What is The Feminist Shift?
Feminist Shift started in 2019 as an advocacy capacity building collaborative between YW Kitchener-Waterloo and YWCA Cambridge. Together with the community, we are Waterloo’s feminist group taking on gender-based violence. We work to improve the lives women and gender-diverse people. Our mission is to build a region that acknowledges and rejects gender-based violence.
So, we do this through
- thoughtful conversations,
- knowledge sharing,
- training opportunities,
- strategic advocacy projects,
- and more
Feminist Work in Waterloo Region
Advocacy
Our advocacy is reflexive and intersectional. So we always work on new initiatives and events to encourage conversation and social change in the region.
Podcast
Our Podcast highlights important, informed voices in our community. Because we can all better understand and respond to gender-based violence.
Writing
Our blog focuses on discovering and diving into issues in our community. Explore the efforts and interventions impacting gender-based violence.
Lead Agencies
Feminist Shift is powered by the enthusiasm, talent, and tenacity of both the YW Kitchener-Waterloo and the YWCA Cambridge. Members from these organizations provide us with committee leadership. The committee also has support and guidance of other feminist groups in Waterloo Region.
YW Kitchener-Waterloo was established in 1905 and is the longest standing women-serving organization in Waterloo Region. The organization is known for its work in homelessness and housing, as well as employment and entrepreneurship programming.
YWCA Cambridge has a 65 plus year legacy in our region. The organization is well-known for its childcare services, youth programming, community programming centre called ‘The W’, and social enterprise- Women’s International Gift & Gallery.
Land Acknowledgement
Our commitment to the efforts of reconciliation.
Waterloo Region is situated on the unceded land of the Haldimand Tract and is within the territory of the Neutral, Anishinaabe, and Haudenosaunee peoples.
On October 25, 1784, after the American Revolutionary War of Independence, the Haldimand Tract was returned to the Six Nations of the Grand River and Mississaugas of the Credit First Nation by the British as compensation for their role in the war. Of the 950,000 acres returned, less than 5.1% remains under Indigenous ownership today.
To do anti-violence work on this land, we must acknowledge how colonialism continues to feed violence in our region, and to affirm our commitment to decolonization in our work and in our lives as settlers on this land.
Allyship is a continuous process; it is not a designation that one can earn and hold forever or a label one can give themselves. Because allyship is earned through actions. We have a responsibility, as beneficiaries of this land, to acknowledge and understand its history and the current experiences of First Nations, Inuit, and Métis peoples and to be accountable to the violence they continue to face. We must use this understanding to inform our work, ensure we do not perpetuate the harms of colonization, and begin to repair them.
Members of Feminist Shift hold ourselves and our community accountable in the continuous work of decolonizing. We join in the feminist calls country wide to end systemic oppression and address gender-based violence due to colonization, including immediate actions to end the epidemic of Indigenous women, girls, and two-spirit individuals going missing or being murdered.
Network of Neighbours
Violence Intervention Training & Speaker Series
Pushing Back on the Shadow Pandemic of Violence
Our Network of Neighbours training works with citizens and private groups to share knowledge on becoming a point of intervention in their neighbourhoods. Through the training, community members can support women and gender-diverse folks that may be experiencing gender-based violence. This initiative includes facilitated and self-directed training sessions, and they are all online and free to join.
Advocacy Spotlight
All-Candidates Survey: Waterloo Region
Hear from our provincial candidates.
Some Candidates Weigh in on Gender-Based Issues.
We partnered with six feminist organizations to collaborate on a one-of-a-kind survey. Then, we asked provincial candidates in Waterloo Region to respond with their thoughts on issues close to our work and social justice.
Check out the results.
Podcast Highlight
Feminist Cities
Capturing important voices, one podcast at a time
S2:E4 Building Feminist Cities with Urbanist Leslie Kern
In this episode we talk to urban scholar Leslie Kern (https://lesliekern.ca/), author of the Feminist City, about how to build cities with women in mind. We explore how cities can show up better for women in caregiving roles. We discuss how to build safety for low-income and homeless women, because they are most vulnerable to outdated patriarchal design practices. And using a dash of urban planning, we reimagine Waterloo: from transportation and infrastructure, to how to modernize the safety value of pay phones. This podcast is from a guest lecture done in February 2022 by Leslie Kern, as part of our collaborative speaker series with the City of Kitchener ‘Building Equitable Cities’. This series invites thought leaders into our community to share knowledge that challenges our tired traditions and builds equity.
Up On The Blog
Catch up on some Feminist reading.
Our Funder
This project is proudly funded through Women and Gender Equality Canada (WAGE) through the Canadian Federal Government. WAGE works to advance equality with respect to sex, sexual orientation, and gender identity or expression through the inclusion of people of all genders, including women, in Canada’s economic, social, and political life.
