Standing Firm: Women & Trans-Led Groups Respond to Closing Space for Civil Society
Author: WUNRN
Date: August 4, 2017
Direct Link to Full 36-Page 2017 Report:
As feminist funds, Mama Cash and Urgent Action Fund know that collective action by women, girls, and trans people is changing the world. Today, the global political and social landscape is becoming increasingly repressive, xenophobic, patriarchal and extremist. It is urgent to provide support to unapologetically progressive and feminist movements led by those most excluded and impacted.
In the discourse on closing space for civil society, we have observed that analyses and discussions do not consistently incorporate a gendered lens. We also know that repressive and violent reactions to their change agendas are not a new experience for the groups we support. Indeed, it is by the very act of speaking out and challenging the status quo that women, girls, and trans people have become the targets of conservative forces and developed the tactics and strategies to resist them.
We offer this report as a tool, resource, and testimony to inform the understanding of how closing space, in all its forms, has a gendered impact. Our aim is for this report to bring value to the conversations and collaborations around the closing space phenomenon.
Not surprisingly, the activists we work with emphasized that closing space is not a passing trend, but rather the current and future reality of our political, social and economic landscape. This requires us all to think differently, understand more deeply how our systems are broken, and intentionally apply a human rights lens to our work. In the words of one Russian activist interviewed for this project, “When they shut the door, we come in the window”.
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