Celebrating International Women’s Day – Social Innovation Canada

What motivates you to do your work?
I am motivated by a call to protect and restore the many beautiful facets of life on earth – species threatened and going extinct from the loss of nature, peoples who don’t have access to  justice or sustainable livelihoods, and the cultures and languages that have been eradicated or harmed by the forces of colonization, control and extraction. I am inspired to collaborate with people across the gender spectrum who are seeking to heal our broken systems and grow new and renewed cultures that are life-affirming and liberatory.

What does Women’s Day mean to you?
I was raised by strongly feminist parents. Alongside living out some non-conforming gender roles and engaging in critiques of patriarchy, we talked about unjust wars and how corporate and imperial powers were exploiting and harming people in order to get rich and gain power.  Later, in my teens and ’20s I was influenced by ecofeminist writing and approaches. On International Women’s Day, I think specifically about gender inequalities and how patriarchy keeps functioning, but I see this as part of many interlocking systems that aren’t working for people or the planet. International Women’s Day is an opportunity for all people to consider how many barriers still exist for women (and women identified and gender diverse people) – from lack of representation in politics or property ownership, to persistent unequal pay, exposure to domestic violence, and lost opportunities due to the expectations of unpaid domestic labour. These barriers are more extreme for women and girls who are Black, Indigenous and people of colour. I talk to my children about this also, and we explore together what we can do to change these patterns.

How can we support women doing systems-shifting work?
Support can look different for everyone, depending on where you are located.  Many people reading this are women identified or gender diverse leaders doing systems shifting work. So from the personal side, we can learn to shake off the patterns of sexism that include suppression of our intuition, our embodied knowing, and our spirituality. This happens when we embrace a pace of life that is human, investing in self-care, creative expression, relationships, and unstructured time to just BE. Everyone benefits from support and encouragement to do this, and to reclaim ways to do it together, through collective healing and rituals, through being together in celebration or grief, and by making the feminine and relational more visible. 

On a larger scale we can all support women identified and gender diverse leaders in politics, speak out against sexism where we see and experience it, and fund or support organizations whose work empowers women, girls and gender diverse people. Men and male identified people can be supportive by deliberately carrying a greater load of domestic, care and/or family coordination work, as an act of social change. I also highly recommend the Systems Sisterhood, which is a peer-to-peer learning space that offers camaraderie and support for women identified and gender diverse leaders working in systems change.  

Who inspires you and why?
My current inspiration are the indigenous women and allies who recently launched the Right Relations Collaborative on the west coast – they are Cúagilákv (Jess Housty), Kim Hardy, and a council of aunties who guide the work: Marilyn Baptiste, Nuskmata (Jacinda Mack), and K’aayhlt’aa Haanas (Valine Brown). This is an Indigenous-created, paradigm busting relational space, aimed at reframing the inequitable power dynamics between philanthropy and First Nations communities.  They invite foundation leaders to “apply” to be in reciprocal relationship with First Nations communities.  The collective is “a learning ground  for the settler-created philanthropic sector to joyfully dismantle the harms and inequities of the extractive financial system from which philanthropy was formed.” I am excited and inspired as they advance their work to decolonize siloed funder approaches that divide up interconnected issues, suck energy to meet foundation-created requirements, and reinforce paternalistic relationships. This is the time where we need to invest in transformation, not just support incremental change. I’m inspired by the growing number of holistic examples of social change that begin from a fundamentally different power orientation. This is what Women’s Day can remind us of.