Our Vision
WOMEN’S WAY is working toward a Philadelphia region and beyond, where caring and mutual support guide the decisions that affect people’s lives, and where everyone – especially those historically impacted by gender inequities – has security, dignity, freedom, and joy.
Our Mission
WOMEN’S WAY achieves gender equity by building collective power to disrupt oppressive systems and strengthen alternative models centered in love, dignity, and liberation.
Values Statement
WOMEN’S WAY is committed to equity, power-building, self-determination, and liberation for all who are impacted by systems of gender, racial, and class oppression.
Our analysis is intersectional. Women and other gender-oppressed people bring their intersecting identities to their daily experience of being whole people. We believe that gender liberation can only be achieved in conjunction with race and class liberation. For these reasons, we are committed to:
Centering those most harmed by racialized patriarchy, including everyone on the margins of the definitions of womanhood and whiteness;
Dismantling white supremacy in our minds, programs, policies, practices, and culture and in the communities we are part of;
Ongoing learning at the individual and organizational level to expand awareness of the systemic causes of existing inequities at the individual and organizational level;
Relationship building to build mutual trust, create bridges of empathy that transcend racial, gender, class, and political divisions, foster collective learning, and inspire collective action;
Collective power-building by facilitating collective learning and investing in movement-building. We strengthen collective action – as the way to shift power and resources for the good of the whole, rather than for the benefit of the few; and
Building common cause with groups that center collective liberation around gender, race, class, and other sites of injustice.
Definitions
click to expandEquity
Equity is both a process and an outcome. As a process, it addresses the gaps in wealth, resources, support, and care intentionally created by those in power to benefit themselves and limit others from achieving an equal quality of life. As an outcome, it ensures that no physical, social, or political characteristic hinders one's access to joy, dignity, care, and support. As an institution, this work requires accountability: leveraging its power and resources towards repairing harm for the generational impact of inequity through dismantling of extractive and exclusionary practices and ensuring the participation of those marginalized by the system in the co-creation of new, equitable frameworks. Source: The Equity Mindset by Ifeomasinachi Ike
Liberation
Liberation is social, cultural, economic, and political freedom and emancipation to have agency, control, and power over one’s life. To live freely, unaffected, and unharmed by conditions of oppression is to experience liberation. Liberation is also freedom from limits on thought or behavior. We become liberated as we reflect on the world and recognize that we have the power to take action and transform it. Source: Design Social Change: Take Action, Work Toward Equity, and Challenge the Status Quo by Lesley-Ann Noel
Power Building
Power-building helps us to impact the political, environmental, social, and economic decisions that affect our lives. By working together and combining our skills and resources, we can better fight injustices and create lasting change. This is an important tool for people most impacted by a problem because it helps us to challenge power structures, claim our rights, and gain more control. Here's an example: A group of community members comes together to fight for affordable housing. They organize meetings, share stories to raise awareness, and work with leaders to push for more affordable housing. By combining their resources, skills, and voices, these community members gain more strength to influence decisions and create change.
Racialized Patriarchy
Racialized patriarchy is a system where race and gender hierarchies work together to keep certain groups in power over others. It shows that oppression isn’t just about the impact of one identity alone, but how multiple identities combine to impact a person's ability to live with freedom and dignity. In the case of racialized patriarchy, we are focusing on how the combination of gender and race affects people in complex ways. We use this approach to seek justice for everyone affected. Here’s an example: While white women often earn less than white men for the same work, the gap is even larger for women of color. For example, Black and Latina women are paid significantly less than both white men and white women. This reflects how race and gender combine to create deeper inequities, limiting opportunities and economic power for women of color.
Self - Determination
Self-determination is the right or ability to make your own decisions and govern yourself without outside control. It’s based on the ideas of freedom, independence, and the dignity of making your own choice. Self-determination can apply to individuals, communities, or nations. Here’s an example: When people fight for the right to make decisions about their own bodies, such as advocating for access to abortion or gender-affirming care, they are fighting for the right to self-determination.
White Supremacy
White supremacy is a pseudo-scientific concept (a concept that claims to be based on science but is not) to create whiteness and a hierarchy of people based on race. It is used to protect and hoard power, disconnect and divide people, and justify dehumanization. This is the same concept that has been used to justify slavery, imperialism, colonialism, and genocide throughout history. It has three main parts: 1) Political: The exclusion of non-whites from voting rights, land ownership, labor protection, full participation in public institutions and services, political representation, and the protection of the courts (Scot Nakagawa). 2) Cultural: The idea of "whiteness" is seen as the standard or "normal" way of being, and that white people are considered superior to people of other races. It's a belief that values white culture, traits, and behaviors above all others. 3) Social: Whiteness as a socially significant structure that mitigates life chances in American society (Teresa J. Guess)-- meaning, white people have better opportunities and outcomes in various aspects of life compared to people of color such as health outcomes or wealth building.
For the past 47 years
WOMEN’S WAY has inspired, mobilized, and united organizations and individuals across generations to build collective power for gender equity.
