Countering the Rise of Anti-Feminism
Feminist and human rights organizations have expressed increasing concerns over the rise of the right or regressive and anti-feminist movements in recent years. Regressive and anti-feminist movements are growing and becoming more organized and mainstreamed in Canada and around the world. The ideologies that regressive movements organize around are not new. Canada has a deeply rooted history of racist and sexist structures and institutions. Regressive and anti-feminist movements have just become more effective in mobilizing and reorganizing around these deeply entrenched beliefs and ideologies with new tools, resources and flashpoints.
The impacts of regressive movements on women, in their diversity, are extremely far-reaching. Regressive ideologies aim to stall or roll back women’s and human rights gains and are a serious threat to equality. It is crucial that feminist and other progressive movements work in solidarity to oppose the threats posed by these movements and support and strengthen intersectional women’s rights and social justice.
The Project
Countering regressive movements and ideologies can only be done effectively when we work together. CRIAW-ICREF’s multi-year “Strengthening Feminist Intersectional Solidarity for Action” (2023-2026) project uses a feminist intersectional lens to provide tools to analyze the impacts and complexity of regressive and anti-feminist movements, and to strengthen collective actions for women’s equality and social justice.
Using feminist participatory action research methods, we have worked with diverse feminist and women’s rights organizations across Canada to collectively assess the growth of regressive movements and develop deliberate and coordinated strategies to counter them. The knowledge and strategies collected through this collaborative work will be used to produce action guides and educational materials.
From kitchen tables to city squares to Zoom, our hope is that, by bringing together feminist analysis and organizing strategies, this project will contribute to feminist mobilization opposing regressive movements.
Organize, mobilize, resist!
Our Methodology
Feminist Participatory Action Research
Our participatory action research methods are based on the principles of supporting feminist leadership and valuing feminist knowledge and expertise in consultations and in conducting our research. The action component of the research means that feminist organizations and groups are actively involved in the research, and in co-creating solutions.
In the winter of 2024, we completed the initial stages of the project needs assessment. These stages included interviews with key experts and activists from a range of social justice organizations and background research on effective methods of resisting and opposing anti-feminist movements and ideologies.
From the spring to the fall 2024, we organized regional discussion groups with diverse women’s rights and feminist organizations across the country in Halifax (Atlantic), Montreal (Québec), Saskatoon (Prairies), Vancouver (Pacific/North), and Toronto (Ontario). Based on our discussions and the input from participating organizations, we have created a summary report about the threats posed by regressive and anti-feminist movements and how the women’s rights movement in Canada may work together to protect and strengthen intersectional women’s rights and social justice.
The findings collected through this collaborative work have informed the creation of action guides and educational materials that can be used to help analyze regressive anti-feminist movements and to create deliberate and coordinated feminist strategies to counter them. We look forward to continuing the work of this project in collaboration with women’s rights and feminist organizations.
This set of education resources aims to help deepen our understanding of the ways in which regressive and anti-feminist movements are manifesting in Canada.
CRIAW-ICREF is producing action guides and educational materials on regressive and anti-feminist movements.
CRIAW-ICREF’s multi-year “Strengthening Feminist Intersectional Solidarity for Action” (2023-2026) project is funded through Women and Gender Equality Canada’s (WAGE) Women’s Program.