Challenges of Success: Stages of Growth in Feminist Organizations
Creating organizations that serve and advocate for women has been an outstanding achievement of the feminist movement in the United States during the past two decades.
Battered women's shelters, women's studies programs, health clinics, law firms, bookstores, theaters, art galleries, publishers, and many other feminist organizations have enriched women's lives and furthered the process of social change. Having been involved in several of these groups as a participant, researcher, and consultant, I have noticed that organizations with very different purposes, united only loosely by feminist ideology, confront similar issues as they grow. Some of these issues arise in any small organization as it becomes larger and more complex; others are common to social movement organizations that use a collectivist structure. But particular problems emerge when feminist values encounter the demands of life in a growing organization. This article explores the challenges and choices that feminist organizations face as they grow.
To read more, download the document
