Beyond a Fantasy of Fearlessness: Why Young Women’s Advocacy Matters
By Ziyana Kotadia, Taylor Davis, Ghannia Bokhari, and Aisha Imana
Gender justice is an increasingly urgent priority for youth in the face of converging crisis.
Outspoken. Bold. Wise beyond their years. From Malala Yousafzai to Greta Thunberg, young women activists who are ‘unafraid’ to speak their minds have come to represent the conscience of the international community.
We sensationalize images of girls with megaphones and hand-made protest signs on Instagram carousels and magazine covers, admiring their audacity. The icon of the young activist woman has become ubiquitous, even inspiring the bronze ‘Fearless Girl’ statue installed in 2017 on Wall Street. Pigtails frozen mid-swing and hands on hips, she stared defiantly up at the infamous Charging Bull statue, her plucky idealism juxtaposed against masculinist corporate power.
Yet the very ‘fearlessness’ that young women are applauded for is a misnomer. We do not place ourselves on the frontlines of our world’s most pressing crises because we are unafraid. Quite the opposite: we fight for a better world because we are forced to. Because the alternative is terrifying.
We are all too aware of a burgeoning polycrisis in Canada given the looming climate catastrophe, deepening political polarization, worsening gender-based violence, and an affordability crisis. On International Women’s Day and with the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) around the corner, the urgency of gender justice and the importance of youth voices to this work cannot be overstated.
As four young advocates attending the CSW this month with Young Diplomats of Canada, we spend our evenings and weekends preparing to represent Canadian youth at the largest international forum for gender equality. We do this work not because we are wide-eyed, but because we understand exactly what is at stake in multiple converging crises. Our commitment to gender equity advocacy as young people is not naïve or idealistic - it is a reasonable and necessary response to the disproportionately desperate conditions we are forced to bear within this nexus of uncertainty.
We are afraid for our safety and bodily autonomy. With femicide on the rise in Canada and nearly half of all Canadian women experiencing intimate partner violence during their lifetime, municipalities and organizations across the country have recently declared gender-based violence an epidemic.
We are afraid for Indigenous communities still facing boil water advisories and addressing the intergenerational trauma of colonialism. Gender-marginalized Indigenous people continue to face staggering violence; as many as 4,000 Indigenous women and girls have gone missing in the last 30 years, and Indigenous women are still six times more likely to be murdered than non-Indigenous women.
We are afraid for people fleeing their homes on fire or under fire: more land went up in flames in Canada than ever before this past year, and conflict across the world is on the rise. Women and girls experience heightened harm in the face of climate change and armed conflict, and continue to be underrepresented in both peace negotiations and crisis management.
Canadian youth do not have the luxury of blithe fearlessness. 76% of young people in Canada find the future frightening, and nearly half believe humanity is doomed. We have already forfeited our innocence: the systems we were raised to put our faith in are failing us, and we have inherited a world brimming with existential threats.
It is not by accident that nearly two-thirds of young women in Canada engage in activism, and over half intend to pursue or are already in a career dedicated to addressing social issues. We do so because we must speak out to secure our survival.
This International Women’s Day, we ask you to help us advance gender justice in Canada. Gender justice is an increasingly urgent priority in our country, and the onus of this work cannot be on young advocates alone. Do not figure us through a fantasy of fearlessness that absolves you of action - instead, we ask you to work hand-in-hand with us to build a more equitable world.
Champion the voices of young people: start from a place of listening and amplify our recommendations to decision-makers. Carve out space for young people’s voices, particularly marginalized voices, in your sphere of influence: recruit young leaders to your boards of directors or seek out youth feedback to inform the direction of your projects. Cultivate support for the work young advocates are already doing: financial resources, mentorship, and access to professional networks are powerful assets for youth.
And do not mistake our determination for fearlessness: ultimately, we are driven to act by our horror at the sight of the dystopia we are spinning toward. Young women in Canada are working to build a more livable world because we are struggling under the weight of systemic oppression. We fight for a better future because we must. Stand with us in that fight.