A love letter to grassroots feminist organizing

I’m feeling incredibly energized these days! It’s my first spring on beautiful Coast Salish homelands and I am acutely aware of each flower, the twinkling Pacific Ocean, and the moss covering each tree trunk.

My optimistic attitude about life can also be partially attributed to the work I’ve been doing with a very new collaboration now known as Feminists Deliver.

 

 

On the joy of building movements

I’m passionate about Feminists Deliver partly because of the way it fits with my vision of feminism. To me, feminism has always been about how individuals and communities outside of the realms of power respond to the pressure exerted on them by oppressive systems: colonialism, racism, misogyny, capitalism.

I believe that it is only by looking from the margins into the centre that we can envision something remarkably different from the status quo.

I’ve always been concerned with how organizations with close relationships with systems of power (such as the legal system, private companies, and multinational corporations) engage local voices. And I’ve always been inspired by local feminist movements that are able to amplify their messages and transform the mainstream gender equality agenda through their interactions with such organizations.

 

I believe that it is only by looking from the margins into the centre that we can envision something remarkably different from the status quo.

 

The longstanding tension between grassroots feminism and the feminism that is closely aligned with systems of power underpins the story of how 25 (and counting!) self-identified women and girls and the organizations that support them came together early in 2019 to discuss the Women Deliver Conference taking place in Vancouver from June 3 to 6. I’m proud that West Coast LEAF is one of these organizations.

 

 

The Women Deliver Conference has been promoted as “the world’s largest conference on gender equality and the health, rights, and wellbeing of girls and women.” It is expected to bring upwards of 7,000 speakers, participants, and organizers to Vancouver.

At the first meeting of the group that would soon become Feminists Deliver, we collectively had a lot of questions about the Women Deliver Conference. We wondered about this big, global event that would be parachuting into our hometown to talk about the very social justice causes for which some of us have spent our entire lives fighting.

 

 

First and foremost on our minds: Where do local feminist organizations fit into an international conference about gender equality being held in our backyard?

We never doubted that we had to fit in somewhere. This conviction is what has brought us together every other Thursday morning to discuss how we can build on the momentum of the Women Deliver Conference to showcase the real issues communities face across BC.

Within just a few weeks, we went from a very informal group of individuals and organizations to what is now Feminists Deliver: “a grassroots collaboration of British Columbia-based self-identified women and girls and the organizations that support them.” We came together in response to the 2019 Women Deliver Conference taking place in Vancouver, “to shed a light on the urgent issues facing marginalized communities in BC.”

 

For me, this is feminist organizing at its best: resourceful, outspoken, and rooted in community.

 

In less than four months, thanks to many hours of labour, unpaid and off the sides of our desks, Feminists Deliver secured funding for a conference to be held in the Downtown Eastside, gained a spot inside the Women Deliver Conference to share information about our conference with delegates, and met with provincial and federal government representatives to discuss the urgent issues facing marginalized communities in BC.

One such meeting was an incredibly honest roundtable with Maryam Monsef, the Minister of International Development and Minister for Women and Gender Equality. Organizations representing marginalized communities in all their diversity spoke about the harms of criminalizing marginalized communities, cuts to services and supports, and the need to reform policies that perpetuate colonial and racial violence.

For me, this is feminist organizing at its best: resourceful, outspoken, and rooted in community.

 

 

What does Feminists Deliver hope to achieve?  

The Women Deliver Conference—with its 7,000 participants, including heads of state, directors of international and multilateral organizations, media personnel, and grassroots activists—is bound to bring a lot of international attention to Vancouver.

An important goal of Feminists Deliver is to seize this important moment for gender equality to shed a light on the urgent issues facing marginalized communities in BC and the grassroots struggles leading the way for transformative change.

 
We are doing so in a number of ways:

-We are hosting a four-day conference with a progressive program featuring presentations and panel discussions by BC-based activists, scholars, and community leaders. We aim to keep the conference focused on intersectionality, anti-oppression, and decolonization, and inclusive of all people who experience marginalization on the basis of gender.

-We will also be hosting a trade show and artisan market. We aim to showcase the work of social enterprises and provide opportunities for self-identified women and others who experience gender-based marginalization to network and to sell their art and handcrafted goods.

-We are meeting with decision-makers to advocate for systemic change for the communities we are part of and represent.

 
Among the participants in the Women Deliver Conference, there will be grassroots activists who work on equality-based causes around the world. Recognizing the commonalities and differences of feminists worldwide, Feminists Deliver aims to build connections with grassroots activists coming to Vancouver. We want to learn from each other’s work fighting for equality in our respective local communities around the globe.

Feminists Deliver also hopes to support Women Deliver to engage local communities in the global fight for gender equality.

 

Recognizing the commonalities and differences of feminists worldwide, Feminists Deliver aims to build connections with grassroots activists coming to Vancouver.

 

For too long, international conferences and the global women’s agenda has ignored grassroots feminist voices. We see a real impetus for change toward a more inclusive feminism, but we believe there remains much work to be done to ensure that the people most impacted by intersecting forms of oppression are key actors in all the conversations that engage their interests.

 
How can you get involved?

In the coming weeks, Feminists Deliver will be posting updates on the conference, trade show, and artisan market, as well as showcasing stories about its members’ work.

 

 

You can subscribe to our listserv to receive updates. We invite you to follow us at @femdeliver on Twitter and @feministsdeliver on Instagram and Facebook and help spread the word about us by sharing our posts.

Most importantly, join me and other folks from West Coast LEAF from June 3 to 6, at 312 Main (312 Main Street) for the Feminists Deliver Conference. Registration is now open! Stay tuned for more programming details as they emerge!
 
 

Elba Bendo is the Director of Law Reform at West Coast LEAF. She comes to feminist legal advocacy following work as a labour lawyer. In her free time, Elba enjoys traveling, reading, and has recently taken on learning how to dance salsa.

Questions? Feedback? Email us at blog@westcoastleaf.org