Wellness, Self-Care and Security – Why this is Important to Feminism

Jane Barry and Jelena Đorđević’s 2007 book[1] “What is the Point of Revolution if we Can’t Dance?,” captured the experiences of women activists across the world, unveiling the complexities of how women’s rights activists cope with their daily lives, with health and mental difficulties due to exhaustion. Often, these difficulties are seen as part of the “sacrifice” of working for justice and not understood as the precariousness of the work that can lead to vulnerabilities in health and to increased danger.

Since then, activist-authors like Jane Barry have continued challenging understandings of sustainability and promote reclaiming of this word as a fundamental strategy for the continuity of the feminist movement: “Sustainability is about being able to do the work we love, while still feeling full and happy in every part of our lives. It’s about feeling safe, feeling connected, feeling recognized, respected, and valued—for who we are, as much as for what we do”[2].

The Personal is Political

Equally linked to the sustainability of our movements is the importance of self-care. Viewing self-care from a liberating perspective challenges the conservative vision that places the responsibility for it simply in personal will. It also challenges the assumption of the “good activist” who dedicates all her energy to others, which frequently leads to exhaustion.

At the XII Latin American Feminist Gathering (12 Encuentro Feminista Latinoamericano) in November 2011, self-care was one of the thematic pillars of discussion. Using the framework of The Care of Ourselves is Political, the debate established three different dimensions of analysis of self-care: personal, social and political. These three dimensions interlink with a diversity of networks such as: oneself, family, friends, organisations and institutions, facilitating the process of recognising different levels of weakness and strengths when facing complex situations, particularly those of risk and danger.

Self-care is wisdom that feminists have developed over time that offers personal and collective journeys of consciousness-raising, reflection and action. Feminists, women’s rights activists and women human rights defenders (WHRDs) “must guarantee the reclaiming of self-care, not just as a personal and basic human right to rest, recreate, dance, and laughter, but also as a strategy that is deeply political and subversive”.[3]

Sustaining Activism and Integrated Security

Promoting and defending women’s rights is rewarding and challenging work, but at the same time it is difficult and often dangerous. Whatever the motivation, feminists, women’s rights activists and WHRDs bring to the work their own bodies, sharp minds, sense of humour, generous hearts, instincts, and their whole being, therefore “the very public work is intensely personal and the personal is integral to your security”.[4]

The Sustaining Activism project by the Urgent Action Fund, identified three key barriers and breakpoints in activism that, controversially, were described as internal and grounded in activists themselves. “The ‘culture of activism’ including unsustainable work habits, where activists work all hours possible without taking breaks; disregard for personal wellbeing, either due to peer pressure or a sense of guilt at taking care of one’s own needs when so many others are suffering; exclusion or marginalization of activists from mainstream movements because of their identity (sexual orientation, age, religion, ethnicity), their geographic location or access (urban vs. rural) or the issues they are addressing (LGBT rights, sex workers’ rights, disability rights, etc.)”[5]

The concept of integrated security recognises that women’s security is about many different, yet interconnected, issues. As highlighted in Integrating Security. The Manual “justice and reparation are as important as gaining the right to land, as the freedom to speak, travel and to work without any obstacles, and access to spiritual leaders.”[6] By incorporating concern for the wellbeing of the WHRD as well asher family, and recognizing the gender-specific nature of violence integrated security offers a range of support, including childcare and healthcare - not traditionally considered in security measures. It also entails addressing the contexts that enable human rights violations in the first place, and promotes the full realization of women’s rights as a strategy to sustain WHRDs, their organizations and movements. The aim is not just to keep WHRDs safe, but ultimately to support social movements in changing the situation that put them at risk (Real)[7].

In order to develop a strategy of integrated security it is important to take into account four elements of analysis: spaces that are truly safe; time to reflect, discuss and assess all aspects of our lives, work, safety and well-being; solidarity with each other; and a deeply held belief in our own value – self-worth. This framework “reaffirms and strengthens women human rights defenders’ own capacity to uncover and assess the range of challenges they face, and to share and develop the strategies they need to be safe and well – and continue their work.”[8]

Influencing Our Own Movement

At the recent AWID Forum in Istanbul, a group of practitioners and activists from around the world collaborated to create a Wellness Area to address issues of self-care and security, and provide a space for Forum participants to attend to their wellbeing.

The goal of the Wellness Area was to combine restful activities like massage with discussions and reflections on the importance of self-care and security for our wellbeing as feminists as well as for the sustainability of our movements. It sought to promote self-care through a feminist analysis and to surface personal experiences in wellness and security among Forum participants.

The Wellness Area received a large number of visitors throughout the Forum, and was a much-needed space for participants to meditate, recharge and reenergise. Many long-time feminist activists and WHRDs visited the area seeking help with various stress-related illnesses. While many who visited the area said it was their first experience of this kind of space during such an event, they also commented that they felt guilty about taking this “time off” from doing their “real work”. This illustrates how women, suffer in silence, under constant pain and mental stress that puts pressure on their lives.

Breaking with Patriarchal Leaderships

Political Dimensions of Self-care was the title of the online dialogue jointly organised by the Alchemy of Feminist Popular Education (Alquimia de Educación Popular Feminista) with the Meso-American Initiative of WHRDs, in March 2012. Discussions raised the issue of self-care as a subversive strategy. In the patriarchal structure, as a system that makes women care for others and not for themselves, self-care becomes an offense to the system. It forms part of a logic of defence and confrontation against the attacks and pressure of the patriarchal system, its representatives and its direct and violent manifestations.

Coping with everything becomes a threat, “we often reinforce the role of the strong activist who can do it all and we apply it to ourselves and to others, with the risk of imposing a model that can compromise the sustainability of the group and the self-care and protection we require”.[9] In difficult socio-political and cultural contexts, WHRDs tend to continue working in spite of danger, stress and exhaustion. These situations can make them or the women they work with “less alert to risks, or less able to deal with them”.[10]

A feminist approach to self-care and wellness should incorporate a debate about leadership; a key element to be addressed by the new generation of feminist leaders. It is essential that current and new feminist leaders, women activists and WHRDs engage in the development of a culture of self-care and wellness in both individual lifestyles and the organizational culture, leading to real and transformative change that will permeate and strengthen the sustainability of the women’s movement at large.[11]

Donors also share in the responsibility and it is becoming more and more relevant to start advocating for a culture of funding that includes the work on self-care, wellness and security from a feminist perspective, as an integral part of the human rights work that women do[12].

Empowering Ourselves!

Wellness and self-care is a powerful tool to stop, say NO, to not trying to do it all, and allowing ourselves to reenergise for the long-term struggle of seeking gender justice. It is also a political strategy to keep us safe when facing dangerous situations and being aware of developing alternative strategies for survival, in particular under threats and persecution. By developing a feminist approach to security, self-care and wellness, the construction and sustainability of our movement will benefit with revitalised, active and positive women, who are not burnt-out or at risk of exhaustion.

If you are interested in finding out more, engaging in discussions, learning about other initiatives, and strategizing on how to keep wellness and security a priority issue in protecting WHRDs, you can take part in the forthcoming online dialogue “Tactics for Sustaining the Well-being and Security of Defenders”, being held 20 - 26 June 2012, co-sponsored by AWID and New Tactics.

[1] Published by Urgent Action Fund

[2] World Pulse article “What’s the point of revolution if we can’t dance”, (2010) Jane Barry.

[3] Concept Note for Wellness Area: Self-Care, Safety, Security, (2012), A collective reflection, AWID Forum 2012.

[4] Integrating Security. The Manual, (2011), Jane Barry, The Kvinna till Kvinna Foundation & The Urgent Action Fund for Women’s Human Rights.

[5] Sustaining Activism Project (2007), Urgent Action Fund

[6] Integrating Security. The Manual, (2011), Jane Barry, The Kvinna till Kvinna Foundation & The Urgent Action Fund for Women’s Human Rights.

[7] Ten Insights to Strengthen Responses for Women Human Rights Defenders at Risk, (2012), Inmaculada Barcia and Analía Penchaszadeh, The WHRDs International Coalition. Also see Real, M.J. “Mobilising for Peace as Women Human Rights Defenders: Critical Reflections on UNSCR 1325.” Presentation at Conference of Women Human Rights Defenders at Risk in Latin America. 25 November 2010.

[8] Integrating Security. The Manual, (2011), Jane Barry, The Kvinna till Kvinna Foundation & The Urgent Action Fund for Women’s Human Rights.

[9] Concept Note for Wellness Area: Self-Care, Safety, Security, (2012), A collective reflection, AWID Forum 2012.

[10] Ten Insights to Strengthen Responses for Women Human Rights Defenders at Risk, (2012), Inmaculada Barcia and Analía Penchaszadeh, The WHRDs International Coalition.

[11] Concept Note for Wellness Area: Self-Care, Safety, Security, (2012), A collective reflection, AWID Forum 2012.

[12] Ten Insights to Strengthen Responses for Women Human Rights Defenders at Risk, (2012), Inmaculada Barcia and Analía Penchaszadeh, The WHRDs International Coalition.