ii. Knowledge-Building Info Sheet: Anti-Oppression
Here is what working in an anti-oppression framework means to us in establishing and implementing programmes for girls:
• We guide our work with a multi-faceted understanding of power and oppression.
• We recognize that no one is a victim all of the time; rather, all people experience power or lack of power in different situations. When a man is sexually harassing a girl, he is in the position of relative power; when this girl is bullying another girl based on an aspect of the other girl’s identity or experiences, then the girl who is bullying is in the position of relative power.
• We acknowledge that policies and institutional practices can impact different groups of women differently because of their race, class, ability, sexuality, gender identity, religion, culture, refugee or immigrant status, or other status causing inequality amongst groups of women and girls. We also acknowledge that these same dimensions of identity can also be a source of pride.
• As programmers, we must acknowledge that forms of oppression intersect in people’s lives. For example, someone who is a Latina refugee experiences her gender, her racialization, and her citizenship status all at once, not separately.
• We appreciate how each participant is different and understand that each girl is affected by her life-context and background. We can validate each girl’s feelings and views on her life, as well as allow for a safe(r) space for the girls to share thoughts on and learn about forms of power and discrimination.
• We try to develop a conscious commitment to understanding how all of the intersecting “isms” (racism, sexism, ableism, classism, etc.) affect us on both individual, collective, and community levels.
• We commit to building strong actions and to being a part of movements that work to reduce the causes of oppression and support people’s empowerment.
For Girls Action, an anti-oppression approach means being actively reflective about one’s work. Since we are working in one of the wealthiest regions in the world, anti-oppression practices must include an understanding that the majority of resources are concentrated in the hands of a relatively small percentage of the world population. That means that classism – the systematic discrimination and marginalization of people of relatively lower socio-economic status – must be addressed. As classism is largely a system of beliefs based on economic status, race, age, and level of education. It often works to “rank” groups of people according to a privileged bias of what is deemed “normal” or “acceptable.”
Working to reduce oppression through our girls’ programs is a constant learning process. As we need to do this by adjusting our programming or language and using a variety of approaches to share knowledge.
We achieve this by:
• Creating empowering processes that acknowledge girls’ experiences within a broader social, economic and political structure.
• Creating spaces to learn across difference and advancing our analysis on social justice.
• Recognizing how intersection and interlocking oppression express themselves.
• Reflecting on our approach to our work.
• Being willing to learn.
• Using a non-violent approach to pass on anti-oppression knowledge. It is very important to avoid shaming individual girls in teaching moments.
• Addressing discriminatory behaviour when it happens, but in a way that allows the girls to learn from it, to not be afraid to challenge themselves and others, and to have the tools to do this in a positive and effective way.
• Encouraging awareness raising on different forms of oppression through workshops on anti-racism, gender stereotypes, poverty, etc.
• Remembering that we are here to create a girls’ space, so the girls’ needs are a priority.
• Understanding our own location, and what this means for others.
Questions we can ask ourselves about how our practices reinforce or help to overcome intersecting forms of oppression are:
• How accessible is a specific program?
• How accessible is the organization?
• How are we role modelling for the participants?
• Are we fostering a space where girls and young women can access and analyse their own socio-political experiences of power and oppression?
How to educate yourself about anti-oppression
• Find relevant books, classes, websites, list serves, movies, etc.
• GO TO THE SOURCE and read books BY people who represent these issues through their own experience.
• LISTEN to a variety of voices.
• Share the knowledge you have and the knowledge you’ve been given about anti-oppression.
• Go the distance! Chances to increase personal awareness don’t always just come to you. Be proactive to find the information you need.
• Don’t be judgemental – have compassion when people make mistakes.
• Push yourself to act and push your boundaries. Challenge and allow yourself to be challenged.
• Explore power and oppression in all aspects of your life.
• Be involved in groups that deal with and confront issues of oppression.
• Don’t try to make others educate YOU.
• Find COOL people you can discuss these issues with and seek a diversity of opinions.
• Take time to help yourself – this is tough work!
• Be honest with yourself.
• Know where you stand on these issues but also don’t be afraid to say that you don’t know.
• Think critically about the world around you.
“Checking yourself” in relationships: Questions of privilege
Trying to foster anti-oppression in relationships means continually checking yourself. This means being aware of how your experiences, values and privileges, and lack of power may affect or interact with the experiences, values and privileges, and lack of power of someone else.
Questions that we need to ask ourselves
In order to check our behaviours and how they may impact others in our group or movement, we need to ask ourselves:
• Who or what was excluded in your last event, workshop or meeting, etc.?
• How can our organizing be more inclusive?
• Do I feel resistant to something? What are we creating mental blocks against and how do we change that?
• What are the differences between the girls we are working with, what are their similarities, and how do we deal with both?
• What are the barriers to empowerment in girls’ lives and how can we address them?
