Feminist system change practice: integrating power and love

I’ve been thinking a lot about the tensions between power and love for some time now. Seeded and inspired by Marianne Williamson, A Return to Love, Bell Hooks, All About Love and Adam Kahane’s “Power and Love” and others along the way.

Power

As a feminist activist, power is always central to our work. The organization I co-founded in my 20’s was even called Power Camp (for girls and young women)! In this context, we are working to redefine and shift dominant power structures rooted in hierarchy and violence towards new ways of being rooted in collaboration and justice. This aligns with systems change.

Love

Over a ten year period, through training, convening and movement building — we scaled from a small community project to a national network. When I stepped down from my role as Executive Director of that organization, I was on the verge of burnout. I felt like I had run a marathon and jumped off a moving train and scraped my knees and arms and head. I was battered and bruised.

I didn’t have a plan about what to do next and while I was in transition trying to figure it out — I did a session with my coach.

She asked me, “Imagine you are at the end of your life, what is that you would have wanted to accomplish, what do you see?”

At that moment, I could see myself on my deathbed. And in that moment, all that mattered was love. Did I love? Did I “be” love? Did I grow love? What I actually did, what I accomplished or achieved did not matter. This calling has guided me ever since.

But how do I reconcile power and love?

A power lens is crucial in social change. It demands a critical reflection on who is privileged, valued and who is left out or harmed by the systems we are working to change. It’s important because without this approach, the risk is that we perpetuate the very thing we want to change. Power is important here. This prompts questions like: How am I located in the work? How are inequities playing in this system? Are we fluent in a power analysis? Are we shifting power and resources to where they are most needed?

Systems change reveres the relational

At the same time, systems practice is a discipline that values relationships. It challenges dominant assumptions of fast paced urgency, silver bullet solutions and demands we slow down to be present for each other and to see ourselves in the interconnected web of life. The relational invites us to reflect on our humanity in relationship to each other and the planet. It invites us to sit still and listen deeply.

I have been in many systems change spaces that are blind to power, while deeply in love with ‘the relational’. In these rooms, I get frustrated when the power isn’t being named; when ecosystem work only invites dominant perspectives and leadership, when the dynamics in the room are unspoken and the conversation moves along like everything is OK. I feel the call and responsibility to name the power in the room. And, a question I sit with: How can we try to change systems and not be mindful of these dynamics?

I have also been in feminist activist spaces that are heart broken.

Many of the feminist activism spaces we work in are beyond burnt by scarcity and lack of resources. They are in need of some serious love. Feminists, who have been working to shift power but up against old and outdated paradigms, are exhausted. Perpetually siloed and sidelined, it’s discouraging and demoralizing to see the dearth of resources and support for work around gender based violence or to learn yet again how women’s experiences have been erased and invisibilized. Even more so when you see how sexism, racism and colonization compound and play here and while at the same time, resources are poured into outcomes focussed, new innovation, shiny, slick solutions. Working from an open heart can feel unwelcome, because it is seen as naive, condescending, privileged or misplaced.

In our work, we are paying attention to: How might we learn from these experiences to create alignment, harmony and balance in the change work we do?

Bringing the two together

At The Systems Sanctuary, Rachel and I have been working with women identified folks leading systems change for four years. We work to bridge the fields of feminist and systems practice on many fronts. We support women identified systems leaders through our program The Systems Sisterhood as well as through ecosystem cohort collaborations addressing gender based violence, climate and care, access to justice and housing and human trafficking. We bring a feminist lens to everything we do.

Alignment and complements

Like many other lineages in social change — feminist practice aligns with systems thinking.

Feminism works to shift harmful systems rooted in hierarchy and dominance. While, systems change works at the structural, systemic and cultural level for change.

We are committed to strengthening our collective efforts by weaving feminism and systems change together; through these alignments and through leveraging each strength to fill in the gaps:

We have brought a feminist lens into all of our work with The Systems Sanctuary. And we seek a balance between power and love.

We need fierce compassion to name what we see, to shine light on our blind spots and to challenge the status quo.

We need to value the human; the fully human. So we can heal from the many ways we are disconnected from our hearts, our bodies and this intelligence, our humanity, the earth and each other.

We believe we need both.

How do you align power and love in the work you do?

Learn more about feminist systems change practice here.

And about our field building efforts to bring the two disciplines together here.

Learn more about our fall courses: Systems Change Masterclass, In The Thick of It peer learning for systems leaders.