Mass demonstration in Madrid on International Women's Day
Multitudinaria manifestación en Madrid en el día internacional de la mujer
Priority Areas
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.
Across the globe, feminist, women’s rights and gender justice defenders are challenging the agendas of fascist and fundamentalist actors. These oppressive forces target women, persons who are non-conforming in their gender identity, expression and/or sexual orientation, and other oppressed communities.
Discriminatory ideologies are undermining and co-opting our human rights systems and standards, with the aim of making rights the preserve of only certain groups. In the face of this, the Advancing Universal Rights and Justice (AURJ) initiative promotes the universality of rights - the foundational principle that human rights belong to everyone, no matter who they are, without exception.
We create space for feminist, women’s rights and gender justice movements and allies to recognize, strategize and take collective action to counter the influence and impact of anti-rights actors. We also seek to advance women’s rights and feminist frameworks, norms and proposals, and to protect and promote the universality of rights.
Our actions
Through this initiative, we:
Build knowledge: We support feminist, women’s rights and gender justice movements by disseminating and popularizing knowledge and key messages about anti-rights actors, their strategies, and impact in the international human rights systems through AWID’s leadership role in the collaborative platform, the Observatory on the Universality of Rights (OURs)*.
Advance feminist agendas: We ally ourselves with partners in international human rights spaces including, the Human Rights Council, the Commission on Population and Development, the Commission on the Status of Women and the UN General Assembly.
Create and amplify alternatives: We engage with our members to ensure that international commitments, resolutions and norms reflect and are fed back into organizing in other spaces locally, nationally and regionally.
Mobilize solidarity action: We take action alongside women human rights defenders (WHRDs) including trans and intersex defenders and young feminists, working to challenge fundamentalisms and fascisms and call attention to situations of risk.
Cynthia Cockburn was a feminist sociologist, writer, academic, photographer and peace activist.
She explored the gendered aspects of violence and conflict and made significant contributions to the peace movement through her exploration of the themes of masculinity and violence as well as her local and international activism.
Cynthia brought a feminist power analysis to militarisation and war, and was among the academics whose writings and analysis clearly demonstrated how gender-based violence played a key part in perpetuating war. Working closely with peace activists in countries experiencing conflict, her findings covered diverse contexts including Northern Ireland, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Israel/Palestine, South Korea, Japan, Spain and the UK. She helped bring in her research and academic writings, an understanding that violence was experienced as a continuum of time and scale and perceived very differently when seen from a gendered lens.
In her words, “Gender helps us to see the continuity, the connection between instances of violence.”
Cynthia bridged her research with the activism she did locally and internationally with movements for demilitarisation, disarmament and peace. She helped start the Greenham Common women’s peace camp, which advocated for universal nuclear disarmament in Britain and was part of establishing the London chapter of Women in Black.
Over the decades, Cynthia organized and participated in local weekly vigils and the political choir Raised Voices, singing in the choir, and writing several of the lyrics to the songs that have made up its repertoire. She was also active in the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF), the European Forum of Socialist Feminists as well as in Women Against Fundamentalism.
“Cynthia shed feminist light, wove together feminist communities, sang songs of peace, listened, listened, listened, watched the birds – and stopped traffic. I’ll be forever and gratefully in her debt, the other ‘Cynthia’” – Cynthia Enloe
Cynthia was born in July 1934 and passed away in September 2019 at the age of 85.
Pleasure(s) as the key to personal freedom
By Nkhensani Manabe
The conversation title "Pansexual, Gynasexual or Abrosexual? A dive into queerness, pleasure and sex positivity" gives one much to think about. Tiffany Kagure Mugo, author, educator and curator of HOLAAfrica, begins the discussion with a reading from Touch, a recently published collection of fiction and non-fiction essays on sex, sexuality and pleasure. In this excerpt, the author puts forward the idea that pleasure is constant and ongoing, it is to be found in everyday activities and is not confined to sexual intercourse.
This idea, that pleasure is as much a part of daily life as anything else, runs through the discussion, which also covers topics of desire, attraction and sexual orientation.
Early on, there is this sense of hope and possibility. Tiffany presents options and explains alternatives, giving us new language to speak about who we are, what we like, and how we want it. This is about desire and sex, but mostly it is about self-knowledge and empowerment. Tiffany speaks passionately about making decisions from a place of power: learning your own identity so that you are able to make the best choices for yourself.
In a conversation that is open and free, representing the attitude that Tiffany would have us all adopt, we learn that knowledge about sex and sexuality is ever-changing, the boundaries are shifting. What we may have learned or, more importantly, been kept away from as children or adults is exactly where we should start unlearning and reprogramming. Tiffany notes that young people these days need tools to understand the experiences they are already having, a reminder to never underestimate what children and teenagers know about the kind of pleasure(s) they want to pursue in life.
The conversation opened my mind to something: knowing myself will help to build my confidence; I will be able to approach relationships with care not only for myself but for others, too. Learning the language of orientation, attraction, desire and pleasure will go towards deepening my future connections. I appreciated the space to think about this aspect of my life -- the private, intimate parts that I don’t access often. Tiffany’s enthusiasm about pleasure and identity pushed my own boundaries, allowing me to entertain new personal possibilities.
The idea of learning how to make holistic connections is still not common. Largely, we live in a culture of instant and fleeting connections. There is hardly any time to truly reflect on how and why we are seeking relationship or partnership -- at least, not until a moment of crisis.
Of course, there are selected spaces that welcome questions and discussions, such as the AWID Crear Résister Transform Festival and other free-thinking online platforms or publications -- but access to information from a helpful, non-judgemental source is something people are still trying to figure out. This may be in part because people are not confident in the language of sexuality and pleasure.
The notion of language and tools repeats itself throughout Tiffany’s presentation. Tiffany and her colleagues are doing the work of talking, teaching and nurturing. Seeing what people need, where they are, what they want for themselves, and walking alongside them as they build their ideal worlds. Giving them new words and definitions to help give shape to their identities at different stages of their lives.
These are the kinds of conversations that are necessary, even in a society that has myriad healthcare messages broadcast with varying degrees of details at any given moment. Sometimes people need to be brought back from the big picture moments and encouraged to learn about their individual opinions and desires. This is what Tiffany’s talk does: it gives people a space in the larger puzzle.
A highlight of Tiffany’s talk was the section on the different types of attraction.
Sexual -- as in, the express desire to have intercourse with a person or people Sensual -- the desire to touch a person or people, to be physically close without necessarily including intercourse Romantic -- the desire to date or be in a relationship with a person or people Platonic -- the desire to build close friendships Aesthetic -- the desire to look at and be pleased by the appearance of a person or people
These five types or levels of attraction offer a shorthand for desire and pleasure, and help to contextualise the different kinds of pleasure people can experience.
Thinking of attraction beyond the physical or sexual offers a new perspective on connection. It is a chance to take the pressure off relationships, which opens up opportunities for different, more enlightened and fulfilling partnerships.
This freedom and knowledge that Tiffany presents is a roadmap to the future. The presentation offered a new perspective on what is possible.
As the opening excerpt states, pleasure is ongoing. In light of Tiffany’s discussion, it is also clear that it is dynamic and exciting. There is always more to know.
This may be daunting at first, but on the other side of hesitation is hope, potential and freedom.
"مهمتي في الحياة ليست مجرد البقاء على قيد الحياة، بل أن أزدهر؛ وأن أفعل ذلك ببعض الشغف، وبعض التعاطف، وبعض الفكاهة، وبعض الأناقة". - مايا أنجيلو
مرحبًا بكم في منتدى AWID الدولي الخامس عشر!
يعتبر المنتدى الدولي الخامس عشر لجمعية حقوق المرأة في التنمية حدثًا مجتمعيًا عالميًا ومساحة للتحول الشخصي الجذري. يجمع المنتدى، وهو اجتماع فريد من نوعه، الحركات النسوية وحقوق المرأة والعدالة الجندرية ومجتمع الميم عين والحركات الحليفة، بكل تنوعنا وإنسانيتنا، للتواصل والشفاء والازدهار. المنتدى هو المكان الذي تحتل فيه نسويات ونسويو الجنوب العالمي والمجتمعات المهمشة تاريخياً مركز الصدارة، حيث يضعون الاستراتيجيات مع بعضهم/ن البعض، مع الحركات الحليفة الأخرى، ومع المموّلين وصانعي السياسات بهدف تحويل السلطة، إقامة تحالفات استراتيجية، والدخول في عالم أفضل ومختلف.
عندما يجتمع الناس على نطاق عالمي، كأفراد وحركات، فإننا نولد قوة جارفة. انضموا إلينا في بانكوك، تايلاند في عام 2024. تعالوا وارقصوا وغنوا واحلموا وانهضوا معنا.
متى: 2-5 ديسمبر2024 أين: بانكوك، تايلاند؛ وعلى الانترنت من: ما يقرب الـ 2500 ناشط/ة نسوية من جميع أنحاء العالم يشاركون شخصيًا، و3000 يشاركون افتراضيًا
Fadila M. was a Soulaliyate tribal activist from Azrou, the Ifrane region of Morocco. She fought against a specific form of land discrimination directed against tribal women.
As part of the Soulaliyate Women’s Land-Use Rights Movement, she worked towards overhauling the framework legislation relating to the management of community property through the 2019 adoption of three projects of laws guaranteeing the equality of women and men.
According to the customary laws in force, women had no right to benefit from the land, especially those who were single, widowed or divorced. The rights to collective land in Morocco were transmitted traditionally between male members of a family of over 16 years of age. Since 2007, Fadila M. had been part of the women’s movement, the first grassroots nationwide mobilization for land rights. Some of the achievements included that in 2012 for the first time Soulaliyate women were able to register on the lists of beneficiaries and to benefit from compensation relating to land cession. The movement also managed to get the 1919 dahir (Moroccan King's decree) amended to guarantee women the right to equality.
Fadila M. died on 27 September 2018. The circumstances of her death are unclear. She was part of a protest march connected to the issue of collective land and while authorities reported her death as being accidental, and her having a cardiac arrest on the way to the hospital, the local section of the Moroccan Association of Human Rights (AMDH) pointed out that Fadila was suffocated by a member of the police force using a Moroccan flag. Her family requested investigation but the results of the autopsy were not known.
Please note: As there was no photograph/image of Fadila M. available to us, the artwork (instead of a portrait) aims to represent what she fought and worked for; land and rights to live and have access to that land and what grows on it.
We Are the Ones We Have been Waiting For!
We’re beginning a new year--2023. COVID-19 continues to infect and re-infect many, many people around the world. We are witnessing the resurgence of right-wing and fascist governments, even in places we may not have expected like Sweden. War, armed conflict, and dramatic increase in militarization, militarism, and military spending are enabling the unbridled capital accumulation by the few, with participation of seemingly “strange” alliances locking arms, both visibly and invisibly, where economic and political elites of the Global North and Global South are benefitting beyond our wildest imagination. In the meanwhile, our people and the natural environment pay enormous costs and suffer all the expected and unexpected consequences.
As all of you and all of us at AWID know, feminists in multiple movements around the world are resisting and organizing against multiple faces of tyranny, creating alternative structures, implementing grassroots strategies, and building transnational alliances. We are generating joy, inspiring one another, singing, and dancing within and against the prevailing culture of killing and cynicism that seems to have engulfed so much of the world.
We--Staff and Board--of AWID are prepared and inspired more than ever before to face challenges by strengthening our relationships with our members and organizational partners, meeting and getting to know those who we are yet to meet and do what we do best: support the global feminist movements. Although we were sad facing the departures of our beloved former Co-Eds Cindy and Hakima, our wonderful new Co-EDS Faye and Inna along with committed and creative staff have embraced the moment that encapsulates both opportunities and threats.
For sure, all of us at AWID and all our movement folks know: As the Caribbean US poet and activist June Jordan wrote to the South African women activists during the height of the apartheid regime, “We are the ones we have been waiting for”!
محاضرة: في المحاضرة النقاشية، يتم استكشاف قضية أو تحد معين من وجهات نظر مختلفة، أو مشاركة علم أو تجربة، متبوعة بأسئلة الجمهور إذا سمح الوقت بذلك.
برنامج حواري: إجراء محادثة أكثر عفوية بأسلوب البرامج الحوارية. يمكن أن تكون البرامج الحوارية عبارة عن محادثة بين عدة أشخاص، ويتم تيسيرها بواسطة ميسّر/ة برنامج حواري. يمكن لأسئلة الجمهور أن تحدد اتجاه المحادثة.
نقاش: يمكن أن يتخذ النقاش شكل المقاهي العالمية، وأحواض السمك، وغيرها من المنهجيات التي تسهل المشاركة النشطة للمشاركين/ات في المحادثات. يعتبر شكل التقديم هذا تشاركي للغاية.
ورشة عمل: جلسات تفاعلية تدعو المشاركين/ات لبناء مهارات جديدة في جميع مجالات الحياة والنضال.
جلسة إستراتيجية: دعوة للتفكير في قضية أو استراتيجية بعمق مع الآخرين/ الأخريات. مساحة للتعلم من بعضنا البعض: ما الذي ينجح، وما الذي لا ينجح، وكيف يمكننا تطوير استراتيجيات جديدة وجماعية لخلق العوالم التي نحلم بها.
دائرة المشاركة (المعروفة أيضًا باسم "الطيور المتشابهة"): مثالية للمجموعات الصغيرة، في بيئة أكثر حميمية، للاستماع إلى بعضهم/ن البعض، وإثارة النقاش ومعالجة مواضيع محددة وحساسة ومعقدة بعناية.
الفنون – ورشة عمل تشاركية: أنشطة تشاركية تتضمن الفنون والتعبير الإبداعي. سواء من خلال الفن البصري أو المسرح أو الأفلام أو الجداريات أو الرقص أو الموسيقى أو الحرف الجماعية أو صناعة الفن، وما إلى ذلك، فإننا نرحب بجميع الأفكار التي تحتفي بالفن النسوي والإبداع كشكل من أشكال التغيير الاجتماعي والشفاء والتعبير والتحول.
الفنون - العروض والتركيبات والمعارض: نرحب بالمساهمات التي تقدم للمشاركين/ات في المنتدى تجارب ووجهات نظر جديدة وتوسع آفاقنا وتتحدانا وتلهمنا للتفكير والشعور والتنظيم بطرق جديدة.
الشفاء: أنشطة متنوعة مصممة خصيصًا للمجموعات والأفراد، بدءًا من تعلم تقنيات الاسترخاء إلى مناقشة الوقاية من الإحتراق النفسي، ومن ممارسات الرعاية الواعية للصدمات لجسمنا وعقولنا وأرواحنا إلى معالجة الخلافات داخل حركاتنا.
“I do not know a lot about spirituality or what happens when we die, but my crip queer Korean life makes me believe that our earthly bodyminds is but a fraction, and not considering our ancestors is electing only to see a glimpse of who we are.” - Stacey Park Milbern
Stacey Park Milbern was a self-identifying queer disabled woman of colour and a trailblazer. A long-standing and respected organizer and leader in the disability rights and justice movement, she also advocated for the rights of many different communities, not just her own. Stacey’s activism had mighty roots in her experience at the intersections of gender, disability, sexuality and race.
Stacey, along with some friends, co-created the Disability Justice Culture Club, a group working to support various and especially vulnerable communities, including helping homeless people gain access to resources during the COVID-19 pandemic.
She was also a co-producer of an impact campaign for Netflix’s documentary “Crip Camp”, a board member of the WITH Foundation, and led organizations at local, state and national levels. Stacey wrote beautifully and powerfully:
“My ancestors are people torn apart from loves by war and displacement. It’s because of them I know the power of building home with whatever you have, wherever you are, whoever you are with. My ancestors are queers who lived in the American South. It’s because of them I understand the importance of relationships, place and living life big, even if it is dangerous. All of my ancestors know longing. Longing is often our connecting place...” - Stacey Park Milbern
She was born in Seoul, Korea and grew up in North Carolina, later continuing her journey in the San Francisco Bay Area. Stacey passed away of complications from surgery on her 33rd birthday on 19 May 2020.
“She was, a lot of people would say, a leader. She kind of encompassed all of it. You know, sometimes there's like a lead from the front, lead from the middle, lead from the back. And she was just somehow able to do all of that.” - Andraéa LaVant, disability rights activist
“What a blow to lose Stacey when our communities need her leadership more than ever, and at a time when her strength, insight, and grit were receiving increased recognition outside of disability circles, giving her a greater platform to advance her life’s work...We will not have the gift of learning where her charismatic leadership would have taken us. But let there be no doubt: What Stacey gave us, in a relatively short time, will continue benefiting others for years to come.” - Disability Rights Education and Defense Fund (DREDF)
Donation Success
Thank you for taking a step further to change the world!
Your generous contribution will help us support feminist movements across the globe working to achieve gender justice and women’s human rights worldwide.
You can also support our work as an AWID Member. Find out how here.
ماذا عن العدالة المناخية، هل هذا حقًا هو الوقت المناسب للعديد من الرحلات الجوية الدولية؟
ونحن نسأل أنفسنا نفس السؤال، ونعتقد أنه لا توجد إجابات بسيطة. بالنسبة للعديد من المشاركين/ات، قد يكون منتدى جمعية حقوق المرأة في التنمية (AWID) أحد الرحلات الدولية القليلة التي يقومون بها في حياتهم/ن. علمتنا الجائحة الإمكانيات والقيود التي تفرضها المساحات الافتراضية لبناء الحركة: لا يوجد شيء أفضل من الاتصال الشخصي. تحتاج الحركات إلى التواصل عبر الحدود لبناء قوتنا الجماعية في مواجهة التهديدات التي نواجهها، ولا سيما أزمة المناخ. نعتقد أن منتدى حقوق المرأة في التنمية القادم يمكن أن يكون مساحة استراتيجية لعقد هذه المحادثات واستكشاف بدائل للسفر الدولي. ويشكل العنصر المختلط للمنتدى جزءًا مهمًا من هذا الاستكشاف.
Snippet - CSW68 - Feminist Community Evening - EN
🎤AWID's Feminist Community Evening
a gathering for feminist activists attending CSW68
(with special guests!)
📅Tuesday, March 12
🕒6-9.30pm EST
🏢 Blue Gallery, 222 E 46th St, New York
To strengthen our collective voice and power for more and better funding for feminist, women's rights, LBTQI+ and allied organizing globally
Why should I consider responding to the survey?
There are many reasons why your response to the WITM survey matters. The survey offers the opportunity to share your lived experience of mobilizing funding to support your organizing; claim your power as an expert on how money moves and who it reaches; and contribute to collective and consistent advocacy to funders moving more and better funding. Over the last two decades, AWID’s WITM research has proven to be a key resource for activists and funders. We wholeheartedly invite you to join us in its third iteration to highlight the actual state of resourcing, challenge false solutions, and point out how funding must change for movements to thrive and meet the complex challenges of our times.
Should I do any preparation to respond to the survey?
As the WITM survey is focused on resourcing realities for feminist organizations, most questions ask about your group’s funding between 2021–2023. You will need to have this information with you to fill out the survey (e.g., your annual budgets and key sources of funding).
Snippet - Intro WITM - RU
Основываясь на 20-летней истории привлечения более объемного и качественного финансирования для достижения социальных изменений под руководством феминисток(-ов), AWID приглашает вас принять участие в новом опросе:
