What is feminist systems change?

At the System Sanctuary, we just wrapped up a series of workshops on feminist systems change and ecosystem work. We had over 120 sign up from all over the world. It was so lovely to meet new people, create a space for folks to connect outside of the usual forums, and to offer our learning and insights to the field.

We do this work because we are committed to supporting women’s leadership in systems change. We are passionate about this for a few reasons:

1. We see patterns where women have particular experiences confronting their own systemic barriers in their work and by connecting and learning together, we are building a powerful movement to support change.
2. We believe that women leaders have unique gifts to offer this moment that requires a different paradigm of leadership. Women bring a unique perspective and set of skills to systems change efforts. We are committed to supporting women to strengthen their capacities to lead in new ways.
3. Overall, we also know that gendered issues like gender based violence, or the feminization of poverty tend to be siloed and under-resourced. We also are committed to supporting change that works to shift harmful and violent systems — towards balance, life and health.

During the workshops, we shared our feminist systems change framework and we gathered feedback and insights. One question we heard from the session is:

How is this framework feminist?

This prompted us to reflect on and take the time to fill in the blanks on some assumptions we hold and why we think this practice is important.

In that spirit, here are some thoughts to deepen understanding of feminist systems change practice.

Feminist practice is implicit in everything we do

Over the last two years, we developed the framework to be more explicit about how our work aligns with an intersectional approach and to shine light on the ways that it strengthens systems change work.

I like to think about feminist practice as being integrated throughout all of the work we do. It’s like a lens that we use to reframe every step of an initiative.

We use a feminist frame which takes into account intersections of gender, race, class, ability and sexual identity. Feminist theory looks at the lived experience of any person, people or communities (beyond the male/female binary) and is centered on unshackling and eradicating interlocking systems of oppression. Practically, an intersectional feminist framework means:

• Center the experience of people with lived experience
• Reflect on, analyse and shift power
• Value different ways of knowing
• Create the conditions to work across difference
• Center healing and care
• Integrate learning for participants

And then we combine these approaches with systems change frameworks and tools to facilitate sense making and build a strategies to shift systems.

What do we mean by intersectional:

“All inequality is not created equal,” — Kimberly Crenshaw

Kimberly Crenshaw coined and developed the concept of intersectionality. We use an intersectional lens, which embraces the concept that people experience systems differently. This approach takes into account intersections of various lived experiences or identities such as gender, race, class, colonization, ability, and sexual identity.

An intersectional approach illuminates and seeks to understand:

• How identities overlap to create compounding experiences of discrimination.
• The relationship between inequalities
• Historical contexts surrounding an issue
• Connections between efforts for justice and liberation
• The ways our systems reproduce inequalities

What does this look like in practice?

Centre lived experience

This means that we need to think about systems change interventions with lived experience at the centre. How do people experience systems? For those who are situated on the front lines of harmful systems, how are they centred, how are they leading and engaging in systems change efforts and collaborations? Who makes decisions about who is invited, and who is resourced for the work that tries to find pathways forward? This approach is critical, because all too often, the most important voices and perspectives are not ‘in the room’, or are invited to the table (tokenized) and are not taken seriously and invisibilized. Furthermore, it is well known that innovation and solutions exist at the margins and folks who exist here have the vision and perspective to guide change.

Be intentional about shifting power

Feminist practice addresses the power imbalances present in many systems and institutions, and works to de-center that power. Within most traditional settings, the dominant power structure situates experts as superior to recipients. Feminist practice rejects this normative dynamic, and seeks to foster more collaborative and democratic spaces that understand marginalized communities are not passive recipients, but are subjects and agents for change.

How do we weave a power analysis throughout an initiative?

• De-centre the dominant frameworks, expertise, and narratives
• Question and critically reflect on assumptions; how dominant norms and values impact an initiative.
• Re-centre and listen deeply to the experience of a wide range of actors in the system.
• Think critically about whose perspective is centred and whose is resourced?
• Centre experiences and voices of the community, those at the front lines of harmful systems — to lead the way, guide actions, innovate new ideas for change.
• Be intentional about how to shift resources and power from dominant systems to multiple forms of decentralized community leadership.

Name the meta systems

How many times do you find yourself in spaces that can not articulate the systems of inequity that are running through the work we do? Systems of inequity like patriarchy, racism, colonization. It is of critical importance to name the meta systems of inequity, in order to establish a point of reference and to meaningfully acknowledge that systems of inequity are at play when we work to address harmful systems..

Create the conditions to work across difference

In systems change, healthy ecosystems connect on a regular basis, facilitate collective reflection, inquiry, and sense-making. Connected ecosystems create opportunities for exchanging learning and resources. They build in learning and feedback loops, and work across sectors and silos to connect resources and new partners. They also nurture trust, understanding and capacity to work systemically. Healthy ecosystems learn together and grow together to support life, and they thrive when they are diverse.

Creating the conditions to work across difference requires tending to the soil so that it is prepared for the work. For example, it requires skill and a capacity to hold multiple perspectives and ways of knowing and difficult conversations. This work is supported by intentional time for deepening and building relationships.

You can begin by asking questions like:

• What lineages inform our work?
• How are we challenging/shifting dominant cultural norms?
• What paradigms, knowledge systems inform our understanding and movement?
• How are we expanding our perspectives?

Locating ourselves in the system

In system practice and feminist practice; we acknowledge we are all parts of the system that we seek to shift and change. This moves us from objective observers, to interconnected humans. Locating ourselves in the systems invites us to move from the limits of identity and representation towards a deepened understanding of our location and context in the world and in the work we do. It also invites into the complexity of our full humanity and the many ways we are informed by our history and culture. This moves us from rigid notions of power to working with power as fluid and moving.

This reflexivity is a lifelong, ongoing learning journey. It is an invitation into our own personal transformation.

Create cultures of care and healing

Culture is one of the most important leverage points for us, how can we create a culture that allows us to be human? — Rachel Sinha, The Systems Sanctuary

Systems change is the work of shifting harmful and violent systems of dominance, to ones that support life. This means in doing this work, we are not only creating new systems, we are also being intentional about the values and beliefs that uphold these systems. In many of our systems change collaborations and peer learning programs, there is a common thread of shifting towards cultures of care.

How do we support cultures of care in our lives, work places, collaborations and systems we work in? We could write a book on this topic, there are so many ways we can support caring spaces, so we won’t cover everything in this article. That said, there are some basic premises for caring.

The first is to move into our hearts and to lead the work from here. How are we connected into our heart center and spirits? What do we need to do on an individual level, and on a collective level to centre here?

Collective care is the practice of calming the collective nervous system. Grounding practices include forms of embodiment work like meditation, breathing, movement, and artistic expression.

They also honour time, space, and boundaries of participants. Collective healing practices include intention setting, reflection, ceremony, and ritual.

Cultures of care are adept at holding space for different ways of being and knowing and they critically engage us in challenging and shifting dominant cultural norms.

• What paradigms, knowledge systems inform our understanding and movement?
• How are we expanding our perspectives?

Final thoughts:

Feminist praxis aligns with and complements systems change. It adds a power analysis and strengthens capacity to deepen relationships. It provides a framework to weave justice and equity through work that moves beyond identity and representation, to embody complexity and humanity. It’s really cool to see how this is resonating with systems leaders.

How we do this:

We do this by creating peer-learning programs for people across a field of social or environmental change, where participants can come together to share the very genuine challenges they face in their work.

We teach a Masterclass in Systems Practice and in Ecosystem Building and do this with content, design and tools for working across difference built into the curriculum.

We work with organizations who are looking to pivot their strategies and policies to be more aligned with feminist intersectional praxis.

We collaborate and partner in initiatives that are creating cultures of care and shifting power including Illuminate and the Womxns Collective.

You can find out more on our website www.systemsanctuary.com