Females United for Action is a collective of beautiful women and genderqueer folks of color and allies. We are radical activists, dreamers, and survivors who study and practice love and healing through honoring ourselves and our legacies in our communities. We provide space to make art, learn, study, discuss, reflect, skill-share, problem-solve and heal as a community.

Women & Girls CAN and the Chicago Freedom School work collaboratively through the Chicago Alliance Against White Supremacy.  In summer 2009, a group of CAAWS members wrote this statement about recent cases of racism and white supremacy in the news, to promote public dialogue.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

A day-long Transformative Justice Teach-in happened on June 6, which bought together over 85 organizers, activists, adults and youth, for a day of popular education workshops and movement-building.  The event was organized by Women & Girls CAN, the Queer Transformative Justice Working Group, DePaul’s Program in Women’s & Gender Studies, and dozens of partner organizations from across Chicago and beyond, who generously offered their time & expertise to make the day possible.

A zine, a result of the collaboration that went into this event, was produced.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

FUFA stirred up city-wide and national discussions  this spring through our youth-authored article “Beyond Chris Brown and Rihanna”.  The article was published by the Chicago Tribune and used by schools and organizations not just in Chicago, but all over the country.  In order to share the article with other youth, FUFA leaders turned it into a mini-zine with pictures, and started passing it out.  The zine has helped us to facilitate a workshop on strategies to support survivors of violence with local high schools and community groups.

Beyond Chris Brown & Rihanna, Chicago Tribune, Exploring Race, February 24, 2009

During the heated Democratic primaries in early 2008, WGCAN leaders called on white progressive women activists and feminists to join us in challenging the onslaught of reactionary and racist arguments being put forward in the name of feminism and in defense of Hillary Clinton. Read our Call to Action.

]]> http://womenandgirlscan.org/2009/08/13/stop-the-false-racegender-divide-a-call-to-action/feed/ 0 http://womenandgirlscan.org/2009/03/19/maasai-women-against-violence/ http://womenandgirlscan.org/2009/03/19/maasai-women-against-violence/#comments Thu, 19 Mar 2009 23:43:17 +0000 admin http://womenandgirlscan.org/?p=43

Too often, white western feminists have, in the name of human rights, been disrespectful of the opinions, needs and strategies of women in developing countries. Issues of female genital mutilation (FGM), for example, have been taken on by some white western feminists, often without seeking the input of women activists on the ground.

A different example is set by Maasai Women Against Violence Development Organization. I had the opportunity to sit down with Leah Moiko Sopiato, who founded the group, to learn more about the program. Leah is a member of the Maasai community in Kenya, the only tribe in the country that practices FGM. As a 12-year old girl, she refused to undergo the procedure, and was ostracized in her family and school as a result. Leah left for high school and then college, and then returned to her community, determined to address the many issues that girls are facing.

To Leah, FGM is one of several intersecting issues impacting girls in the Maasai community. When girls as young as 9 undergo the process, she has seen this as not only a violation of human rights, but also a “hindrance to their education.” Girls are viewed as women after the procedure, and often drop out of school, either to be married off to men of their father’s age, or due to early unwanted pregnancies. Girls who refuse FGM, in some cases, are denied access to school and are taken as outcasts in the society. So the primary goals of Maasai Women Against Violence are to rescue girls from female genital mutilation and early marriages, and help them access an education. Leah talks with family members, from the perspective of a community member, about the importance of girls’ education, and she has set up peer clubs, workshops and discussions for women about the need for education for girls.

She says these conversations go well, for one reason: she is from the community, and therefore can relate to the families she speaks with. She has helped many girls go to school, to promote their independence in the community.

Leah recognized that women in her community are “exposed to very little or no formal education, and are unable to access employment. The only income-generating activity they can engage in is beadwork (the making of Maasai artifacts).” Because of their economic instability, women do not participate in decision- making at either the family level or the community at large. Empowering women economically strengthens their participation in decision-making structures. So Leah began a program for the women to create and sell beadwork. Funds made go to women in the community, and a percentage also goes to support girls’ access to education. She is raising funds now to build a house that can serve as a shelter for girls fleeing FGM, and also for opportunities to bring girls together to share their experiences and learn from one another.

To Leah, this approach is very different from the non-governmental organizations (NGOs) she sees in Kenya. She describes these as addressing the issue from their own perspective, without bothering to learn the perspective of the people from the community. Often, she hears about an NGO but has never seen them step foot in the Maasai community. These NGOs use a top-down approach. “Decisions are made at the top and are imposed on the people. The development agencies assume that they have the answers to all issues affecting the people and so they come up with approaches without the participation of the community.”

Here at Women & Girls CAN, we are trying to promote a different kind of feminism than that set out by the NGOs Leah is describing – one that does not assume there is one way to approach social justice for women and girls, and one that begins on a community level and is led by the people most impacted by an issue. The work of Maasai Women Against Violence Development Organization is a great example.

To find out more about their work, or to make a donation, email Leah at lsopiato@hotmail.com.

Posted by: Melissa Spatz

Currently, we are in search of individuals and groups around the country who are engaged in dialogues and processes using alternative models and strategies to connect anti-violence work with community building, mobilize and expand communities’ capacities to end violence through organizing and accountability, and see social justice as a central part of anti-violence work. 

Our goals for this project are multifaceted.  We intend to bring visibility to social justice work around anti-violence, thus further galvanizing a shift ignited by INCITE! in the Domestic Violence movement.  We see this documentation as part of an ongoing series of writing projects including, and not limited to, blogging, academic papers and community organization reports.  Eventually, we envision a national convening of groups as a forum to share frameworks, strategies and tactics.  

During the Women’s Worlds/Mundos de Mujeres 2008 conference in Madrid, we had the opportunity to view the Bellas Durmientes / Sleeping Beauties exhibit and meet the artist.  María María Acha, a visual artist from Lima, Peru, who currently resides in Spain, initiated and compiled the exhibit.  It’s based in a collaborative project of artists and activists to make the many women killed by domestic violence visible, to condemn this violence, and to pay homage to the women’s lives –“Sleeping Beauties honors those women who never will wake up and remember us, we can´t forget the tragedy of their murders.” This mobile exhibit appeared at different locations throughout the conference, reminding participants of the significance of the conference goals and themes of building research and action around gender violence and promoting women’s human rights.

Acha has put a call out to for more stories and tributes. To contribute to the exhibit, individuals or groups can create an action, ceremony or homage to a woman who has been murdered from 2001 through 2007 (433 domestic violence murders documented in Spain between these years).  Whatever is created is then represented on self-adhesive posters, send to Acha who compiles them and builds them into the overall exhibit.  The deadline for submissions is December 2008.

While the project initiated in Spain, Maria María Acha welcomes contributions from other parts of the world.  Check out the website at: http://www.ojoatomico.com/bellasdurmientes/home.html, to see some of the entries to this powerful exhibit, and to find out more about how to participate.

As we talk here in Chicago about the forms of violence that women and girls experience, it’s important to think about the many ways that women elsewhere experience violence during armed conflict, and the ways that women have been able to insert themselves into the peace process. 

Here’s where the Iniciativa de Mujeres Colombianas por la Paz, or I.M.P. comes in (in English, it’s the Colombian Women’s Peace Initiative).  They are an alliance of dozens of organizations across Colombia, and they have 2 broad goals – to involve women in peacemaking negotiations in the conflict in Colombia, and to lessen the particular forms of violence that women experience during wartime. 

These 2 goals are linked – because women experience such unique forms of violence during conflict, it’s so important to have women at the negotiating table.  I.M.P. reminds us that during armed conflict, women experience a lot of different kinds of violence, including physical violence, sexual violence as a tool of war, and the psychological violence of being threatened and displaced from your home. 

Using a human rights model, and looking at women’s multiple identities across class, ethnicity, sexual orientation, age, religion and more, these women have written, marched and organized for peace in Colombia.  For those who read Spanish, you can check out their great website at www.mujeresporlapaz.org. 

Actually, a lot of groups we heard from are using a human rights analysis, bringing in international law and standards as they approach their work.  We’d love to hear from you: does your project use a human rights framework?  Would this be helpful to hear more about?

Check out their fantastic pledge card. We’d love to hear from you: does your organization have something similar? Is this something you’d like to adopt at your own group?

Here it is:

As a member of _________________, I pledge to challenge violence in all of its forms, including sexual and domestic violence, racism, sexism, classism, heterosexism, harassment, homophobia, ableism, ageism, adultism, hate speech, and all other forms of oppression, as well as the hierarchies that oppression both depends upon and maintains.  I understand that these forms of violence are issues of power and privilege that impact the lives of all people including women, men, youth, lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgendered, queer, two-spirit, and gender non-conforming people.

I pledge to stand by those who are survivors of violence, meaning that I will believe their words, support them, and advocate with them if I am asked. I will work with them to honor their wishes for confidentiality and/or to seek accountability of those responsible.

I understand what it means to be complicit within larger structures of violence. I recognize the impact of state and institutional violence. I pledge to acknowledge, resist, and educate with the understanding that I must hold myself accountable for my own complicity within these structures of violence. I pledge that I will not perpetrate acts of intentional, interpersonal, individualized hate, violence, or harassment against others and understand that if I do I will be held accountable for my actions and behavior through a group process. I also understand that if I refuse to participate in this process of accountability, I am no longer welcome to work with this group.

I pledge to be committed to education around issues of violence, understanding that linking all forms of oppression will further our work toward ending violence. This commitment also aids in the process of accountability when we are complicit and when we are directly responsible, whether or not this complicity or responsibility is intended. I understand that this process is continual, and will allow me to recognize what I can change about my role in maintaining systems of oppression.

I pledge to believe that change is possible.

Ed:  Many thanks to Elisa for bringing up the question of the development of this pledge card (comments, below).  We should have mentioned that REVOLT did develop the card based on the work of the GABRIELA Network.  The Gabnet pledge card was featured in the Women & Girls CAN report, Communities Engaged in Resisting Violence (available on this website for free downloading) as an example of strategies for creating safe communities and organizations, and REVOLT did draw upon that work in developing their own pledge.  In fact, we at Women & Girls CAN are having similar discussions now to develop our own pledge card, and we appreciate Gabnet’s leadership in this!