Feminism

Eleven outstanding feminists from around the world, who where selected as 2025 Feminist Foreign and Development Policy Fellows, participated in the 69th Commission on the Status of Women at the UN Headquarters. Here they share their main considerations.

At CSW69, calls to fund feminist futures grew stronger amid economic injustice, fragmented advocacy, and a political declaration dodging anti-rights backlash - echoed not in plenary halls, but in sidelines, courtrooms, and coalitions demanding more.

We must band together to defend feminism, gender equality and democracy, demands Lisa Paus, Member of the German Bundestag and Federal Minister for Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth.

In her laudatory speech, Viola von Cramon-Taubadel honours the different lives of the laureates and what unites them: their commitment, their convictions and their dedication to women's rights in Belarus.

For her, the new Belarus began with the Women’s Revolution in 2020, and continues to this very day. Julia Mickiewicz remembers the inspiration that the beautiful and smart women at the rallies have given her, along with the conviction that victory is achievable.

The three laureates are shaping the socio-political debates in Belarus and are enabling a counter-narrative to the Russian discourse and the deeply patriarchal view of society held by ruler Lukashenko, says Dr. Imme Scholz

Acceptance speech. Belarus is a country where women took to the streets with flowers and were thrown into prison vans. By Darya Afanasyeva

Irina Alkhovka pays tribute to earlier generations of women, such as her former university professor and founder of this award, Anne Klein. She says their resilience and courage serve as a beacon for all of us, in every era.

As human rights funding shrinks, feminist movements struggle to sustain their work while meeting donor demands. How can feminist funding literacy help organizations secure resources without compromising their mission?

The withdrawal of state and private funding threatens feminist movements worldwide. Bureaucratic hurdles make access to resources difficult. Can feminist philanthropy help build sustainable structures for lasting change?