FEMINIST LEADERSHIP
True and lasting transformation is not a matter of checking boxes, but rather the sum of small changes we live and breathe in our everyday life. So in addition to monitoring the proportion of women leaders in social impact leadership, we advocate for Feminist Leadership.
What is Feminist Leadership?
Feminist Leadership is a concept developed and practised mainly by women’s movements in the Global South. Over the last years, thanks in part to the work of feminist human rights organisation CREA in India, it has started to make its way into the international social impact sector, with organisations such as ActionAid and Oxfam embracing and implementing Feminist Leadership as part of their organisational strategy.
Feminist Leadership at its most basic is a commitment to creating alternatives to traditional, hierarchical leadership and organisational cultures. This can take many different forms, from critical self-reflection on the individual level to developing new decision-making structures on the collective level. Most importantly, Feminist Leadership doesn’t have a fixed definition or step-by-step guide. It is an ongoing process of learning and unlearning, both individually and together with others.
Why Feminist Leadership?
We believe that in addition to ensuring equity in leadership opportunities, social impact organisations can benefit tremendously – improving their organisational culture as well as the quality of their external programmes – by exploring what Feminist Leadership can mean for them in practice. Below are some resources to get you started.
OUR PROJECTS
Podcast: Feminist Global Collaboration
How could feminist approaches challenge and transform the current development narrative? Join us for this five-part podcast series to learn with and from critical voices in the sector.
Feminist Leadership: Eight Weeks of Exploration
Check out resources (including recordings) from the free, eight-week webinar series on Feminist Leadership we organised, with change-makers from the sector leading conversations on Accountability, Collective Leadership and more.
Feminist Leadership Hub
What would a virtual home for Feminist Leaders around the world look like? This is a question we want to explore with you, in a participatory process designed by One Future Collective with many ways to share your thoughts, questions and ideas.
Publication: Leading for Change
With these case studies from organisations who have made the FAIR SHARE Commitment, we hope to inspire and encourage others to start or persevere in their journey towards gender equity and Feminist Leadership.
Feminist Governance
With the FAIR SHARE Action Circle, we have begun to collectively imagine what Feminist Governance could look like.
Feminist Leaders for Feminist Goals
This paper, developed by the FAIR SHARE Action Circle, presents questions questions on the themes of Purpose, People, Power and Process for individual and collective self-reflection, learning and persistence in the journey to shift the leadership paradigm in the sector.