the Power of Movements

This was the 11th women’s forum hosted by the Association for Women’s Rights in Development (AWID). It’s the first time that the event has been hosted in Africa, and had record attendance – over 2,200 participants came from all over the world! About 30% of these came from African countries and 11% from South Africa alone (partly because, as a means of encouraging participation, a certain number of free spots were reserved for South African participants). Though there were some men in attendance, the overwhelming majority of participants were women. And I have to tell you, the energy of the place was amazing. It was really inspiring to hear from and to meet so many women who are all working to achieve gender equality, whether this be in a feminist context or not.

Most of the women attending the conference came from an organizational perspective – they worked for NGOs, non-profits, funding organizations and the like. We were nine in our indigenous African women’s delegation: Lucy and me, one other woman from Kenya, one from Uganda, two from Tanzania and three from South Africa. We also met up with indigenous women from Latin America, who were here with the International Indigenous Women’s Forum (FIMI). I was finally able to meet a FIMI colleague from Nicaragua with whom I had had a long email correspondence, which was wonderful. It’s so different and so gratifying to meet someone in person after organizing logistics online together for so long!

The theme for the conference this year was “The Power of Movements” – a discussion both of the women’s rights movement and its direction and drawbacks, and of intersecting movements. What impressed me most about the conference was the effort that the organizers had put into consciously including groups which have traditionally been marginalized within “mainstream feminist” circles (i.e. Western, white, middle-class, straight, cisgender, able-bodied, etc.). There were LGBTI groups present, disabled women, indigenous women and sex workers. Though at this point in time the representation of minority groups was mostly superficial (for example, though there was an effort to reach out to disabled women, there were no sign language translators and none of the workshop information was available in Braille; and although there was an effort to reach out to queer and trans women, the language used in the main plenary sessions was still quite heterocentric and gender essentialist, second-wave feminist-style), at least it’s a step in the right direction.

I was very excited to meet women who are working in queer rights in Africa. I hadn’t seen any LGBTI organizations in Kenya, though I know they must exist. Such organizations are frequently driven underground for fear of persecution, as in many countries homosexuality is illegal and the stigma against it is still strong. In South Africa, the first country in Africa to legalize same-sex marriage, there is more in the way of visible LGBTI organizing, but that still doesn’t mean that there’s more acceptance, especially in rural areas. I was awed by the women who were working in countries which are so hostile to their presence, yet they persevere because they believe so strongly in equal rights for all people. They are not ashamed to fight for the right to love who they want, the right to be treated with dignity and respect, the right not to be beaten or killed simply for looking or dressing the “wrong” way, or for holding or (god forbid) kissing their partner in public. The right just to exist. One woman in particular, who was working for GALZ (Gays and Lesbian of Zimbabwe) really impressed me. I had no idea that such an organization existed. And I can’t imagine the bravery that it must take to work in such a difficult context.

There was an overwhelming variety of sessions and workshops to choose from, and I wasn’t able to attend all those I was interested in, but I did get to some cool ones. I went to the launch of the new edition of the Feminist Africa journal, a session on sex workers and feminism, another one on disability and sexuality, one on African feminism, and one on indigenous and non-indigenous cooperation. I think attending this conference has been very helpful to me in terms of realizing that in the future I would really like to work in an explicitly feminist and queer-positive environment; these things are important to me, and I would like to see them acknowledged in a work context. Although I remain passionate about indigenous rights and would like to continue to be involved in this field to a degree, I think there are other areas of work, particularly in women’s rights, which draw my attention more strongly. I intend to keep on communicating and possibly working with IIN and FIMI in some capacity, but I would love to expand my horizons a bit in the coming years.

Although I love the energy and diversity that large conferences bring, the number of pressing issues that this kind of gathering brings to light is terrifying! There’s just so much to address, so many different groups fighting for rights, equality, freedom, recognition – domestic workers, transwomen, artists, journalists, women from grassroots and indigenous communities, political prisoners, rape survivors – the list goes on and on. It gets to be too much when you see just how much work there is to do. But it’s comforting to know that although the world can be a huge and frightening place, at least there are others who are there to stand beside you, to pull you up when you fall and take up the chant when you grow horse, and to assure you that no, you’re not crazy for giving a damn.

"and when we speak we are afraid
our words will not be heard
nor welcomed
but when we are silent
we are still afraid

So it is better to speak"
-Audre Lorde