In 2020, COVID-19, an upsurge of anti-oppression activism, and a strengthening opposition have propelled many to want to invest more in the lives and rights of women, young people, and gender-diverse people around the world. At the same time, it raised real questions about how best to approach such work for true and lasting change.
The pandemic drove girls and women from school and paid work in record numbers, bringing into sharp relief the lack of effective employer, family, and social support systems in all countries. Policies, programs, and narratives undermining bodily autonomy and reproductive freedom—be it fertility, contraception, surrogacy, childfree-ness, gender self-determination, and abortion—spread at an alarming rate.
In a backlash to #MeToo, many loudly complained women have more of a voice than ever, and that things had gone too far in the other direction. This is despite 1 in 3 women continuing to experience physical or sexual violence across their lifetime, with the men in their lives rarely held to real account.
Clearly, we remain in a generational fight for equality, which to win we must amass the greatest “we” imaginable. In early 2021, White Ribbon Alliance Global (WRA) and Women’s March Global (WMG) — each a secretariat of independent organizations dedicated to women’s and girls’ rights, health, and well-being—combined to do just that.
Building upon the philanthropic model of “ask, listen, act”, we envisioned a global network committed to ensuring the insights, opinions, and perspectives of women, young people and gender-diverse people drive policies, programs, and decision-making—wherever they live.
They are the foremost experts and sources of information regarding their own lives, experiences, and circumstances. They know best what is needed to improve them. Their voices should drive change agendas! Yet far too many are never asked to inform the decisions that are made about their bodies, health, or minds, let alone the larger world.
We envisioned a global network that centers women, young people, and gender-diverse people— their concerns—over any one singular issue. Education, employment, environment, food, health, housing, and safety are all related. There is no workaround, there is no shortcut, there is no silver bullet. Women, young people, and gender-diverse people are not interested in incremental change or select outcomes.
They want a “New Word Order”! What’s a “New Word Order”? It is a world where their words are accepted, celebrated, respected, and valued in every facet of life. It is a collective culture that listens to communities!
Even on the darkest of days, we know more people want this world than ever before. We are heartened by the growing number of coalitions, grassroots groups, organizations, philanthropists, politicians, private sector entities, and providers who are listening to communities about what matters most to them, what they believe should be done to solve problems, and acting decisively on what they say.
We no longer envision a global network because we are witnessing a global movement. As such, we have made the decision to close. The work is not done— far from it—but it will look and feel quite different! We believe our greatest contribution to this movement is not sustaining ourselves as an organization but availing our resources in service of sustained organizing.
Resources will remain accessible long after we are gone via the www.worldwewantproject.org. The website includes contacts, data, tools, and technologies that any group can leverage, share, copy, and remix to advance their ambitions and most importantly those of women, young people, and gender minorities.
The world we want places impact above brand, fosters connection over competition, breaks downs siloes and crosses borders. The world we want is leaderless and leaderful. The world we want is filled with people proudly wearing their unique backgrounds and waving their individual banners, while still marching forward together—communities in the lead. We believe by sharing resources, we build the world we want. We believe we become the kinds of people who can peacefully, productively, and happily live in such a world together.
For more information, please reach out to Kristy Kade, kkade@whiteribbonalliance.org, CEO or Sandra Pepera spepera@whiteribbonalliance.org, Board Chairperson.