Sascha Gabizon reminiscing about our journey to where we are today
We recently turned 25 years, a quarter of a century on this earth! To celebrate this great feat, we have digged into our archives and memories to find some gems for you. For example, read the dialogue between our founders or Kirsten Meijers vision for the ecofeminist future.
Photo credit: Fleur Beemster
Now, I was lucky, and even though I was working at the Wuppertal Institute in Germany, I joined you from the very beginning in some of your projects, including the Beijing conference.
Just after that, I remember very well our first application for funding to the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs, under their MATRA program for Eastern Europe. We applied with a wonderful project, building on the results of the 4th World Women’s Conference. A project the ministry in the end gave us funding for and allowed us to work on for 3 years with our partners in Central Asia, Russia and Ukraine. But I remember that the project coordinator told us that she really had to do a lot of pushing and advocacy for our project to be funded, because many colleagues in the ministry back then just did not think that working with women and women’s organisations was going to have any impact, they expected us to be irrelevant. It is always nice to prove that type of sentiment wrong!
“Many colleagues in the ministry back then just did not think that working with women and women’s organisations was going to have any impact, they expected us to be irrelevant. It is always nice to prove that type of sentiment wrong!”
Now, 25 years later, there is finally a broad public understanding that if we want to have a chance at saving the planet it can only be done with gender equality champions in the cockpit. That is the biggest change of mindset.
Another change is that there are also more “dark forces” that want to roll back on women’s human rights and on environmental rights. Trump has silenced the environmental protection agency and has stopped funding safe abortion services. His imitators in the European parliaments are trying the same.
So, the work started by Marie and Irene, needs to continue, even stronger than before. We need to stand up against conservative groups that are trying to break down the achievements of the feminist and ecological movements. We need to reclaim the concept of ecofeminism to something we can really be proud of. For us ecofeminism means, using an intersectional feminist approach to fight structural barriers that prevents us from enjoying a healthy environment. Meaning, we take a holistic approach, recognising that we all come with a different baggage of discrimination (or lack thereof) depending on our gender, age, race, sexual identity, education, religion, ability or social economic status. These barriers, among others, include capitalism, extractivism, militarism, gender-based violence and shrinking space for civil society to influence.
For us ecofeminism means, using an intersectional feminist approach to fight structural barriers that prevents us from enjoying a healthy environment.
We need to show the world, how working in partnership with climate activists and African and Asian feminists can move mountains – despite the structural barriers which they face. We need to show the important changes we are making in local communities as well as in global policies.
I am optimistic! When I speak to partners from Uganda, Georgia, Kyrgyzstan and Nigeria, these women – young and old alike – who grew up under discriminatory, and often violent systems, and who have now become respected leaders that have changed laws, mindsets and entire communities… I feel pride, because they are showing the world what a real ecofeminist looks like.
All of this would not have been possible without the dedication of our incredibly motivated colleagues from all our offices, and our very dedicated members of our Board of Trustees, who give their free time to support us.