Month: July 2021

Hollie Venn, chief executive of Sheffield Women’s Aid, shares her thoughts on the Feminist Leadership session at our Summer Conference in the context of her career, studies and the work of her organisation.

Prior to the webinar for the feminist leadership discussion, I felt excited to hear the participants views and thinking, not only as a previous cohort member for the feminist leadership course, but having recently completed an MSc in Leadership. My dissertation focus was based upon women’s lived experiences of leadership, so this webinar filled me with excitement to hear how women understood and interpreted “feminist leadership”. 

Hearing that WRC’s feminist leadership programme is its most popular was of no surprise! Tebs and Evelina are clearly dedicated to empowering women to harness their feminist leadership skills, and this is translated to a clear framework for the training. 

They both talked of their aspiration to see women walking the talk, and challenging the androcentric norms of leadership theory and practice through offering a dedicated space for women to reflect on their leadership journeys – no matter where they may be in them.   

Having this dedicated space is often deemed a luxury, but hearing each participant talk about how their group valued this intimate space to be vulnerable and explore the topic was heart-warming. It reaffirmed why these opportunities are so valuable for women. It also reminded me of the power and confidence that can be achieved when participating in such opportunities.  

The first speaker, Lioness Tamar of the Lioness Circle, shared how her very personal experiences had given her pause for reflection on where feminism intersected with black and minoritised women’s histories. She had originally thought it was a distraction from such thinking. 

The programme helped Lioness Tamar realise that feminism not only evokes strong responses about what it is and means, but enables her to challenge her own thinking. This is true of feminism and around how when feminism centres intersectionality, it lifts us all up. Her challenge to us was to analyse “what does feminism mean to you?”

Up next, Olivia shared what I know from my own dissertation findings to be a very common barrier for women – imposter syndrome! Hearing Olivia’s description of imposter syndrome as a barrier to asking for help and sharing ideas felt like the polar opposite to how we, in the women’s sector, seek to be. But, as Olivia clearly identified, lacking the psychological safety to be honest has a very real impact. 

Olivia shared how we need an arsenal of emotional intelligence weaponry in our “toolbox” as feminist leaders. This helps us to respond to leadership challenges. “We are not here by mistake” – no Olivia we certainly aren’t and we deserve our place at any table!  

At this point in the presentations, it was infectious to hear the value women had received from attending the training. They were all, in their own ways, analysing the concepts of both leadership and feminism with a real desire to consider how both should be applied to their work practices in a joined-up way. These thoughts offered personal reflections for me, too. It made me realise that I have often viewed them as separate entities, when in fact they are congruent.  

Nish and Adeola challenged us to wonder what a feminist leader looks like, against a backdrop of “leadership” often being considered/portrayed as white, male and a hierarchal domain. I would suggest these assumptions do have weight. My own MSc research findings show very little leadership theory has considered women’s leadership and there’s even less research in the environments women tend to inhabit. If we don’t ask women, we don’t know!

As Nish and Adeola signposted us towards, and in the same way that Olivia identified, the ability to demonstrate emotional intelligence is crucial for feminist leaders. It allows us the ability to really reflect and think about how we are leading. 

The VAWG sector has strong historical inceptions around collaborative working and findings ways of placing those we support at the heart of what we do. While the operating environments we inhabit have evolved, it’s crucial we retain those fundamental frameworks of asking ourselves “what does feminist leadership look like” and “how can we be allies to each other?”  

Lastly, Sidra reflected upon the very real dilemma of what feminist leadership looks like in an organisation. I know from my own leadership research this can have different guises when working in a dedicated VAWG service, rather than a generic organisation. 

What is probably lost in the latter is the understanding of feminism and how that is inextricably interwoven with how services are led. Sidra rightly highlighted how organisations’ expressions of power are articulated – it’s the “way things are done around here” – who makes the drinks, who chairs meetings, etc.  

Equally, what messages do they send? Sidra shared the ground rules her group constructed, too. What I thought when seeing this was how much these capture really effective feminist research principles! Sidra ended on a slide that showed how the “ripple” effect of feminist leadership works in a holistic way. Much like Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs, the slide demonstrated how this starts with the individuals and can have a “ripple” effect out to the wider world.  

A colleague and I attended this event as seasoned feminist leaders, and we both came away feeling so enthused by each participants discussion and excited for their leadership journeys as feminists.   

It was obvious the programme had enhanced all of the women’s learning and understanding of not just leadership but feminist leadership. From a personal perspective it was fantastic to see women embrace leadership discussions in the way they had. My hope would be that this programme can continue as it seems to have captured the “teach 1 person, and you teach a village” ethos.

Visit Sheffield Women’s Aid’s website and follow on Twitter.

Dolly Ogunrinde, Project Manager at Pepal, reflects on her childhood and front-line experiences working in the women’s sector to envision what anti-racist practices could look like for specialist women’s and girls’ organisations.  

When I was 13 years old, my father had a stroke, the impact of which was catastrophic to our family. We were devastated, desperately hoping he would recover whilst quickly spiralling into economic hardship as my mother’s Healthcare Assistant salary suddenly became the only income to provide for a family of six.

Reflecting on that time in my life with all I know now, my knowledge and front-line experience working in the women’s sector for half a decade, it strikes me as blindingly obvious that my family fell through the gaps of the social safety net and support that was available to us. This situation is a microcosm of what can and has happened to countless Black and minority ethnic families across the country. Families who struggle with multiple barriers to entry when navigating access to services provided by institutions steeped in bias.   

Having worked in the women’s sector for over five years, the resurgence of the Black Lives Matter movement amid a pandemic brought the issue of racial equity to the fore. It compelled the sector to confront some uncomfortable truths and question their policies and practices.  

Organisations are now looking for concrete ways to translate the intent of many to do better into real, meaningful action. This action is taking place on two fronts: internally – by improving policies and governance structures within the organisation – and externally – by developing inclusive methods of practice that benefit and respect service users. 

As a young black woman working in the Third sector, I have experienced microaggressions, witnessed unconscious bias in interactions between white staff and service users, and been subject to problematic salary allocation practices.

These experiences are not unique to me. Rather, they are explored in greater depth in Bond’s recent report Racism Power and Truth. While I felt able to challenge such incidents – sometimes to my own detriment – organisations must interrogate their internal governance policies to ensure that the balance of labour for fighting for equity does not tip too heavily onto the shoulders of Black and minority ethnicity staff. The work of being an anti-racist organisation is the responsibility of everyone in the organisation.    

Diversity and inclusion training should not be approached as a tick box exercise that acts as a substitute for taking practical action on implementing anti-racist structures. Instead, consider the following three areas within your organisations’ structure as a framework for beginning to make substantive change. 

1) Are there barriers to entry?   

When you consider entry-level positions in your organisation, what are you asking from applicants? Is it a certain level of formal education? Is it for them to have particular experience? Is there an expectation to work for free? All of these notions need to be challenged. Unpaid internships, for example, are a monumental barrier to entry for young people from low socio-economic backgrounds.

It not only disqualifies those who do not have the privilege to work for free but also perpetuates the false idea that only middle class, affluent candidates are suitable for working in the sector. This is a dangerous precedent as it leads to wider systemic problems in the long run regarding organisational diversity. 

2) Is your workplace a safe place for Black and ethnic minority staff?  

Fostering a safe space in the work environment is essential as BAME staff members can be exposed to discrimination, harassment or emotional harm in spaces that are not safe. In order to foster a safe space different initiatives can be implemented, for example, establishing BAME networks across the organisation or the sector more broadly. However, it is also worth assessing the structures in place for giving feedback or making complaints.

Are those processes robust, unbiased and transparent? As feminist organisations, it is imperative we create workspaces that challenge traditional hierarchical power structures and enable the voices of everyone to be treated with dignity and respect. Suppose incidents of racial discrimination occur at work and staff either do not feel comfortable to speak up or do not know how to report them. In that case, it can fuel a toxic environment in which the cultural norms at the workplace can become skewed. 

3) What does your leadership look like?   

A chronic issue in many organisations I have worked with in the past is the lack of diversity within the senior leadership team, and how that lack of diversity creates a wider disparity between those in leadership positions and those who are the organisation’s beneficiaries. Fair and transparent succession strategies should be written to ensure diversity at all levels of leadership, which involves nurturing a diverse talent pool with training and development opportunities.

This would avoid BAME staff hitting a glass ceiling that doesn’t exist for their white colleagues. Furthermore, radically reframing what ‘experience’ is considered appropriate for managerial posts is important as formal and informal experiences lead to a well-rounded and diverse leadership team. 

Reflecting on the external-facing side of an organisation, it is critical that power hierarchies are dismantled between staff and those who access services. The UK has a vibrant and diverse culture of diasporic communities whose power, influence and knowledge could definitely be utilised more within the sector.

We should question whether the experiences of those we work with are reflected in those who work for us. Having a binding connection through cultural understanding goes incredibly far in building authentic relationships.  

Looking back at when my father was sick, it is apparent to me that what my mother needed was an advocate. An advocate who could understand her situation, empathise with her struggle and support her in navigating a complicated social benefits system.

Engaging with hard-to-reach communities is some of the most meaningful work we do in the women’s sector and is what has motivated me throughout the years. Having a diverse workforce helps us do this; diversified not only by race but by experience, opinions, and knowledge. That will allow us to ensure our approach is humane, non-judgmental and structured in a way that empowers those we work with.

Find out more about Pepal.