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The Global Women's Institute

 

WEAVE: Women Engaged Against Violence Everywhere

Three people in a room of sewing machines and different fabrics and patterns

The Women Engaged Against Violence Everywhere (WEAVE) Collective documents the rich histories of women’s and feminist movements and their work to end violence. 

 

The WEAVE Collective was forged in 2021 out of a shared commitment to uplift the vital role of women’s and feminist movements in addressing violence against women and girls. 

Drawing on feminist and Indigenist research methods, researchers and activists from Australia, India, Nicaragua and South Africa are studying how feminist movements contribute to ending violence against women and girls through their participation in political campaigns, landmark court cases and other social movements. 

They are documenting historical trends, political milestones and hard-won achievements at the local, national and global levels. They do so using the art of weaving as a metaphor for understanding the actions of women’s and feminist movements.

Women’s and feminist movements are, by their very nature, creative. Stories of their resistance and progress have always been represented through art and craft — for example, through paintings, songs, dances, quilts and woven fabrics. 

Our research underscores the significance of both the consistent and evolving elements of women’s and feminist resistance and struggles — just like the vertical warp threads that are held taut on the loom and the horizontal weft threads that are woven over and under. 

Our research shows that there are several consistent characteristics (or warp threads) that define women’s and feminist movements across space and time: 

  • Contending with multiple forms of violence, ranging from physical and intimate partner violence to political and cyber violence
  • Bearing the responsibility of the triple burden of oppression:
    • They advocate for policy change and justice for survivors.
    • They also serve as frontline responders by providing services to survivors in lieu of the government.
    • At the same time, they must fight for their own survival.
  • Collective care work is vital to their survival: In all of the countries where WEAVE research has been conducted, women’s and feminist movements foregrounded the critical importance and value of self and collective care. Not only is it important to their own survival, but care is also how they have nurtured and protected their movements both in the past and today. 


WEAVE remains committed to documenting the ways that women’s and feminist movements contribute to the struggle to end violence against women and girls. Make sure to visit the WEAVE website for news about upcoming events and new research. The Global Women’s Institute holds the secretariat of the WEAVE Collective. 

 

Publications From WEAVE

 

WEAVE country reports

WEAVE country reports: A set of four reports documenting the history of women’s and feminist movements in Australia, India, Nicaragua and South Africa and these movements’ role in anti-violence movements and campaigns 

Want more on responding to violence against women and girls?

  • Learn how to partner with refugee women and girls to mitigate the risk of and prevent sexual exploitation and abuse in humanitarian aid delivery through our Empowered Aid program.
  • Understand proxy indicators for assessing women’s risk of gender-based violence when receiving cash assistance in humanitarian settings like Iraq and Colombia.
  • Check out barriers and new approaches that support survivors’ access to response services in humanitarian contexts, through our Putting Survivors at the Center project.
  • Read about the intersection of gender-based violence and mental health and psychosocial support (MHPSS) for survivors through our work with Trōcaire.

 

Check out all of our research on our Explore page.

 

The best way to stay up-to-date on our research, events, and insights is by subscribing to our newsletter.