Imaginings of a Feminist Economic Transformation

On June 1, 2021, the Feminist Economic Transformation Project hosted activists and feminists from around the world for a visioning journey to reimagine our world and collectively identify and uplift economic alternatives that can be transformed into policy changes, while fostering connections and inspiring movement actors in their change work. The focus of this visioning journey was trade justice. It was an intimate global gathering of feminist activists, economists and development and policy practitioners who convened to creatively re-imagine new economic systems that centers the planet and people over profit. The session prompted thinking through large systemic issues while grounded in the regional realities of our participants from Asia, Africa, MENA and North America. It also involved a collective art-making session where folks were encouraged to share their ideas through drawings, poetry and song.

During our journey, we entered a time capsule and travelled through the imagination to the year 2041. The world we emerged into had undergone a feminist economic transformation, embodying our hopes and dreams for a world we want our children to grow up in. In the future we saw tremendous changes had taken place, and the seeds we collectively helped to plant years ago had now become a reality. Ideas and recommendations that were shared ranged from the care economy and collective approaches to care, to Dalit rights and economic justice, to corporate accountability and moving away from extractive forms of resource governance. This report and manifesto is the harvest of our visions from the future with the aim to support advocates, decision- and policy-makers to work towards a world that serves all.

About the Feminist Economic Transformation (FET) Project

COVID-19 has exposed and exacerbated the extreme inequalities in our societies. Globally, the pandemic has had disproportionate economic, health and social impacts on women particularly those who belong to Black, Indigenous or racialized communities, (im)migrants and refugees, women living with disabilities and members of the 2SLGBTQ+ communities. Experts are already calling the economic downturn a “she-cession,” as women workers are bearing the brunt of job losses and increased care responsibilities.

Building a better future cannot simply be an exercise of rebuilding what was already there. Rather, now is the time to envision a transformative and new economic model that centers the health and well-being of our societies, economies and our planet. The world needs a feminist economic transformation that places gender, economic and climate justice and feminist leadership at the heart and transforms our economic model to one that is equal, equitable, inclusive and sustainable. The purpose of the FET project is to re-imagine our world through feminist economic transformations, fostering connections, inspiring movement actors in their change work and to support collective visioning and uplifting of economic alternatives that can be transformed into policy changes.

The FET Advisory Group, composed of feminist thought leaders and advocates from across the globe, is facilitating an inclusive and participatory visioning journey, bringing together feminist and equality-seeking leaders in a series of global conversations to develop key elements of a feminist economic transformation that lays the ground for a more equal, inclusive and sustainable economic model. The series of conversations will focus on macro and micro economic realities and hone in on specific policies that would be required for a feminist economic transformation.