Girls are not the future of feminism, they are the present.
Girl-led organising happens everywhere, yet girls under 18 are virtually absent from strategic conversations, funding and key decision making spaces. FRIDA the Young Feminist Fund and Mama Cash are proud to share GIRLS TO THE FRONT: a snapshot of girl-led organising, the first participatory research report -- led by girl researchers -- exploring some of the creative and impactful ways in which girls are bringing about social justice in their communities.
It’s tough being a girl. All over the world, girls face multiple layers of discrimination: for being female, for being young and for the other multiple identities that define them, such as race, class, sexual orientation and gender identity. In the face of these challenges, girls worldwide are organising and joining forces to have their agency and autonomy recognised, respected and celebrated.
Who better to know what girls need than girls themselves? Girls and their organisations and/or initiatives are important to social movements. Mama Cash and FRIDA, two women’s funds long committed to supporting girls and their organising, decided to commission a research study to find out more about how girls are organising across the world.
This participatory, feminist, intersectional research placed girls at the centre, making them partners of the study. The participation of girl advisors -- activists who hail from five different countries and have diverse backgrounds, profiles and skill -- brought invaluable input to the table. The research used in-depth interviews and an online questionnaire, as well as an exhaustive desk review to collect data from girl-led groups and organisations, girl-centred organisations and the stakeholders that support them at different levels. This is an exciting opportunity to spotlight how girl-led organising takes place and how funders can provide flexible support that responds to the needs of girls and their organising.
