Reflections on CSW70 and beyond: collective action for financing feminist movements
Written by Leah Moss, Senior Policy Strategist at Mama Cash
It’s been a couple of weeks since we returned from New York for CSW70. A lot has been shared about the space already: the frustrations, challenges, and complex emotions as we navigate showing up in multilateral forums that seem to offer more questions than solutions.
This year, restrictive visa issues and security risks both in the US and abroad meant that many of our friends and partners simply couldn’t be there, and others have reflected meaningfully on their decision not to participate.
Reflecting on our roles
Defending human rights and advancing gender justice requires real reflection about our roles – as activists, funders, and policy-makers. And we all have a role to play, whether on the frontlines of movements, developing bold and creative funding strategies, or working tirelessly from within multilateral institutions to hold the line at a time of severe rollbacks on women’s rights.
The courage and leadership of women political leaders and human rights defenders is why these spaces exist and the fact that so many of them were not present highlighted what cannot be taken for granted. The tragic killing of Yanar Mohammed, Iraqi women’s right activist, just before CSW started, served as a stark reminder of both the immense courage and grave dangers that feminist activists around the world face today.
Using our platform to shape alliances
Around the world, feminist movements are engaged in relentless life–saving and life-sustaining action that makes justice and liberation possible for all of us, everywhere. As a global feminist funder, our role is to support these organisations with resources and shed a spotlight on their vital work whenever and wherever we can. It is precisely at this moment when access and visibility remains so dangerous for women across the world that we have a responsibility to take our seat at the table. At CSW, this means using our platform and the privileges that come with it to shape agendas and alliances for financing gender equality, however imperfect and uncomfortable the process may be.
Toolbox of resistance
While we were at CSW, the OECD published new data revealing an alarming drop in investment to women’s rights organisations, who received just 0.4% of bilateral allocable aid in 2022-2023. Resource scarcity has had devastating impacts for women, girls, and trans and intersex people globally, stripping back access to essential services and forcing organisations to close. In this context, who can they count on to back them? At one side event, our Director of Programmes, Coco Jervis, reminded us that resources are just one tool in the toolbox of resistance, alongside ideas, courage, and community care. The ability to navigate complex political realities, shrinking resources and increasing restrictions on civic space has been the work of movements for a long time, and the notion that those defending land and territory are simply waiting for the funds to arrive in their bank account reveals a lack of humility on behalf of funders. As our Co-Executive Director Happy Mwende Kinyili shared after CSW:
“Movements will always fight for justice and peace – with or without additional financial resources. Resources change the conditions under which struggle happens. We move faster with flexible and agile resources.”
Accelerate Together
Our discussions at CSW, from countering anti-rights movements to advancing new funding approaches for women human rights defenders, are one small part of a broader commitment: to use every tool and opportunity to support feminist movements in building a world rooted in justice and dignity. Our new campaign, Accelerate Together, seeks to mobilise $600m annually for women’s movements globally and is a reaffirmation of this commitment. As the name makes clear, Accelerate Together is a collective effort: we recognise that the urgency of the moment demands more effective coordination.
But just showing up is not enough: at a time of intense global backlash, CSW remains critical for holding governments accountable on their commitments to women, girls, and trans and intersex people – from ending gender-based violence to protecting hard won gains on sexual and reproductive health and rights, and bodily autonomy at a time when access to justice and reproductive rights are under threat. Despite deliberate attempts by the US to undermine the agreed conclusions, the outcome document was adopted by a clear majority, marking a victory of collaboration between supportive member states and feminist civil society. It reminds us why holding the line is tireless but necessary work.
Keeping gender justice on the agenda
Ceding ground to anti-rights movements or accepting that multilateralism has run its course is simply not an option, particularly as activists and movements globally face increasing restrictions on their right to advocate and speak up to injustice. Whether in the halls of the UN or across governments, funding institutions, or on the frontlines of struggles, decades of resources and hard work have gone into ensuring feminist civil society is visible everywhere, fighting to keep gender justice and human rights alive on the agenda. To cede ground anywhere is to do a disservice to those who came before us – and to the work needed to counter anti-rights movements and the rise of authoritarianism.