On this International Women’s Day, we want to reflect on FRIDA’s history and, subsequently, the history, necessity and progression of the women’s movement. We want to reflect on the effect of women’s activism on the broad and intersecting movements that are working towards equity, freedom and liberation for all identities and communities.
When FRIDA was formed – now 15 years ago – the vision was to create a fund that would strengthen and support a younger generation of feminist activists and, more broadly, contribute to a strong, well-resourced, and multi-generational women’s movement that is inclusive, fun, self-critical and progressive in its politics and values. We believe that FRIDA has remained steadfast in its commitment to this bold vision while also embodying the flexibility – included in our name – that is necessary and has allowed us to grow in tandem with the mission, vision, and values of the young feminists we support, and with whom, we are in community with.
If ideated today, we might view our commitment and contribution as belonging, more broadly, to the queer feminist movement. In line with our belief in the importance of intergenerational movements – we also uphold an intersectional lens. We hold the belief that no single movement can endure long-term in isolation. We additionally believe that our activism can only truly be successful through a shared approach and a mutual understanding of the forces, institutions and systems that deprive us all of our rights, our humanity, our freedom and our dignity.
For a significant amount of time now, far-right movements have steadily and increasingly dismantled not only hard-earned legal rights but also public narratives of bodily autonomy related to abortion, comprehensive sexuality education, gender-based and intimate partner violence, and much more. All of which are the labour of decades of women’s organizing
Oppression rarely sticks to one victim – and the rollback and systemic deconstruction of gender-based rights and dignities have, in the last years, quite steadily and violently targeted trans communities of all identities.
Trans feminist activism – without nearly as much credit as it deserves – has fostered within us, both individually and collectively, our appetite for the kind of choice and autonomy that reminds us not only that we can choose differently from what society prescribes, – but also that we have the ability to create, to imagine, to pursue our dreams and root them in our waking realities.
The attacks and discrimination against trans communities and identities worldwide is unfortunately not restricted to state machineries and the far right. These attacks and continued discrimination of trans communities and identities have not only found a name in some women’s movements but are also often done in the name of women – in the name of protecting women and women’s rights.
Curtailing, dephasing, attacking and violently removing the bodily integrity, sovereignty, and autonomy of any individual does not protect women. It is dangerous – and right now, trans communities are experiencing first-hand the realities of that danger.
Trans people have always been a vital part of feminist movements. Trans activism for gender justice has driven change for all our liberation, healing, and freedom, even in the face of pathologization, erasure, and dehumanization. In this moment, as in many moments before, empowering, highlighting, and resourcing trans movements is crucial.
In feminists’ responses to USAID funding cuts, we have heard the call to ‘not pre-emptively comply’. Uma Mishra, FRIDA’s Interim Executive Director, noted in a recently published letter,“… our current times compel us to remain rooted in solidarity, care for ourselves and each other, and to organise in good trouble”. Trans communities have demonstrated clearly what it means to defy cis-heteropatriarchal capitalism and what it truly means to organise in good trouble. Thus, now more than ever, philanthropists and donors must rise to this moment and fund across intersections, directly supporting the communities most affected by these funding cuts and the intermediaries who are invested in the long-term support of these communities – Intermediaries like FRIDA whose work has never solely been about moving money.
Our movements are flexible, agile, and inherently capable of meeting us where we are as well as where we aim to go…If we remain rooted in solidarity, care for ourselves and each other, and organise – together – all of us together – in good trouble.
