Effective Collaboration Among Women Post-Conference Musings

It appears that collaboration among women matters more today because the world is more connected, more complex, and more demanding—and because women have more opportunities and more to protect than ever before. By working together, we amplify influence, accelerate progress, and ensure that no one must navigate modern challenges alone. But are we effective? Or are we caught in historic battles?

In preparing for my presentation at the 7th BPW Mediterranean Symposium, The Balance of Power: Gender, Economy, Leadership, which was held in Chile this year, I wanted to see how European women compared to women in the US in terms of effective feminism and activities. I was surprised to discover that while we are strong activists, our effectiveness is undermined by a weaker collaborative infrastructure. Our powerful grassroots movements, cultural influence (supported by academic and youth activism), and diversity of voices shaping the conversation are offset through weak structural and government support, unusually high political polarization, low social safety nets, and, of course fragmentation across the states.

What is it we are missing? And where can NFBPWC be more effective in making change happen? Countries with strong feminist collaboration often benefit from universal healthcare, subsidized childcare, strong worker protection, and paid parental leave – we lack these foundations in the US. As this varies across states, we experience inconsistent legal protections, resource gaps, and regional activist silos. It does not make things easier that we are so polarized on gender topics, which has a major impact on workplace equity. Our federal approach means there is no systematic gender-based policy analysis, no consistent funding for feminist NGOs, and no single robust federal gender-equality office.

On the upside, we have a long history of strong independent feminist movements, including intersectional movements, thanks to grassroots and digital organizing. And we have a major cultural influence through which U.S. feminism shapes the narrative to amplify core points internationally. Women’s groups in the US provide strong support for entrepreneurial women and women in leadership, which is highly effective overseas.

The countries most widely recognized for strong, collaborative, feminist support across policy, activism, and culture areArgentina, Australia, Canada, Chile, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Iceland, New Zealand, Norway, Rwanda, South Africa, Spain, and Sweden. The EU and Latin America are even recognized for strong cross-border feminist collaboration!

To be fair – feminist ideals are changing. They have become more intersectional yet personal, more holistic, and digitally mediated, they are less label-driven and more emotionally and socially oriented, they are more flexible about femininity and lifestyle choices. So, it is not so much a single definition, but multiple, lived options.

Empowerment is also defined more broadly. Where it used to mean climbing corporate ladders, breaking glass ceilings, and being independent at all costs, now it can mean boundaries, choosing family, rejecting burnout, and getting rest, as well as having financial autonomy.

It was interesting to hear the conversation on numbers of women in government. While one side pushed for equality in terms of numbers of men and women, the others pressed for equity – with far more than gender at stake. They looked at race, class, body size, disability, sexual orientation, gender identity, and neurodiversity. When some women mentioned the patriarchy, others talked about systemic bias, power structures, capitalism, safety, and wellness. It seems as if the focus is shifting to lived experience from legal equality.

We also pondered why women seem to stand in the way of their own success. Or do they? After all, we navigate social conditioning, structural barriers, unequal expectations, backlash, lack of effective networks, and biased evaluation systems. Is “self-sabotage” really self-protection?

These discussions were critical for me, as I mentor younger women and help them navigate choices that are vastly different in some ways than those available to me at their age, but also include fears that I never had to face.

If the EU and Latin America can create regional support systems, maybe we need to consider investing in our North American and Caribbean region to collaborate and truly achieve a level of meaningful change in our region.

Nermin K. Ahmad
Secretary