Sandra Luz Hernandez
Building Feminist Economies
Building Feminist Economies is about creating a world with clean air to breath and water to drink, with meaningful labour and care for ourselves and our communities, where we can all enjoy our economic, sexual and political autonomy.
In the world we live in today, the economy continues to rely on women’s unpaid and undervalued care work for the profit of others. The pursuit of “growth” only expands extractivism - a model of development based on massive extraction and exploitation of natural resources that keeps destroying people and planet while concentrating wealth in the hands of global elites. Meanwhile, access to healthcare, education, a decent wage and social security is becoming a privilege to few. This economic model sits upon white supremacy, colonialism and patriarchy.
Adopting solely a “women’s economic empowerment approach” is merely to integrate women deeper into this system. It may be a temporary means of survival. We need to plant the seeds to make another world possible while we tear down the walls of the existing one.
We believe in the ability of feminist movements to work for change with broad alliances across social movements. By amplifying feminist proposals and visions, we aim to build new paradigms of just economies.
Our approach must be interconnected and intersectional, because sexual and bodily autonomy will not be possible until each and every one of us enjoys economic rights and independence. We aim to work with those who resist and counter the global rise of the conservative right and religious fundamentalisms as no just economy is possible until we shake the foundations of the current system.
Our Actions
Our work challenges the system from within and exposes its fundamental injustices:
-
Advance feminist agendas: We counter corporate power and impunity for human rights abuses by working with allies to ensure that we put forward feminist, women’s rights and gender justice perspectives in policy spaces. For example, learn more about our work on the future international legally binding instrument on “transnational corporations and other business enterprises with respect to human rights” at the United Nations Human Rights Council.
-
Mobilize solidarity actions: We work to strengthen the links between feminist and tax justice movements, including reclaiming the public resources lost through illicit financial flows (IFFs) to ensure social and gender justice.
-
Build knowledge: We provide women human rights defenders (WHRDs) with strategic information vital to challenge corporate power and extractivism. We will contribute to build the knowledge about local and global financing and investment mechanisms fuelling extractivism.
-
Create and amplify alternatives: We engage and mobilize our members and movements in visioning feminist economies and sharing feminist knowledges, practices and agendas for economic justice.
“The corporate revolution will collapse if we refuse to buy what they are selling – their ideas, their version of history, their wars, their weapons, their notion of inevitability. Another world is not only possible, she is on her way. On a quiet day, I can hear her breathing”.
Arundhati Roy, War Talk
Related Content
Snippet - CSW69 On anti-rights resistance - EN
On anti-rights resistance
- PRESS RELEASE CSW69: One Step Forward, Multiple Steps Back— The Resolve for Gender Equality Continues! Download here
- Rights at Risk: Time for Action - OURs Trends Report
- Rights at Risk Resource Library
- “Gender ideology” Narratives: A Threat to Human Rights
- Feminists on the frontline of defending human rights and democracy: how can funders make an impact?
Ghiwa Sayegh Snippet | AR
غوى صايغ كاتبة كويرية آناركية، وناشرة مستقلة ومؤرشفة. هي المحرّرة المؤسِّسة لمجلّة “كحل” ومؤسِّسة شريكة لـ”منشورات المعرفة التقاطعية”. حصلت على ماجستير في الدراسات الجندرية من جامعة باريس 8 فينسين - سانت دينيس. إنها شغوفة بنظرية الكوير، والمنشورات الدورية العابرة للحدود القومية، والتاريخ المتخيل أو المجهول. أودري لورد وسارة أحمد هما ملهمتاها.
Snippet - Title WCFM Landing - EN
Who Can Fund Me?
Reclaim Power to #FreezeFascisms: Resources for Feminists to Survive & Thrive
Feminist and gender justice movements continue to be chronically underfunded in the face of global funding cuts and freezes. Particularly in Global South regions with shrinking civic spaces, resource scarcity has impacted the most vulnerable communities.
In the face of these setbacks, AWID has updated the Who Can Fund Me? Database - an easy-to-use, practical tool for movements looking for funders from philanthropic foundations, multilateral funders to women’s and feminist funds to support vital lifesaving efforts.
#10 - Sexting like a feminist Tweets Snippet AR
أحبّ الاستمتاع بقليل من الشِعر من حين إلى آخر…
حمراء هي القلوب وزرقاء هي الهدوب هياج ستشهده الشعوب ونشوة ستُنسينا العيوب
Snippet - WCFM getting the money we need - En
Getting the Money We Need | A 101 Guide on Fundraising for Small Grassroots Organizations
From building prospect funders lists with *templates*, to understand how to write a solid grant proposal, with ‘Getting the Money we Need’ Guide really we don't have to figure this out alone anymore
Read and download the guide hereText-only version
- Version française version intégrale | version texte seulement
- Versión en español versión completa | versión solo texto
Nicole Barakat Snippet EN
Nicole Barakat
Nicole Barakat is a queer femme, SWANA artist born and living on Gadigal Country (so-called Sydney, Australia). She works with deep listening and intuitive processes with intentions to transform the conditions of everyday life. Her work engages unconventional approaches to art-making, creating intricate works that embody the love and patience that characterises traditional textile practices.
WITM - Refreshed INFOGRAPHIC 1 EN
Ever wondered what budgets for feminist organizations look like?
In 2023, feminist and women's rights organizations had a median annual budget of USD 22,000. Behind that median lies disparity and inequality: while a few groups access large-scale resources, the vast majority survive on shoestring budgets.
A closer look at actual budgets reveals major income diversity and inequality.
Snippet Elimination of Discrimination_Fest (EN)
The Elimination of Discrimination Against Sex Workers
Kay Thi Win, Asia Pacific Network of Sex Workers (APNSW)
Thin Pa Pa Htun, Aye Myanmar Association
Xiao Shuang, Northeast Transgender Support Network
Cathy Ketepa, Friends Frangipani Inc. PNG
Rajeshwari Prajapati, Society for Women Awareness Nepal (SWAN)
Snippet - COP30 - Resistance Hubs Section Column 2 - EN
The following partners are organizing COP30 hubs:
- Caribbean Feminist Climate Justice Movement, Barbados
- Gender Interactive Alliance (GIA), Pakistan
- Women’s Initiative for Sustainable Environment (WISE), Nigeria
- Réseau des Acteurs du Développement Durable (RADD)*, Cameroon
- MASIPAG, The Phillippines
*Website in French
COP30: Homepage Banner
COP30: Reclaim climate action from corporate capture
As world leaders gather in Brazil, feminist movements are advocating, gathering and disrupting the status quo- at COP30 and beyond! We're heading alongside other feminists to Belém, Brazil for COP30, from 10 November – 21 November 2025, where we will continue to denounce false solutions.
Parveen Rehman
Derya Demirler
2021: Feminist Power in Action
In 2021, AWID, along with many other organizations, was coming to grips with the implications of the on-going global pandemic for how we work and our role in this particular time. The year taught us three critical lessons about navigating this moment as a global feminist movement-support organization.
Download the full 2021 Annual review
Through dialogue and exchanges critical to their work, AWID connected thousands to feminists from around the world.
Our experience in 2021 reaffirmed the importance of building and sustaining a global feminist community, and AWID’s core mission to support feminist movements as a whole. We believe that at this moment, a strong community bound by a shared vision and collective care is the foundation of all social change and transformation.
Mary Rivera
Sara AbuGhazal
Biography
Sara AbuGhazal is a Palestinian feminist living in Beirut. She is a co-founder of Sawt al-Niswa, a collective that produces knowledge in Beirut. She is the co-director of The Knowledge Workshop, a feminist organization based in Beirut that works on feminist oral history and archiving. Sara is currently the Regional Coordinator of the Regional Coalition for Women Human Rights Defenders in the Middle East and North Africa.
Sara strives to help create spaces of feminist transformation and solidarity. Her work is mostly centered on building sustainable movements in the MENA region. She is invested in knowledge production, feminist transformation, and Palestine. She publishes regularly in sawtalniswa.org and her fiction also appears in Romman e-magazine.
Add to stories
Off
Giulia Tamayo
Debbie Stothard
Biography
During her 38-year career, Debbie Stothard, has worked with diverse communities and activists to engage states, IGOs and other stakeholders throughout Asia, Africa, Europe, and the Americas on human rights and justice. Her work is focused on the thematic priorities of business and human rights, atrocity prevention, and women’s leadership. Accordingly, she has either facilitated or been a resource person at nearly 300 training events in the past 15 years. Most of these were grassroots-oriented workshops delivered in the field, focused on human rights advocacy, economic literacy and business and human rights, and transitional justice and atrocity prevention. Her work in transitional justice and atrocity prevention has mainly focused on Burma/Myanmar, however she has provided advice on responses to other country situations around the world.
During 1981 – 1996, Debbie worked as a crime reporter, student organizer, policy analyst, academic, government advisor and food caterer in Malaysia and Australia while volunteering for human rights causes. In 1996, she founded ALTSEAN-Burma which spearheaded a range of innovative and empowering human rights programs. This includes ALTSEAN’s ongoing intensive leadership program for diverse young women from Burma, which in the past 22 years, has helped strengthen and expand women’s leadership in conflict-affected zones. She served as a member of the Board of the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) for 9 years as Deputy Secretary-General (2010-2013) and Secretary-General (2013 – 2019) during which she promoted the mission and profile of FIDH at approximately 100 meetings and conferences per year.
Add to stories
Off
Madelaine Parent
What is AWID?
The Association for Women's Rights in Development (AWID) is an international feminist membership organization.
We work to achieve gender justice and women’s human rights by strengthening the collective voice, impact and influence of global women’s rights advocates, organizations and movements.