Feminists in the South find their own solutions

Sarah Jackson

If you only read Northern discussions and publications about international development and women's rights you could be forgiven for thinking feminists don't exist in the developing world, let alone work there or achieve remarkable things.

Last week, representatives from our partners - Women in Law and Development in Africa (Wildaf) and the Gender Centre in Ghana - were in London for a visit. It's always an honour to meet our partners - the work we do is hard, but the work they do is incredible.

Jonathan Glennie is absolutely right that international women's rights are enjoying unprecedented levels of attention and acceptance as a subject for serious consideration, and we're delighted about that, of course. And he correctly identifies and challenges a reluctance in many western organisations to associate themselves with the word "feminist", for fear of its connotations of radicalism on the one hand, and privilege on the other.

But aside from a brief mention of feminist organisations in other countries, Glennie falls into the trap of viewing feminism as a movement seated in the west, or the global North. That is not our experience. We've met self-identified feminist individuals and organisations in Nepal, Peru, Ethiopia, Afghanistan. It's true the term is sorely in need of claiming and reclaiming. But the most glaring absence is a recognition of these women working for change themselves in the developing world.

We currently work with more than 30 women's rights organisations, and there are countless more. Some call themselves feminists, some don't, but they are frequently rendered invisible in discussions about international development and women's rights in the UK press - and even in some development organisations. Sometimes the crucial role they play is lost in the rush to show how international donations and policy decisions affect beneficiaries. Although it's right that the focus is on the women most in need of support to transform their lives, too often the women who are driving social change are overlooked. Of course these are not always distinct groups - the woman who receives support goes on to support others, and that's something we see over and over again, all over the world.

But women's rights activists in the South have fought for and won real change for themselves. It hasn't been handed to them by feminists in the North. This year the UN Women report on access to justice featured a list of groundbreaking legal cases brought by courageous individuals.

But there is also so much that has been won by women's organisations and campaigns: in Nepal, Women for Human Rights has secured significant changes to dangerous and discriminatory laws against widows and single women. The Women's Coalition of Zimbabwe lobbied successfully for national domestic violence legislation. In one region of Ethiopia, KMG Ethiopia helped reduce the prevalence of female genital mutilation from 97% to 4%. And in Ghana, the Gender Centre is persuading entire districts to abandon the harmful traditional practice of widow inheritance.

We are inspired by our partners and led by their priorities and strategies for change. We deliver financial support, capacity-building and opportunities to share knowledge, with the aim of strengthening and sustaining the women's movement in the countries we work in.

It's not a question of "feminist solutions" being imposed by the North. Feminists in the South find their own solutions. Our role is to support and celebrate them.

Sarah Jackson is communications manager at Womankind Worldwide