Transform IWHC Allies Respond to IWHC Board Report Regarding Recent Reviews

UPDATED — October 19, 2020

To: Kathleen Regan, Chair, International Women’s Health Coalition Board of Directors

From: Former White IWHC staff members (Undersigned below).

As allies, or what we might be better referred to as “co-conspirators” we are deeply disturbed and disappointed by the recently released IWHC board statement concerning their reviews. Following the leadership of the Transform IWHC collective, and as a small effort towards accepting accountability as White people for upholding structural racism and benefitting from aspects of the injustices we witnessed at IWHC, we are publishing this open letter to reiterate our unequivocal support for their original demands.

Real change will not be accomplished solely through the resignation of a toxic boss via an inadequate and oblivious resignation letter and public silence from the two other named perpetrators, Yael Gottlieb and Jessie Clyde. This signals an all too familiar lack of accountability. It will be accomplished through the development of an immediate, ongoing, and authentic healing and reconciliation process as demanded by the Transform IWHC group and accountability to current and former staff, grantee partners, and the global feminist movement.

IWHC had an opportunity to be transformative and become a true feminist leader in the wake of a global reckoning with international women’s rights groups, let alone the most significant and widespread social protests against racial injustice in more than a generation. However, the board chose the easy and conventional route, which reproduces the status quo. Without practices rooted in feminist principles and praxis, the current strategy and conclusions of the review are insufficient, counterproductive and perpetuate the racism, toxicity, and colonial approach characteristic of how IWHC has conducted itself for years.

The original demands of the Transform IWHC Group did not ask for a legal inquiry focused on the documented injustices that occurred at IWHC. We all had one overarching demand: institutional transformation. The Transform IWHC collective envisioned a transformative process of deep work, involving reflection, reconciliation, and reparations; using feminist methods that emphasize our stated values, including trust, partnership and centering the voices of the most impacted. The board’s recently released statement reveals what we always knew to be true, from legendary feminist Audre Lorde: “The master’s tools will never dismantle the master’s house.”

The series of reviews commissioned by the Board are fundamentally flawed, thus inherently undermining the legitimacy and effectiveness of the findings:

1. The choice to hire a law firm reveals the board’s primary interest: legal exculpation. Engaging the conventional (i.e. adversarial and patriarchal) legal system entrenches the power asymmetries Transform/we seek to end, rather than following a transformative vision for a feminist process of healing and repair.
2. IWHC’s board then conducted an advocacy and grants analysis. The power imbalance of grantee-partners critiquing — even anonymously — their donor is extremely fraught. The questions the Board asked the consultant to investigate did not include the concrete and substantive problems highlighted by the Transform IWHC group, including issues related to thought leadership of WOC and LGBTQI-led organizations, the decolonization of IWHC’s philanthropy, equitable compensation for their time and efforts, and intentionally shifting power from IWHC staff to grantee-partners.
3. IWHC conducted a “Pay Equity and Career Pathing Analysis” but staff numbers were too small to represent statistically significant data across all levels in the organization. Even without knowing the full findings of the analysis — since only an Executive Summary was released — we reiterate our full support for the original demands, including: paying all staff thriving wages; providing “equitable support within the organization;” practicing and sustaining “ethical and equitable hiring and staffing practices;” adopting a “transparent pay scale that describes competencies needed at each level;” and investigating and addressing “racial disparities in promotions and staff departures.”

Transform gifted IWHC a roadmap laying out steps to make things right. Rather than accepting that gift with humility and making themselves accountable to the people most harmed, IWHC’s leadership fell back into the very same patterns that Transform called upon us to end: opacity instead of immediately taking accountability and corrective action; hiring an outside “expert” again instead of trusting the women concerned; and the incrementalistic and inadequate approach characteristic of a corporate “Diversity, Equity and Inclusion” strategy led by a board committee.

We want IWHC to thrive. Our goal in writing this open letter is to push the organization to live up to its bold mission. However, it is a new day and we will not accept “business as usual” lip service and hypocrisy — not when the stakes are so high. It is all too common for Black women and Women of Color to do the work for (predominantly) white women at the top of an organization’s power hierarchy and even more common for white women to ignore and disregard that labor or co-opt it as their own. Transform IWHC’s original gift to the organization, delivered in July of this year, remains attainable. Without taking the steps they outlined, there is little chance at justice and repair at IWHC. We again repeat Transform’s demands, with our full endorsement and support; highlighting in bold font those that have been addressed so far:

Immediate

1. Marlene Hess and all board members who do not align with IWHC’s mission, IWHC President Françoise Girard; Yael Gottlieb, the Vice President of Development and Communications; the Vice President of Programs (moot); and Jessie Clyde, the Director of Grantmaking and International Partnerships step down immediately.
2. IWHC publicly apologizes for participating in and upholding racist behaviors and willfully ignoring reports of our experiences. (We do not accept the previously released statements as sufficient apologies. IWHC has yet to take responsibility for willfully ignoring past reports of staff experiences).
3. IWHC invests in and mandates a long-term anti-racism process for board, leadership, and all staff including a reconciliation and reparations process for all harmed.
4. IWHC pays all staff thriving wages (at least $60k for entry level staff members) and provides equitable support within the organization, including but not limited to financial support for Black women and WOC staff to seek therapy and/or other healing services and professional mentorship opportunities outside of IWHC.
5. IWHC releases the non-disclosure agreements (NDAs) of any former staff so they can speak their truth. (Former staff received only partial NDA waivers in order to speak to IWHC’s legal counsel, not a complete release.)

Mid-term

1. IWHC restructures to allow for feminist leadership of Black, indigenous, WOC, trans and gender non-conforming people from the Global South.
2. IWHC practices and sustains ethical and equitable hiring and staffing practices, including ceasing the practice of hiring interns and staff based on whether they are related to donors — these practices exemplify racism, classism, and nepotism. IWHC must adopt a transparent pay scale that describes the competencies needed at each level, and investigate and address racial disparities in promotions and staff departures.
3. IWHC reflects on how co-opting the thought leadership of WOC and LGBTQI-led organizations and gentrifying global feminist movements could jeopardize much-needed funding for under resourced, grassroots feminist activists in the Global South.
4. IWHC decolonizes its philanthropy by shifting funding away from elites within the Global South and bringing to the center those who have historically been pushed to the margins, specifically movements led by Black women, Indigenous women, young women, women with disabilities, and women from rural areas including trans and gender non-conforming people.
5. IWHC equitably compensates grantee partners and affiliated advocates for their thought leadership and time dedicated to advancing IWHC’s advocacy goals, including providing speaker fees, compensating Advocacy in Practice participants, and intentionally shifting power to highlight IWHC grantee partners and Global South feminists as the go-to experts (rather than IWHC Global North-based staff).

Signed in Solidarity (in alphabetical order),

1. Lindsey Amato
2. Anonymous due to NDA
3. Katherine Austin-Evelyn
4. Caroline Cotter
5. Marielle Coutrix
6. Marissa Crawford
7. Sara Ferree
8. Sarah Gold
9. Rachel Jacobson
10. Anna Keye
11. Helena Minchew
12. Paul Silva
13. Noelle Williams

Open Letter Published on July 11, 2020

To: Kathleen Regan, Chair, International Women’s Health Coalition Board of Directors

From: Former White IWHC staff members (Undersigned below).

The recent statement from the Board of Directors in response to the open letter is completely inadequate:

1. It fails to take responsibility for the institutional racism within the organization and the patterns of bullying, dismissal, and discrimination perpetuated by the people in charge.
2. It fails to apologize for the harm and trauma inflicted by staff and Board members on (current and) former Black and women of color staff members.
3. It fails to take seriously the demands for resignation by members of senior leadership such as the President, Francoise Girard; the Vice President of Development and Communications, Yael Gottlieb; the Director of Grantmaking and Partnerships, Jessie Clyde; and the former Board Chair, Marlene Hess.
4. It fails to provide concrete commitments or timelines for actions apart from vague references to “an independent review” in “the coming days.”
5. It treats the demands as simply a matter of employee relations rather than the deeper problem of neocolonialism and white saviorism in the Global South as evidenced by the use of terms like “underserved communities.”
6. The anonymity of the statement further shields the Board from responsibility or accountability, which is exemplified by the use of a PR firm for drafting the statement.

The Board must do better. It must meet the demands of Transform IWHC or resign and make way for those who will.

Again, for reference, the demands of Transform IWHC are:

Immediate

1. Marlene Hess and all board members who do not align with IWHC’s mission, IWHC President Françoise Girard; Yael Gottlieb, the Vice President of Development and Communications; the Vice President of Programs (moot); and Jessie Clyde, the Director of Grantmaking and International Partnerships step down immediately.
2. IWHC publicly apologizes for participating in and upholding racist behaviors and willfully ignoring reports of our experiences.
3. IWHC invests in and mandates a long-term anti-racism process for board, leadership, and all staff including a reconciliation and reparations process for all harmed.
4. IWHC pays all staff thriving wages (at least $60k for entry level staff members) and provides equitable support within the organization, including but not limited to financial support for Black women and WOC staff to seek therapy and/or other healing services and professional mentorship opportunities outside of IWHC.
5. IWHC releases the non-disclosure agreements (NDAs) of any former staff so they can speak their truth.

Mid-term

1. IWHC restructures to allow for feminist leadership of Black, indigenous, WOC, trans and gender non-conforming people from the Global South.
2. IWHC practices and sustains ethical and equitable hiring and staffing practices, including ceasing the practice of hiring interns and staff based on whether they are related to donors — these practices exemplify racism, classism, and nepotism. IWHC must adopt a transparent pay scale that describes the competencies needed at each level, and investigate and address racial disparities in promotions and staff departures.
3. IWHC reflects on how co-opting the thought leadership of WOC and LGBTQI-led organizations and gentrifying global feminist movements could jeopardize much-needed funding for underresourced, grassroots feminist activists in the Global South.
4. IWHC decolonizes its philanthropy by shifting funding away from elites within the Global South and bringing to the center those who have historically been pushed to the margins, specifically movements led by Black women, Indigenous women, young women, women with disabilities, and women from rural areas including trans and gender non-conforming people.
5. IWHC equitably compensates grantee partners and affiliated advocates for their thought leadership and time dedicated to advancing IWHC’s advocacy goals, including providing speaker fees, compensating Advocacy in Practice participants, and intentionally shifting power to highlight IWHC grantee partners and Global South feminists as the go-to experts (rather than IWHC Global North-based staff).

Signed in solidarity,

1. Lindsey Amato
2. Katherine Austin-Evelyn
3. Caroline Cotter
4. Marielle Coutrix
5. Marissa Crawford
6. Sara Ferree
7. Sarah Gold
8. Rachel Jacobson
9. Anna Keye
10. Andrea Lynch
11. Helena Minchew
12. Noelle Williams
13. Zonibel Woods
14. Anonymous (due to legal restrictions)

Date: July 8, 2020

To: Kathleen Regan, Chair, Board of Directors, International Women’s Health Coalition

From: Former white IWHC staff members

We, the undersigned write as former white IWHC staff members in support of the open letter from our former Black women and women of color (WOC) colleagues posted on Medium on July 6. The letter was written as a gift to the organization, and we trust that it will be received and acted upon in that same spirit. Adopting the immediate and mid-term demands in the letter will enable the organization to begin a long-term, transformative process allowing it to fulfill its potential.

White supremacist culture at work creates a toxic environment that harms everyone, most of all Black women and WOC staff, which is why the authors of the open letter’s stories and demands should be listened to and prioritized. All of us benefited from the environment described in the letter. All of us can attest to the ways in which IWHC and its leadership centered and rewarded staff that acted in ways that aligned with leadership’s priorities around race, class, sexuality, faith, and more.

We wish to corroborate the incidents and patterns of behaviors described in the open letter. We were all complicit in and/or directly perpetrated these actions, including through our silence. We are willing and ready to be part of a much-needed investigation into IWHC leadership. We fully support a transparent reconciliation process and reparations to those who have been impacted. The organization can no longer normalize toxicity and reward complicity.

We fully support all of the demands raised by our colleagues in their letter. To reiterate, these demands are:

Immediate

1. Marlene Hess and all board members who do not align with IWHC’s mission, IWHC President Françoise Girard, the Vice President of Development and Communications, the Vice President of Programs, and the Director of Grantmaking and International Partnerships step down immediately.
2. IWHC publicly apologizes for participating in and upholding racist behaviors and willfully ignoring reports of the experiences of Black women and WOC.
3. IWHC invests in and mandates a long-term anti-racism process for board, leadership, and all staff including a reconciliation and reparations process for all harmed.
4. IWHC pays all staff thriving wages (at least $60k for entry level staff members) and provides equitable support within the organization, including but not limited to financial support for Black women and WOC staff to seek therapy and/or other healing services and professional mentorship opportunities outside of IWHC.
5. IWHC releases the non-disclosure agreements (NDAs) of any former staff so they can speak their truth.

Mid-term

1. IWHC restructures to allow for feminist leadership of Black, indigenous, WOC, trans and gender non-conforming people from the Global South
2. IWHC practices and sustains ethical and equitable hiring and staffing practices, including ceasing the practice of hiring interns and staff based on whether they are related to donors — these practices exemplify racism, classism, and nepotism. IWHC must adopt a transparent pay scale that describes the competencies needed at each level, and investigate and address racial disparities in promotions and staff departures.
3. IWHC reflects on how co-opting the thought leadership of WOC and LGBTQI-led organizations and gentrifying global feminist movements could jeopardize much-needed funding for underresourced, grassroots feminist activists in the Global South.
4. IWHC decolonizes its philanthropy by shifting funding away from elites within the Global South and bringing to the center those who have historically been pushed to the margins, specifically movements led by Black women, Indigenous women, young women, women with disabilities, and women from rural areas including trans and gender non-conforming people.
5. IWHC equitably compensates grantee partners and affiliated advocates for their thought leadership and time dedicated to advancing IWHC’s advocacy goals, including providing speaker fees, compensating Advocacy in Practice participants, and intentionally shifting power to highlight IWHC grantee partners and Global South feminists as the go-to experts (rather than IWHC Global North-based staff).

We stand in solidarity with our former colleagues in their call for systemic institutional change within IWHC so that white supremacist culture is no longer upheld. In meeting these demands, we hope that IWHC will finally be able to live up to its bold feminist mission.

If you are a former white IWHC staff member and would like to add your name to this letter, please reach out to transform.iwhc.allies@gmail.com

Signed in solidarity,

1. Lindsey Amato
2. Katherine Austin-Evelyn
3. Brooke Beardslee
4. Caroline Cotter
5. Marielle Coutrix
6. Marissa Crawford
7. Sara Ferree
8. Sarah Gold
9. Sarah Harper
10. Rachel Jacobson
11. Anna Keye
12. Jennifer Kidwell Drake
13. Andrea Lynch
14. Helena Minchew
15. Paul Silva
16. Noelle Williams
17. Zonibel Woods
18. Anonymous
19. Anonymous (due to legal restrictions)
20. Anonymous (due to legal restrictions)