The Reckoning is Necessary: White Supremacy Culture in International Development
In the past two months accusations of system-wide racism has been revealed at some of the biggest and most high-profile organisations across the women’s and human rights space including Women Deliver, International Women’s Health Coalition (IWHC), Crisis Text Line/Do Something, Medicines Sans Frontiers, Planned Parenthood of Greater New York, Sleeping Giants, and PERIOD — The Menstrual Movement.
Also for the past month and half I have counted myself lucky to be a part of the Racial Equity Index Group — a collective formed to explore the lack of and need for a racial equity in the women’s rights and social justice sectors.
The discussions around racial equity in these spaces are long overdue. With every passing day we hear more stories of harm, trauma, and marginalisation at the hands of leading iNGOs. We cannot be expected to win these fights for women’s human rights when BIPOC (Black, Indigenous and people of color) organisers are facing their own struggles just to be seen, heard and valued within the organisations they work for.
Yet, the blame does not lie solely at the feet of these organisations and the majority white women leading them. The philanthropy sector has played an active role in white supremacist culture by funding and creating monolith organisations within the women’s rights sector through narrow but massive funding by large foundations, governments, and individual donors. With all their reporting, funders have turned a blind eye to the ever-growing cracks in the facade of these organisations.
Meanwhile, these organisations have swallowed smaller local collectives, co-opted their work, tokenised the voices of Black, Indigenous and people of color. The experiences, voices, expertise and work of BIPOC people has been further marginalised. Organisers on the frontline know that not just one organisation holds the solutions to achieve gender equality and women’s rights. Homogeneity does not breed ingenuity and collective liberation.
Now more than ever we need a commitment to equity and justice. We need funders to commit to support and funding organisations that fight for racial equity both internally and externally. We need funders to put their weight behind organisations that create equitable spaces for BIPOC people. We need funders to commit to reporting and accountability measures which will ensure that the organisations they are funding are not dehumanising the very group of people they are purporting to uplift and support.
The Racial Equity Index wants to bring transparency to this process. How can we say that we stand for women’s rights, for human rights when we won’t even take care of BIPOC people in our own midst?
Find out more info and join the work of the Racial Equity Index here.
Visit the open document on Reckonings in the Social Justice space here.
