 12 avocat-e-s de la défense » et aucune faculté de droit. En fait :
« L’université ‘locale’ est en fait une faculté de médecine américaine. » - GALA
Représentant des droits humains (à la Grenade) Milton Coy et Jami Solli, Directrice exécutive de GALA
Dans le contexte et l’environnement si pénibles que décrit GALA, l’alliance devra bâtir à partir de zéro. Elle est néanmoins déterminée à offrir de l’aide et de l’information juridiques « à la fois aux personnes accusées, incarcérées ‘en détention provisoire’ et en attente de procès et aux victimes de crimes ». GALA examine la possibilité de solliciter le soutien d’étudiant-e-s en droit d’autres pays qui seraient supervisés par un avocat ou une avocate de la localité. Elle souhaite également l’appui de la Grenada Human Rights Association, affiliée à GALA.
Toujours en Ouganda, GALA prévoit de commencer à offrir de l’aide juridique en 2016, avec l’aide d’étudiant-e-s en droit supervisés par un professeur de droit ou un praticien du domaine. Le projet sera réalisé en collaboration avec son partenaire local, soit la direction de la faculté de droit/d’administration de l’Université Makerere. Restez attentifs à cette évolution!
« Un goût de justice »
Pour soutenir sa mission, ainsi que les initiatives en cours et celles qui sont planifiées, GALA vend des produits de commerce équitable, notamment du café provenant d’Ouganda, par l’entremise d’un partenariat avec ThanksgivingCoffee. L’alliance prévoit de vendre et distribuer d’autres produits de commerce équitable afin de proposer un produit de chaque pays où elle offre de l’aide juridique ou soutient une cause d’intérêt public. Vous pouvez visiter ici la boutique de café en ligne tenue par GALA.
Connectez-vous :
Obtenez plus de renseignements sur GALA en visitant son site Web et sa page Facebook.
Ruth Acheinegeh (afiliada de AWID desde 2010) se define a sí misma como «una joven de poco más de treinta años, que se relaciona llena de energía y buen humor con quienes la rodean y tiene una pierna afectada por la polio». Es dueña de un puesto que ella atiende en el mercado local de Bamenda, Camerún, donde también vende bolsos y ropa que fabrica un grupo local de mujeres discapacitadas. El puesto es una fuente importante de apoyo financiero para Ruth y también le permite, en parte, mantener a su familia.
«Lo que me mantiene en pie es mi deseo de movilizar y darles visibilidad a muchas más mujeres discapacitadas no solo en Camerún sino en todo el mundo, con la esperanza de que tengamos una sociedad más incluyente para todas y todos.»
Fortalecer las habilidades
Personal de AWID conoció a Ruth en agosto de 2010 en Eugene, Oregón, Estados Unidos, durante el Women’s Institute on Leadership and Disability [WILD, Instituto sobre Liderazgo y Discapacidad para Mujeres], de la organización Mobility International USA (MIUSA, Movilidad Internacional de Estados Unidos), que convocó a muchas lideresas discapacitadas provenientes de todo el mundo a fin de «fortalecer sus habilidades para el liderazgo, generar nuevas visiones y construir redes de apoyo internacionales». Tras su regreso a Camerún, Ruth creó la North West Association for Women with Disabilities [Asociación para Mujeres Discapacitadas del Noroeste], primer grupo centrado solo en cuestiones de mujeres que fue creado en Bamenda. Ya cuenta con 40 integrantes y Ruth les está transmitiendo lo que aprendió en Eugene sobre empoderamiento económico, salud e información y tecnología.
Ruth es una pionera, creadora de cambios, visionaria y viajera con un enorme sentido del humor. En 2012 participó del 12º Foro Internacional de AWID realizado en Estambul, Turquía, que reunió a varias mujeres africanas discapacitadas quienes luego organizaron su primer taller en Malaui.
Un gran tema pendiente
Y aunque se ha trabajado mucho y ha habido avances, como señala Ruth, «todavía tenemos un gran tema pendiente que es la baja tasa de alfabetización entre las mujeres discapacitadas» en la región. A fin de impulsar cambios, en junio de 2015 Ruth participó en el muy competitivo programa de formación de formadoras/es organizado por MIUSA y luego reunió a 20 mujeres discapacitadas de 20 distritos de la región donde vive. Fue la primera formación de esta clase que se hizo en el país y los contenidos incluyeron derechos humanos, gobernanza y gestión en el área de la discapacidad. Pese a sus capacidades, experiencia y formación académica que incluye una Licenciatura en Gestión y Contaduría otorgada por la Universidad Internacional de Bamenda, Ruth no ha logrado conseguir empleo, lo cual en su opinión «se debe al hecho de que tengo una discapacidad».
«Creo que soy una de las personas que están llamadas a cambiar las vidas de las mujeres con discapacidades en todo el mundo, no solo en mi comunidad.»
Además de atender su puesto en el mercado, Ruth trabaja con mujeres discapacitadas de su área para alentarlas a generar proyectos económicos y ser independientes. A través de este grupo se ha conectado con iniciativas internacionales, activistas feministas y personas que investigan sobre discapacidad a nivel global, accediendo así a nuevas oportunidades para aprender y viajar. Pese a sus propias dificultades económicas y a que no puede mejorar su vida comprando «algo que necesito mucho: una silla de rueda o unas muletas nuevas», Ruth afirma que su «independencia social y económica es muy valiosa» para ella.
Como mujer inmersa en varias redes locales, nacionales e internacionales (en estas últimas sobre todo gracias a su trabajo en temáticas de discapacidad), la forma en que Ruth se define a sí misma y la intensidad de sus vínculos varían todo el tiempo ya que «paso de hija a hermana y luego a proveedora de ingresos».
Dado que en AWID seguimos vinculándonos con Ruth como afiliada, aliada y amiga, estamos muy entusiasmadas pues volveremos a verla en el 13º Foro Internacional de AWID en Brasil. Ruth será una de las ponentes en la sesión sobre Roles ‘apropiados’ y vidas precarias: Las mujeres discapacitadas subvierten el patriarcado.
Selon ses propres mots, Ruth Acheinegeh (membre de l'AWID depuis 2010) est « une jeune trentenaire pleine d’énergie et de joie de vivre qu’elle aime partager avec ceux qui l’entourent et dont une jambe a été atteinte par la polio ».
Elle possède et gère un petit étal au marché de Bamenda au Cameroun qui vend également des sacs et des vêtements réalisés par un groupe local de femmes handicapées. Cette activité est une source financière précieuse pour Ruth, qui lui permet également de soutenir en partie sa famille.
« Ce qui me motive, c’est l’esprit qui nous fait avancer et inspirer l’espoir d’une société inclusive et ouverte à beaucoup d’autres femmes handicapées, pas seulement au Cameroun mais partout dans le monde. »
Renforcer les compétences
L’équipe de l’AWID a rencontré Ruth en août 2010 à Eugene en Oregon aux États-Unis lors du Women's Institute on Leadership and Disability (l’Institut des femmes sur le leadership et le handicap, WILD en anglais), organisé par Mobility International USA (MIUSA). Cet événement a rassemblé de nombreuses femmes leaders handicapées avec l’objectif de renforcer leurs compétences, d’ouvrir de nouvelles perspectives et de créer des réseaux internationaux de soutien mutuel. Après son retour au Cameroun, Ruth a créé la North West Association for Women with Disabilities (Association pour les femmes handicapées du Nord-Ouest), le premier groupe de femmes de Bamenda qui ne s’occupe que de thèmes propres aux femmes. L’association compte actuellement 40 membres et Ruth leur transmet les savoirs reçus à Eugene sur l’autonomisation économique, la santé et l’usage des technologies de l’information.
Ruth est une actrice de changement, pionnière et visionnaire et aussi une voyageuse dotée d’un incroyable sens de l’humour. En 2012, elle a participé au 12e Forum international de l’AWID à Istanbul en Turquie qui a permis à plusieurs femmes africaines handicapées de se rencontrer et, par la suite, d’organiser leur premier atelier au Malawi.
Un écart important à combler
Même si un travail important et des progrès ont été réalisés, comme Ruth le souligne « il y a encore un écart important à combler quand on voit les faibles taux d’alphabétisation parmi les femmes handicapées dans la région ». Afin de contribuer à faire progresser le changement, Ruth a pris part en juin 2015 à un programme très réputé de formation de formatrices (WILD) organisé par MIUSA à la suite duquel elle a rassemblé 20 femmes handicapées issues de 20 communes de sa région. C’était le premier événement du genre au pays à offrir une formation sur les droits humains, la gouvernance et la gestion dans ce domaine. Malgré ses compétences, son expérience et son parcours d’études qui inclut un baccalauréat en gestion et comptabilité de l’Université internationale de Bamenda, Ruth n’a pas trouvé de travail « du fait que je suis handicapée », dit-elle.
« Je pense faire partie de celles et ceux qui se sentent appelés à changer la vie de femmes handicapées partout dans le monde et pas seulement dans ma communauté. »
En plus de gérer son étal, Ruth travaille avec des femmes handicapées de sa localité pour les encourager à entreprendre des projets de nature économique et à acquérir leur indépendance. Grâce à ce groupe, elle a tissé des liens avec des initiatives internationales, avec des activistes féministes du monde entier et avec des chercheur-euse-s spécialistes du handicap, ce qui a ouvert de nouvelles perspectives de voyage et d’apprentissage. Malgré ses propres défis financiers et sa difficulté à améliorer son existence en achetant « la chaise roulante ou les nouvelles béquilles dont elle a grandement besoin», Ruth déclare qu’elle « tient énormément à son indépendance économique et sociale ».
En tant que femme engagée dans une série de réseaux sociaux locaux, nationaux et internationaux (ces derniers particulièrement grâce à son travail sur le handicap), la manière dont Ruth se présente et la solidité de ses relations est en constante mutation car elle « passe d’un rôle de fille, à celui de sœur, à celui de soutien économique ».
Dans la prolongation de notre engagement auprès de Ruth qui est notre membre, alliée et amie, nous sommes très enthousiastes à l’idée de la retrouver lors du 13ème Forum international de l’AWID au Brésil ! Elle interviendra dans la session Rôles « appropriés » et vies précarisées : des femmes handicapées gênent le patriarcat.
In her own words, Ruth Acheinegeh (AWID member since 2010) is a “young woman in her early thirties, full of energy and cheerfulness in her encounters with those around her and with one leg affected by polio.”
She owns and runs a local market stall in Bamenda, Cameroon which also sells bags and clothing made by a local group of women with disabilities. This is a valuable source of financial support for Ruth, and also enables her to partly support her family.
"What keeps me going is the spirit of moving and creating a new spotlight for many more women with disabilities not only in Cameroon but all over the world, hoping to have an inclusive society for all."
Strengthen leadership skills
Staff from AWID met Ruth in August 2010 in Eugene, Oregon, United States, at the Mobility International USA’s (MIUSA) Women's Institute on Leadership and Disability (WILD) that brought together numerous women leaders with disabilities from all over the world to “strengthen leadership skills, create new visions and build international networks of support.” After returning to Cameroon, Ruth created the North West Association for Women with Disabilities, the first ever women’s group in Bamenda focusing only on women’s issues. It now counts 40 members and Ruth is passing on the knowledge she gained in Eugene in the areas of economic empowerment, health, and information and technology.
Ruth is a trail blazer, change-maker, visionary, and a traveler with an incredible sense of humor. In 2012 she participated in the 12th AWID International Forum in Istanbul Turkey which brought together a number of African women with disabilities who subsequently organised their first workshop in Malawi.
Still a big gap
And even though much work has been done and progress achieved, as Ruth points out, there is “still a big gap looking at the low literacy rate among women with disabilities” in the region. So to help advance change, in June 2015 Ruth took part in a highly competitive training-of-trainers program held by MIUSA after which she brought together 20 women with disabilities from 20 different council areas in her region. This was the first of its kind in the country and offered training in human rights, governance and management in that area. In spite of her skills, experience and educational background, including a Bachelor’s degree in Management and Accountancy from the International University Bamenda, Ruth has been unable to find work which she says is, “due to the fact that I have a disability.”
"I think that I am one of those that have the calling of changing the lives of women with disabilities all over the world, not only in my community."
Apart from managing her market stall, Ruth works with local women with disabilities to encourage them to establish economic projects and independence. Through this group she has made connections with international initiatives, global feminist activists and disability researchers which has opened new channels of learning and travel. Despite her own financial challenges and being unable to improve her own life by buying a “much-need wheelchair or new crutches”, Ruth says she “clearly holds her social and economic independence dear”.
As a woman immersed in a range of local, national and international social networks (the latter particularly through her disability work), how Ruth constitutes herself and the strength of her connections constantly shift as she “moves from daughter to sister to income provider.”
Continuing our engagement with Ruth as our member, ally and friend we are extremely excited to meet her again at our upcoming 13th AWID International Forum in Brasil! She is a co-presenter in a session on “Proper” roles and precarious lives: women with disabilities disrupting patriarchy.
Isaac Oriafo Ejakhegbe works in the non-profit sector, primarily focusing his work on gender equality, climate change, and health promotion, including maternal and child health. He is a Women Deliver Young Leader and is currently working at the Women’s Health and Action Research Centre, a non-governmental organisation in Nigeria that advocates for women’s reproductive health and social well-being. As founder of the Youth Spotlight Initiative, Isaac also engages in specifically promoting sexual and reproductive health and rights of young people, including issues bordering on HIV infection.
Issac studied Applied Health Social Science from the School of Public Health at the University of Ghana, where he was awarded the best graduating student in his set. His thesis focused on gender equality, women’s empowerment, and contraceptive use in the Western Region of Ghana.
After graduating, Isaac volunteered as a United Nations Children's Fund Peer Educator under the National Reproductive Health HIV and AIDS Prevention and Care project in Northern Nigeria and has worked as a program officer at the Initiative for the Rehabilitation and Care for HIV and AIDS. He was involved in several projects pertaining to commercial sex workers.
Strengthening the capacities and leadership of women and youth are key to unlocking the potentials of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
Part of his work in health promotion included direct community involvement. As a community health officer at the Joy Maternity Clinic based in Edo State, Nigeria Issac actively provided health education and social support to community members. During this time, he enrolled in an online program, earning a Clinical Research and Public Health Certificate from the Harvard School of Public Health and a certificate in “Challenges of Global Poverty” from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
A successful environment/climate policy must be holistic: cutting carbon dioxide, methane and other greenhouse gases as well as promoting clean surroundings - both working towards sustainable health for everybody.
Isaac Oriafo Ejakhegbe trabaja en el sector sin fines de lucro y su labor se ha centrado primordialmente en la igualdad de género, el cambio climático y la promoción de la salud, incluyendo la salud materna e infantil. Es Líder Juvenil de Women Deliver [Las mujeres dan a luz/cumplen] y en este momento trabaja en el Women’s Health and Action Research Centre [Centro de Investigación y Acción por la Salud de las Mujeres], organización no gubernamental en Nigeria que defiende la salud reproductiva y el bienestar social de las mujeres. Como fundador de la Youth Spotlight Initiative [Iniciativa Juventud en Primer Plano], Isaac también se dedica específicamente a promover la salud y los derechos sexuales y reproductivos de las personas jóvenes, abordando asimismo aspectos de la infección por VIH.
Isaac completó una Maestría en Ciencias Sociales Aplicadas a la Salud en la Facultad de Salud Pública de la Universidad de Ghana, donde se le reconoció como el mejor alumno de su promoción. Su tesis versó sobre la igualdad de género, el empoderamiento de las mujeres y el uso de anticonceptivos en la región occidental de Ghana.
Tras su graduación, Isaac trabajó como educador de pares voluntario del Fondo de las Naciones Unidas para la Infancia en el marco del Proyecto Nacional de Salud Reproductiva y de Prevención, Tratamiento y Apoyo para el VIH y el SIDA en el norte de Nigeria. También desempeña el rol de Coordinador de Programa de la Iniciativa para Rehabilitación y Tratamiento del VIH y el SIDA, además de haber estado involucrado en diversos proyectos relacionados con trabajadoras/es comerciales del sexo.
Fortalecer las capacidades y el liderazgo de las mujeres y de la juventud es fundamental para que los Objetivos de Desarrollo Sostenible (ODS) puedan realizar todo su potencial.
Su trabajo de promoción de la salud ha incluido participación directa de las comunidades. Como Coordinador de Salud Comunitaria en la Clínica de Maternidad Joy [Alegría], ubicada en el estado de Edo, Nigeria, proporcionó activamente educación para la salud y apoyo social a personas de la comunidad. Mientras realizaba esa tarea, Isaac se inscribió en un programa virtual y obtuvo dos Certificados: uno en Investigación Clínica y Salud Pública de la Facultad de Salud Pública de Harvard y otro en Desafíos de la Pobreza Global, del Instituto de Tecnología de Massachusetts.
Toda política medioambiental/climática exitosa debe ser integral: reducir las emisiones de dióxido de carbono, metano y otros gases de efecto invernadero, promoviendo al mismo tiempo un ambiente limpio pero sin dejar de trabajar por la salud sostenible para todas las personas.
Actif dans le secteur sans but lucratif, Isaac Oriafo Ejakhegbe, membre de l'AWID depuis juin 2015, concentre son travail sur l’égalité de genre, le changement climatique, la promotion de la santé et la santé des femmes et des enfants. Il est un jeune leader de l’initiative Women Deliver et travaille actuellement pour le Women’s Health and Action Research Centre (Centre de recherche et d’action pour la santé des femmes), une organisation non gouvernementale établie au Nigeria qui œuvre au service de la santé reproductive des femmes et de leur bien-être social.
Fondateur de l’initiative Youth Spotlight (Coup de projecteur sur la jeunesse), Isaac s’engage également à promouvoir la santé et les droits reproductifs et sexuels des jeunes. En outre, il aborde les enjeux relatifs à l’infection par le VIH.
Isaac a étudié en sciences sociales appliquées en santé à la School of Public Health de l’University of Ghana, où il a obtenu les meilleures notes de sa promotion. Sa thèse portait sur l'égalité de genre, l'autonomisation des femmes et l'usage de la contraception dans la région occidentale du Ghana.
Après avoir obtenu son diplôme, Isaac s’est porté volontaire comme éducateur pour les pairs auprès du Fonds des Nations Unies pour l’enfance (UNICEF), dans le cadre du projet national Reproductive Health HIV and AIDS Prevention and Care (La santé reproductive, la prévention et les soins liés au VIH et au SIDA) dans le Nord du Nigeria. Il est ensuite devenu chargé de programme de l'Initiative for the Rehabilitation and Care for HIV and AIDS (Initiative pour la réadaptation et les soins aux personnes porteuses du VIH et atteintes du SIDA). Il a également participé à plusieurs projets auprès des travailleurs et travailleuses du sexe.
Le renforcement des capacités et du leadership des femmes et des jeunes est un facteur clé pour libérer le potentiel des Objectifs de développement durable (ODD).
Un volet de son travail en promotion de la santé implique une participation communautaire directe. En tant qu’agent de santé communautaire à la Joy Maternity Clinic dans l’État d’Edo au Nigéria, Isaac s’est concentré sur l’offre active d’éducation en matière de santé et de soutien social à l’intention des membres de la communauté. Au même moment, il s’est inscrit à un programme en ligne, obtenant un Clinical Research and Public Health Certificate (Certificat en santé publique et recherche clinique) de la Harvard School of Public Health et un Certificat en Challenges of Global Poverty (Les défis de la pauvreté mondiale) du Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Pour atteindre leur objectif, les politiques liées à l’environnement et au climat doivent être holistiques : il faut réduire les émissions de dioxyde de carbone, de méthane et d’autres gaz à effet de serre, tout en promouvant des environnements plus sains, ces deux stratégies favorisant une santé durable pour tous et toutes.
Vous pouvez entrer en contact avec lui en consultant le répertoire en ligne des membres de l’AWID (uniquement accessible aux membres) ou en envoyant un courriel à membership@awid.org. Vous pouvez également suivre ses tweets sur @wisenobleman.
Now that you have analyzed all your data – from your survey, interviews, desk research and potentially other sources – you can create your final product.
Your final product will be the document that will summarize, analyze and criticize your data. That will be the piece that you will share with your community to present and explain your research to your audience.
At AWID, we often write a comprehensive written report that analyzes each set of data and synthesizes all of our findings, then later create smaller products, such as infographics and summaries (explained in the subsequent section “Finalize and format”).
1. Write clearly
Organize your data as you would like to tell a story. You can follow the order of your survey. Or you can regroup some questions to lead to your conclusion in a smooth and progressive way.
Adapt your language to your audience. Use universal language and avoid jargon or too technical terms.
Importance of the editor
An editor will proofread, ensure concise writing, conduct fact-checking, point out inconsistencies that need to be resolved, arrange the flow of the document and possibly suggest titles.
Your editor should preferably be someone who understands and knows your WITM work but who was not directly involved in the research. This will bring in a fresh perspective.
2. Make it pretty
Use the data collected to create graphs and tables. These type of visuals are a compelling way to highlight the main findings of your research and validate your analysis.
Source relevant images that can illustrate your report.
At this point, you have collected all your data, analyzed it and transformed it into your final product, likely in a long report.
1. Polish your results
Before moving on to the next steps – you should share your final research product with your advisor organizations, activists, and donors.
This is a great moment to check the following points:
Are there any key points missing in your analysis of the present funding landscape and trends?
Are there any key points missing in your conclusions?
Are there any inaccuracies in the data that need to be corrected?
General suggestions on strengthening the report to achieve your goals as listed in your research framing.
Once you have inputted all feedback from your advisors, be sure to run it by your editor once more.
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В рамках данной сессии, сотрудницы (-ки) Ассоциации «Права женщин в развитии» будут делиться своими знаниями и опытом работы в условиях виртуального общения. Мы поговорим об основных сложностях и интерсекциональности в работе секс-работниц (-ков) и феминисток (-ов).
Подумайте над своими вопросами!
Для участниц (-ков) будет предоставлен перевод на испанский, французский и русский языки.
Спикеры
Кей Тхи Вин
Кей Тхи является секс-работницей и с 2007 года лоббирует вопросы здоровья и прав секс-работниц (-ков). За последние девять лет она участвовала в программе по предупреждению ВИЧ среди женщин, работающих в секс-индустрии, и мужчин, имеющих половые связи с мужчинами, в Мьянме. В настоящее время Кей Тхи является региональной координаторкой Азиатско-Тихоокеанской сети секс-работниц (-ков) (АТССР) и работает с партнерами по всему Азиатско-Тихоокеанскому региону.
Гитанджали Мишра
Гитанджали является соосновательницей и исполнительной директоркой организации CREA (Нью-Дели). Она феминистка и любительница кино, работала по вопросам сексуальности, репродуктивного здоровья, гендера, прав человека и насилия в отношении женщин на различных уровнях - в качестве активистки, грантодательницы и на директивном уровне.
Вера Родригез
Вера присоединилась к фонду «Красный зонт» в августе 2017 года в качестве сотрудницы по программам. Вера родилась в Испании, где окончила факультет журналистики Университета Сан Пабло в Валенсии. Последние 7 лет она является активной участницей организации «X-talk», очень вовлечена в работу Коллектива Стриптизерш (-ров) Восточного Лондона, а также является участницей съемочной группы «Опера секс-работниц (-ков)».
Заинтересованы в том, чтобы вскоре стать частью этого диспут-семинарa и других обучения?!
Bunga or flower in English is something that is often associated with women in Indonesia. Meaning, a flower can also be associated with transgender women. Because transgender women are women. As beautiful, as strong, and they both lived not only waiting to be 'picked' but instead grew and bloom and died as they pleased. This work is a tribute to my transgender women friends on The International Transgender Day of Visibility.
About Ika Vantiani
Ika Vantiani is an Indonesian artist, curator and crafter based in Jakarta. Her works explores the idea of being a woman in today’s society with the intertwined between media and consumption. Ika uses the discipline of collage and expands it into workshop, installation, and street art. Ika is the member of artist collectives including Micro Galleries, The Collage Club and It’s In Your Hands Collective.
Hind and Hind were the first documented queer couple in Arab history. In today’s world, they are a queer artist from Lebanon.
Sequence 1
When I was 6, I learned that my grandfather owned a movie theater. My mother recounted to me how it had opened in the early 1960s, when she was also about 6 years old. She remembered that they screened The Sound of Music on the first night.
I would pass by the theater every weekend and watch my grandfather play backgammon with his friends. I didn’t know he was living in the theater, in a room right under the projection booth. I later learned that he moved there after he and my grandmother separated and after the theater closed, in the 1990s, shortly after the Lebanese civil war had ended.
For years and until he passed away, I would mostly see my grandfather play backgammon in the unmaintained reception area of the movie theater. Those repeated scenes are all I remember of him. I never got to properly know him; we never talked about cinema, even though he spent all his time in a run-down movie theater. I never asked him what it was like to live in a place like this. He died when I was 12, on Christmas Eve, from a fall down the spiraling steps that led to the projection booth. It is almost poetic that he passed away in movement, in a house where moving images are perpetually suspended in time.
Sequence 2
In the spring of 2020, my cousin called me to say he had cleaned up my grandfather’s movie theater and asked me to meet him there. The two of us had always dreamed of renovating it. I got there before he did. In the reception area, the film poster frames were still there but the posters were gone. I knew there must have been some ticket stubs left somewhere; I found them stacked away in a small rusty tin box, on a shelf in the ticketing booth, and I pocketed some.
I began to walk around. On the main stage, the projection screen was quite dirty and a little torn on the side. I glided my index finger on the screen to remove a patch of dust and noticed that the screen was still white underneath. The fabric seemed to be in good shape too. I looked up to see that my grandmother’s curtains were still in place. They were made of white satin with a little embroidered emblem over the bridge of the curtain, representing the theater. There was a main seating area and a gallery. The chairs seemed to be very worn out.
I noticed the projector peeking out of a small window at the very end of the balcony seating area. I led myself up the spiraling steps of the projection booth.
The room was dark, but a source of light coming from the dusty windows revealed a stack of film reels tossed in a corner. Lifeless celluloid strips were tangled up against the foot of the film projector. The dusty reels were all Western, Bollywood, and Science-Fiction genre films with bad titles like The Meteor that Destroyed Earth, or something of the sort. My attention was caught by the dusty film strips – mostly snippets cut out from reels. One by one, the short strips depicted different kissing scenes, what seemed like a suggestive dance, a nondescript scene of a gathering, a close-up of a woman lying down with her mouth open, opening credits to a Bollywood film, and a “Now Showing” tag that went on for several frames.
The Bollywood film credits reminded me of my mother. She used to tell me how they would hand out tissues to audience members on their way out of screenings. I kept the kissing scene and suggestive dance strips; I assumed they had been cut out for censorship reasons. The close-up of the woman reminded me of an excerpt from Béla Balázs’ Visible Man, or The Culture of Film, The Spirit of Film, and Theory of the Film. He said that close-ups in film provided a
silent soliloquy, in which a face can speak with the subtlest shades of meaning without appearing unnatural and arousing the distance of the spectators. In this silent monologue, the solitary human soul can find a tongue more candid and uninhibited than any spoken soliloquy, for it speaks instinctively, subconsciously.
Balázs was mostly describing the close-ups of Joan in the silent film La Passion de Jeanne d’Arc. He pointed out how, “...in the silent (movie), facial expression, isolated from its surroundings, seemed to penetrate to a strange new dimension of the soul.”
I examined the film strip further. The woman looked dead, her face almost mask-like. She reminded me of Ophelia by the painter John Everett Millais. In her book On Photography, Susan Sontag says a photograph is “a trace, something directly stenciled off the real, like a footprint or a death mask.” These death masks are like a presence that reminds of an absence.
I remembered encountering a discourse between death and photography in Roberto Rossellini’s forgotten film The Machine that Kills Bad People. In this film, a cameraman goes around taking photographs of people, who would in turn freeze, and are later suspended in time. French film critic André Bazin used to say that photography snatches bodies away from the flow of death and stores them by embalming them. He described this photographic mummification as “the preservation of life by a representation of life.”
This projection booth, its whole layout, all the things that looked like they were moved, the celluloid strips on the ground, everything my grandfather left a mark on – I felt very protective of.
Underneath the strips was an undone dusty film reel. It seemed like someone had been watching the reel manually. At that moment, my cousin made his way up the spiraling steps to find me examining it. He rubbed his fingers along his chin and, in a very-matter-of-fact way, said, “You found the porn.”
Sequence 3
I looked at the film strip in my hand and realized it was not a death scene. The strip was cut out of the porn reel. The woman was moaning in ecstasy. Close-ups are meant to convey feelings of intensity, of climax, but I had never really used Balázs’ theories to describe a porn scene. He wrote how “the dramatic climax between two people will always be shown as dialogue of facial expressions in close-up.” I pocketed the film strip and I named the woman Ishtar. She has lived in my wallet ever since. It seemed strange to compare the close depiction of Joan’s fears and courage with Ishtar’s facial expression in ecstasy.
According to my cousin, my grandfather’s brother would wait until my grandfather left the theater and, instead of closing, invite his friends for some after-hour private screenings. I didn’t think much of it. It was a common practice, especially during and after the Lebanese civil war. After the war, television sets were almost in every Lebanese household. I even remember having one in my bedroom in the late 1990s, when I was around 6 years old. I was told that buying porn films on VHS was popular at the time. Mohammed Soueid, a Lebanese writer and filmmaker, once told me that movie theaters used to screen art films and pornography from the mid-1980s to the mid-1990s, so that they could survive. I also heard that projectionists would cut up porn reels to make different montages, so that they could screen something different every night. Eventually, people stayed within the comforts of their homes to watch VHS tapes on their televisions, and movie theaters began to run out of business.
Sequence 4
My cousin went back downstairs to go through an archive of paperwork in the office space. I stayed in the booth and began to slip the film strip between my index and middle finger, sliding it up with my thumbs and slowly running the frames through my hands. I lifted the strip against the dusty window and squinted to make sense of the monochrome vignettes. In this series of frames was an extreme close-up of a dick shoved into a vagina. It went on for several frames until I came across a knot in the film, and I imagined the rest.
Sequence 5
Hank is showcasing his hard-on in front of Veronika who is lying in bed across a Louis XIV secrétaire knockoff. She gets up slowly and slides the thin strap of her see-through négligé off her left shoulder. Hank unties her veiled robe, turns her around, slaps her ass, and pushes her down against the secrétaire. He thrusts his dick inside her pussy repeatedly as the back of the furniture bangs against the wallpaper-adorned wall.
Sequence 6
I was always attentive to the interior décor, ever since I was told by my Women in Porn Studies professor that the largest porn archives in North America are interestingly used to examine the middle-class furniture of that epoch. So, while Veronika is bending over and being taken from behind by Hank, a university research assistant could very well be trying to guess the design of the gold motif on the secrétaire, or study the rococo relief on a wooden chair in some corner.
For a moment, the booth became a space for female sexual imagination, disrupting a space otherwise promised for the freedom of male sexuality. I was sure that only men were able to access movie theaters that screened porn films. The film reel was too entangled to undo in a projection booth where dust had accumulated for over a decade, so I stuffed it into my duffle bag and walked out of the theater.
I am not sure what came over me, but I felt compelled to keep it. I wanted to feel the thrill of safeguarding something mysterious, something unorthodox. In my mind, I was sure people knew I was hiding something as I walked down the street. A feeling of guilt intertwined with pleasure came over me. It felt kinky.
Sequence 7
I got into the house, preoccupied with the thought of having a porn reel in my duffle bag and the stream of thoughts that had unfolded on my walk home. I immediately went to my bedroom. In some distant part of my mind, I remembered that I shared a wall with Layla’s room next door. She was probably not home, but the possibility of being heard excited me. I closed my bedroom door and I took the film strip of Ishtar out.
I imagined her dressed in a light green veiled dress, dancing seductively in front of me, swinging her hips sideways and smiling with her eyes. I got onto my bed. I slipped my fingers into my panties. I lifted my hips. I trailed my hand down my thighs to part them, and slid two fingers in. I tensed up as I palpated my various creases. I moaned before I could stop myself. I panted and swayed. The rays of sun coming through my window planted reluctant kisses onto my skin. I held my breath in and my limbs quivered. I swallowed my breath and laid flat on the mattress.
Sequence 8
When I was an undergraduate student, I had taken an introductory film class and Professor Erika Balsom had scheduled a screening of Bette Gordon’s Variety. I was excited to watch producer Christine Vachon’s first film before she moved onto producing films that are now part of the New Queer Cinema movement. Variety was described as a feminist film about Christine, a woman who begins to work as a ticketing clerk in a porn movie theater in New York city called The Variety Theater. Christine overhears the films at the theater but never goes in. Eventually, she becomes interested in a regular customer, whom she watches closely. She follows him to an adult shop where she stands aside and flips through adult magazines for the first time.
Christine’s voyeurism was displayed in different ways throughout the film. The script was also ridden with excess, and erotic monologues that would be considered obscene or vulgar.
In a scene set in an arcade, she reads erotica to her boyfriend. The camera goes back and forth between a close-up of her boyfriend Mark’s butt as he was playing pinball, swinging his hips back and forth against the arcade machine, and a close-up of Christine’s face as she recited her monologue.
Sequence 9
“Sky was hitchhiking and he got a ride from a woman in a pick-up truck. It was late at night and he needed a place to stay, so she offered him her place.
She showed him to his room and offered him a drink. They drank and talked and decided to turn in. He couldn’t sleep, so he put on his pants and walked down the hall to the living room. He was a stop short of being seen, but he could see. The woman was naked and spread on the coffee table with only her legs dangling over. Her whole body was excitingly white as if it’d never seen the sun. Her nipples were bright pink, fire-like, almost neon. Her lips were open. Her long auburn hair licking the floor, arms stretched, fingers tickling the air. Her oiled body was round with no points, no edges. Slithering between her breasts was a large snake curving up around one, and down between the other. The snake’s tongue licking toward the cunt, so open, so red in the lamp light. Hot and confused, the man walked back to his room, and with great difficulty, managed to fall asleep. The next morning, over strawberries, the woman asks him to stay another night. Again, he couldn’t sleep […]”
Sequence 10
When I was 23, Lynn, the girl I was dating from film class, surprised me by taking me to watch erotica short films on Valentine’s Day. The event took place at The Mayfair Theater, an independent old movie theater. The architecture of the theater recalled North American Nickelodeons, but with a campy touch. Its balconies were decorated with life-size cardboard cutouts of Swamp Thing and Aliens.
That year, the festival was judged by adult star Kacie May and the program consisted of an hour and a half of short films. The content ranged from soft-core machismo-ridden shorts to scat fetish films. We watched a few minutes of what seemed to be heterosexual soft porn. It followed a couple who start making love in a modern living room space, then move to the bedroom. It was mostly footage of them kissing each other, touching each other, and making love missionary-style. Then a woman with a short brown bob crawled onto the bed, licking the back of her own hand in short strokes. She meowed and crawled over the unconcerned couple. They continued to make love. She crawled out to the kitchen, picked up her empty bowl with her teeth, and placed it onto a pillow. She kept walking over them until the end of the short. It seemed quite absurd. I began to laugh, but Lynn looked a bit uncomfortable. I then looked to our left, watching other audience members chugging beers and inhaling popcorn while laughing hysterically. Their uninterrupted laughter and loud comments really set the tone of the festival. Watching the audience became more interesting than watching the erotic films. The Mayfair Theater often showed cult films, and watching cult films is a communal experience.
It’s not exactly how I imagined my mother’s uncle watching porn in my grandfather’s theater. Movie theaters were openly screening porn films at that time, but I could not picture it happening within my mother’s hometown. I pictured him watching the film from the projector in the booth, so he could quickly stop the screening in case any unexpected guests decided to stop by. His friends sat on the balcony in the back. No one could get in from there unless they had a key, so it was safe. They had to think of everything. It was a conservative Christian neighborhood and they would not want to cause any trouble. They were most likely overcome with excitement and guilt. The voices of loud homoerotic banter merged with sound bites of grunting and moaning, but they reminded each other to keep it down every few minutes. They took turns to check the windows to make sure the sound was not loud enough to alarm any neighbors. Sometimes, they would turn off the speaker and there would be no sound.
Sequence 11
After a political protest in 2019, I came across a bookstand on Riad El Solh street, close to Martyr’s Square in downtown Beirut. Towards the end of the table, past the copies of Hugo and de Beauvoir, I found a stack of erotica novels and adult magazines. They were all translations of Western publications. I really did not care which one I picked; I just knew I wanted to own a copy for the thrill of it. I looked for the most interesting cover art.
As he was giving me my change back, the vendor asked me, “Don’t I know you from somewhere?”
He scanned my breasts, gliding his eyes downwards. He probably assumed I worked in the porn or sex industry. I looked into his eyes and said, “No.” I turned around, ready to walk away with my magazine. He then stopped me to say that he had a large archive in his basement, and that he regularly sold porn collections and publications on EBay, to Europe and the USA. Although I was interested in rummaging through that archive, I was not comfortable enough to take his offer. It did not feel safe. I asked him where he found these novels. To my surprise, they were produced in Lebanon.
Walking towards the Riad El Solh statue, I read through the journal I had bought and found the format of the text somewhat canted; the font was a bit smudged, making it illegible. The photographs inside were comprised of faded pornographic collages. It looked raw; I liked that. The title of the novel read, Marcel’s Diaries.
The cover art was clearly a magazine cut-out pasted over a blue sheet. In the picture, a shirtless woman is grabbing her lover’s head, digging her fingers in his hair, while he is kissing her neck from behind. Her skirt is zipped down. Her lover has his hand on her lower right hip. She has her hand over his. Her lips are puckered up and open, almost like she is moaning with pleasure, her 1970s straight blonde hair running down her chest and partially covering her nipples.
I opened the first page. The preface read
شهوات”
“وشذوذ
which either translates to
“Desire
and deviance”
or to
“Desire
and kink”
I read through the first chapter and I found that whoever translated the text had changed the main character’s name to Fouad, an Arabic name. I assumed they wanted their Lebanese male audience to identify. As I read through, I found that all of his lovers had foreign names like Hanna, Marla, Marcel, Marta.
Sequence 12
I realized on page 27, chapter four, that Marcel was one of Fouad’s lovers.
Sequence 13
The scene took place in a movie theater. Movie theaters were often spaces for sexual freedom in North America, especially since the 1970s after the sexual revolution.
I also assumed they kept all the other foreign names so that it sounds exotic and less taboo. Pornography and erotica were attributed to West Hollywood, despite the fact that the Arab world historically produced erotic texts. Erotica became taboo, and the only way to safely produce it was to market it as foreign, as exotic.
It is interesting how the exotic covers for the erotic. The difference between the two adjectives is rooted in their Greek etymologies: exotic is from exo, “outside,” meaning alien or foreign. Erotic is derived from Eros, the god of sexual love. So, what’s exotic is mysterious and foreign – what’s erotic is sexy.
In Lebanon there is a thin line between the exotic and the erotic in cinema, like the thin line between art films and porn films. In 2015, during a conversation with filmmaker Jocelyne Saab in a Vietnamese restaurant in Paris, I learned that she had to shoot her art film Dunia a second time to change the dialect from Egyptian to Lebanese. She told me that her actors were Egyptian, and that she wasn’t strict about the script. She was not allowed to use Egyptian dialect. It had to be in Lebanese because the producers were concerned about the borderline erotic scenes in the film. So, they made it foreign.
Love letter to feminist movements: A goodbye from Hakima and Cindy
Dear feminist movements,
You welcomed us with open arms when it was announced during the 2016 AWID Forum in Bahia that we would be AWID’s new Co-EDs. It was a moment that felt full of possibility, we were building a feminist oasis that would help sustain our collective struggles forward. We left Bahia with a sharp sense of responsibility, to do our best in your service and to lead AWID in ways that would be most supportive and impactful for you.
It is now time for us to step aside for new leadership!
Over five years into our journey, we are stepping down as AWID’s Co-EDs. Our decision comes as we wrap up the current strategic cycle. We see this as an ideal moment to step aside and support a leadership refresh. We believe that transformative feminist leadership is cyclical.
We so appreciate the opportunity we had to play a role in AWID’s 40 year history, holding and shepherding the organization through the difficult context of global pandemic, and so many spiraling crises.
Feminist movements, we know you will be part of our next journey, whatever that may be. You have consistently taught us about strength and resilience. We may move to different roles, but we will collectively continue to move together.
How We Moved
We have vivid memories of those of you in Indonesia, Malaysia, Nepal, Thailand, Taiwan and beyond who met us to co-create the AWID Forum with so much generosity and spark. Without a doubt, our greatest regret from the last five years is that we could not give you an in-person Forum.
Once we came to the difficult (albeit necessary) decision to cancel the AWID Forum, we focused on grappling with the existential questions so many of our organizations were facing: how do we shift our ways of working to be relevant, account for the exhaustion, sickness, and grief affecting all of us in different ways? How do we build meaningful relationships when we are limited to being online? There are still no straightforward answers to these questions, but feminist movements, you have shown the way.
We were so proud to see the ways feminists were leading responses to mitigate the impacts of COVID-19 on our communities. Feminists are frontline responders in crisis and we will continue to demand recognition and resources for this work. You often responded enthusiastically to our outreach, showing up in amazing ways in our Feminist Bailout campaign and later in the Crear Resister Transform festival. You jumped into collaborative advocacy with us – whether influencing human rights spaces, policy makers or funders.
Our work with you inspired us at AWID to make an important pivot in expanding opportunities for engagement among our members that is not centralized through AWID. We call this a solidarity-based approach to membership and we are excited to be launching this year the AWID Community platform.
You taught us that, since we can’t count on the system, what is especially important is that we show up for each other. We hope that what we did well over these years was to make space for new and deeper relationships and possibilities of mutual support and collaboration.
We give a special shout-out of love and respect to the current and former AWID team (both our staff and Board members) whom we’ve had the honor to work with over these years. We’ve learned from each one of you and felt deep gratitude for everything you have contributed to AWID over the years.
We came into this role as AWID’s first pair of Co-Executive Directors. We learned from the many activist and community traditions of collective leadership and the feminist organizations who had done this before us. We know that we couldn’t have done this job without each other. We were able to leverage each other’s strengths and have each other’s backs to do the best job we could.
What’s Next
We came into role together and are leaving together, even as we will be staggering our departure dates. We are both committed to supporting a smooth transition and deliberate onboarding of the new leadership this year.
Feminist movements, you are in great hands with the AWID team. They’ve got this. And we are proud to be leaving the organization in such a strong and resilient place. Hopefully, we’ll see many of you at the AWID Forum in 2024 – you’ll recognize us as the kicked back, relaxed folks in the audience!
Love and appreciation for all that you’ve done with and for us. Your impact on our lives stretches well beyond the last 5 years, and no doubt will continue to stretch far into the future.
I am pleased to share with you one of my remarkable dates as feminist with disability. It was May 30, 2014 when we (the Nationwide Organization of Visually-Impaired Empowered Ladies NOVEL) participated in the Philippine Fashion Week Holiday 2014 for our white cane advocacy campaign. Two ladies who are blind walked down the catwalk to promote the white cane as one of the symbols of gender equality, empowerment, full inclusion and equal participation of women and girls with visual impairment in society.
Their walk in front of the crowd were extremely a nerve-wracking experience for me, as the proponent of our project with the Runway Productions (I enduringly waited for a year for its approval), knowing that they were not models, they were the crowned Ms. Philippines Vision and 1st Runner Up of 2013 Ms. Philippines on Wheels, Signs and Vision by Tahanang Walang Hagdanan, Inc. (House with No Steps). Also, they fell on their orientation and practiced the evening before the event and they didn’t have practice with professional models. Before the show started, I talked to them via mobile phone to boost their confidence and to pray together for God’s guidance. When they exited the catwalk, I breathed deeply while my tears were flowing. I was feeling euphoric because we did it despite the challenges we’ve been through! Our message to the world that women and girls with visual impairment can walk with dignity, freedom and independence on an equal basis with others, with the use of our assistive device - white canes was successfully delivered! We trended in social media and we were featured by television networks.
My life as a feminist with disability started as a means to mend my broken spirit and to see a different path towards finding my life’s purpose after I became victim-survivor to a vicious acid attack in 2007 while I was waiting for a ride going home from office. My eyes were severely damaged, to the point that I became a woman with low vision.
I never knew how joyful and purposeful my life could be again until I met women leaders in the gender and disability movement who influenced me to keep going. Their words of encouragement attracted me and became the sweetest music to my ears. My broken heart leaped like a hummingbird in flight every time I think of them and feminism which stimulated me to partake in making difference for our invisible sisters with disabilities and to those who continue to experience discrimination. To date, I am consumed by the desire to be with the movement. I cannot hide my excitement whenever I submit project proposals to different stakeholders for our sisters with disabilities' empowerment, development and advancement; and to make representations in local, national and international conversations to amplify our voices even at my expense.
Unexpectedly, I was selected as our country’s female representative in the 2012 World Blind Union (WBU) General Assembly in Thailand even though I was a newcomer in the disability movement. In the same year, I was elected as the only woman officer of the Philippine Blind Union (PBU) in its assembly. I was inspired to reach out, gather and empower our sisters with visual impairment on their rights and to know their intersecting issues. In 2013, we officially launched the Nationwide Organization of Visually-Impaired Empowered Ladies (NOVEL) to support the empowerment of our sisters with disabilities, build coalitions with cross-disability and women’s movements and promote gender and disability-inclusive development.
My participation as co-focal person of women with disabilities in our 2016 CEDAW Shadow Report submission convened by Women’s Legal and Human Rights Bureau (WLB) with the marginalized groups of women, opened many doors such as working with various women’s organizations and attending the 2017 Inclusion Days International in Berlin, Germany together with 3 Filipino women leaders with disabilities to share our good practices, mainly our engagement with the women’s movement in our country.
My journey as feminist with disability has been an emotional roller coaster for me. It gave me happiness and a sense of worth when I participated in promoting for our sisters with disabilities full inclusion, equal and effective participation in society, yet I felt frustrated and upset when I gave my all but I received negative remarks. Nevertheless, I feel that way because I am in love with the movement.
I see my future working in solidarity with the movement to ensure that our sisters with and without disabilities can equally and fully enjoy and participate in society.
Love lots,
Gina Rose P. Balanlay
Feminist with disability
Philippines
A Strategy, a Market and New Voices: Indigenous Women and the AWID Forums
The Forum was a key space for the Indigenous Women’s Movement (IWM) in its relationship to feminism. At AWID Forums, they developed engagement strategies that would then apply at other spaces like the United Nations. In that process, both indigenous women and feminists movements were transformed: new voices and issues emerged and feminists started to change their discourses and practices around land rights and spirituality, they understood collective rights better, and included the IWM in their events and agendas. Mónica Alemán and María Manuela Sequeira, from the IWM, shared this story of change.
