The feminisation of politics provides much needed inspiration not just to movements to revitalise local democracy, but also to those seeking to realise the true potential of community wealth building to drive meaningful change on inequality, write Frances Jones, associate director, and Eleanor Radcliffe, researcher, both at Cles.
Thirteen years ago the global financial crisis prompted human suffering across the world. In the wake of this, community wealth building emerged as an alternative approach to local economic development.
In community wealth building, local authorities along with other public sector anchor institutions and social and private sector partners work to disrupt the structures which enabled the crisis, building in their place local economies where people have far greater levels of control and ownership of wealth.
At the same time, activists responding to the same inequality and suffering on their doorsteps began to reshape the political landscape in their cities and communities, this time animated by feminist principles. Their work to ‘feminise politics’ has become a global movement.
The ‘feminisation of politics’ is a practical approach to revitalising local democracy which has been developed by an international movement of feminist activists, politicians, and academics. It seeks to remove barriers to political participation experienced not solely by women but by all people who feel alienated or unwelcome in public institutions and social movements. It does this by:
- Ensuring representation of non-dominant groups in institutional and public life
- Advocating for public policies that seek to break down patriarchy
- Utilising more participatory methods in decision making within public organisations
- Opening up the spaces which are dominated by people with significant privilege so that all people are able to feel at home participating in democratic activities.
A decade on and we are living in the shadow of another seismic economic crisis that is, again, laying bare the inadequacies of our economics. Community wealth building, meanwhile, has moved from the fringes to become widely adopted by local, regional and national government across the UK.
In this blog we explore why, at Cles, we believe that the feminisation of politics provides much needed inspiration not just to movements to revitalise local democracy, but also to those seeking to realise the true potential of community wealth building to drive meaningful change on inequality.
At a time when local government in the UK is assailed by challenges on many fronts it is easy to miss the potential for the feminisation of politics to spark creativity and unlock new ways of working. For many, elements of these ideas will appear familiar: a commitment to increasing the representation of women and a greater emphasis on participatory decision making, for example. But narrow interpretations miss the point: the feminisation of politics is a ‘way of doing’ local democracy which seeks to transform the local landscape as it works.
The outcomes from this ‘way of doing’ are much greater than the sum of any isolated action. Feminising politics is about letting go of traditional ways of holding power. Through this, advocates set out to erode the deep currents of oppression and privilege – sexism, yes, but also racism, ableism, homophobia and classism to name a few – which determine life chances across the world. Its power is that rather than offering another set of prescriptions for what should be done within existing structures, it focuses on how people at the grassroots and within local institutions can together create and share power in new ways.
A powerful example of the application of these ideas in practice can be seen in the recent history of Barcelona. In 2015 a grouping of activists and citizens – Barcelona en Comu – won the city elections. Their strategy of reorientating public institutions to tackle inequality and build a more just economy is a story of a revolution in urban governance, animated by feminism.
At Cles we see powerful resonance between these ideas and our work on community wealth building, which aims to build greater levels of control and ownership of wealth by local people. Reflecting on this work through the lens of the feminisation of politics begs a question: are approaches led by public institutions, in isolation from local people, in danger of replicating the very inequalities they were intended to address?
The appetite for community wealth building and progressive local economic ideas is significant and growing. But as the movement grows it is more important than ever that we reflect on its core purpose. Engaging with the feminisation of politics provides an important opportunity to enhance community wealth building’s potential to drive deep rooted change in local economies.
Hence this summer Cles is beginning a programme of work to explore the feminisation of politics in greater detail. In this, we see two overarching questions: what does a route to feminised local politics look like for the UK, and how can the ideas behind the feminisation of politics help people working on the ground to create more just local economies?
Following a webinar last month we will publish a paper outlining our findings and explain how we plan to move forward.
With assumptions and norms upended by Covid-19 we have an opportunity to set our sights high to rebuild a democratic and just future. In the words of Barcelona en Comu “a revolution that isn’t feminist isn’t worthy of the name”.
You can watch the webinar here
