Restless Development recently hosted a powerful and inspiring event for young feminist activists, where attendees collaborated and shared strategies for creating safe spaces for feminist youth movements around the world. The event also featured insightful discussions on the major threats these young activists face, along with practical measures they take to ensure safety and solidarity within their networks.
This dynamic and thought-provoking discussion will directly contribute to Restless Development’s 2023 State of Youth Civil Society report, which includes a learning question on self-care and safety measures used by various feminist youth movements to protect themselves and their networks.
In one of the activities, we asked participants to complete the sentence “I am young, feminist, and fearless because…” resulting in a co-created, powerful poem that beautifully captures the reasons why our participants are proud to identify as young, feminist, and fearless.
I am young, feminist and fearless because I am strong, resilient and fierce woman
I am young, feminist and fearless because I care
I am young, feminist and fearless because my place in the World matter
I am young, feminist and fearless because of my background
I am young, feminist and fearless because I disrupt
I am young, feminist and fearless because I believe in revolution and breaking the stereotypes
I am young, feminist and fearless because it is freeing and the future generations depend on it
I am young, feminist and fearless because of my confidence
I am young, feminist and fearless because of my courage
I am young, feminist and fearless because It’s the right thing to do
I am young, feminist and fearless because everyone matters
I am young, feminist and fearless because women deserve to be seen
I am young, feminist and fearless because of my feminist friends
I am young, feminist and fearless because my voice matters
I am young, feminist and fearless because I engage in difficult conversation
I am young, feminist and fearless because I am passionate and empathetic
I am young, feminist and fearless because I will not tolerate gender injustice
I am young, feminist and fearless because I have a purpose and need to deliver
I am young, feminist and fearless because I want to make the world a better place for women
I am young, feminist and fearless because I believe in equality in all aspects of life
I am young, feminist and fearless because women need to live free from violence
I am young, feminist and fearless because I am tigress
I am young, feminist and fearless because I am enough and my gender is not a barrier to what I can achieve in life