Description
Whether juggling everyday life tasks as a single parent or caring for relatives while on unemployment benefits, whether working to the bone in a hospital or helping to heal the wounds everyday racism inflicts within our communities — much like the violence that is done to our bodies and relationships — we all know: the world does not run on its own. We keep it running. And that is precisely why we are devalued. We are individualized and often even pitted against one another.
However varied our struggles may be, we are all faced with some common questions: who keeps the world going — and under what conditions? Who receives support and who doesn’t? Who has access to and control over whose labour, body, and time?
- Telegram-Kanal for Updates
- Code of Conduct
- Accessibility
- Awareness Concept
The hierarchical division of productive and reproductive labour is central to the devaluing of care work and is a load-bearing pillar of capitalism: by encoding care work as “feminine” and relegating it to the private sphere, labour costs are reduced and profits secured. Our labour is exploited in multiple ways, while vitally important common goods are privatized. This is not just about the economy. The binary gendered division of labour also reinforces violent patriarchal, cis-normative, and heteronormative gender relations. This affects FLINTA* people particularly harshly.
Our bodies are sexualized and subjected to racist and binary norms. In the crisis of capitalism, right-wing authoritarians the world over are declaring that there are only two genders, attacking reproductive rights, and attempting to reimpose traditional gender roles. The closing of borders and the relentless persecution of immigrants demonstrates just how far dehumanization has progressed, and that some lives are valued less than others. At the same time, cheap immigrant labour is recruited in attempts to stave off the healthcare crisis.
We know that liberation for all will only be possible if we act together to tackle the various intertwining forms domination takes.
Feminist socialization means challenging this global, gendered, and racist division of labour — and with it the devaluing and oppression of the very people whose labour makes life possible in the first place. We want collective care rather than the burden of care being forced upon the family, public infrastructure rather than neoliberal austerity, and solidarity rather than right-wing divisiveness.
How this might be achieved is what we plan to discuss together at the second Feminist Futures conference:
We are inviting groups and initiatives engaged in struggles around the politics of care work, against patriarchal and sexualised violence and femicide, or for queer and trans liberation, reproductive justice, and diverse ways of life. Come and join us in discussing anti-racist and internationalist perspectives in struggles for freedom of movement and abolition, against war and militarization, and for climate justice.
How can we better link up our various struggles? And what strategies does a queer-feminist and anti-racist movement need in times of rising authoritarianism? Let’s share our experiences, forge alliances, and take concrete steps toward a caring, solidary society.
The conference is free of charge and open to all genders.
The conference language is German spoken language. However, there will be translations: there will be a room with continuous German/English translation, a room with German/Spanish translation, and a room where everything takes place in English — all in spoken language.
There will be continuous childcare available for children ages 2 and up. If you'd like to bring children, please indicate this when registering. If you didn't indicate this during registration, please write to us.
We want everyone at the conference to feel welcome and comfortable — that's why there is a code of conduct, your commitment to a positive environment for everyone. We treat each other with respect and mindfulness, discuss constructively rather than confrontationally, and do not tolerate discrimination — whether sexism, racism, antisemitism, ableism, queerphobia or transphobia, or any other form.
On Saturday there will be free meals, for which we ask for a voluntary contribution.
There is a Telegram info channel where we share new information and materials about the conference. Feel free to join so you don't miss anything important before and during the conference! https://t.me/+B6gDzX5VBVcyMWVi
As a participant, you are responsible for arranging your own travel and accommodation.
Subway from Bochum Hbf: Line U35 (direction Hustadt) to the Ruhr-Universität stop.
If you register via the registration button, you will not receive a confirmation email. You are still registered.
If it turns out in the coming weeks that you are unable to attend after all, please let us know by canceling via the email address below!! Otherwise, we may have to close registration at some point even though not all spots have been filled.
There is now an updated program that also includes the speakers. It can be found — also in English and Spanish — as a PDF in the top right corner.
In cooperation with the Marie Jahoda Center for International Gender Studies.
Please address any questions to feministfutures@rosalux.org.
Conference updates as well as materials on the topic of “feminist socialization” will be shared on our Telegram channel, which you can join via the following QR code:

Location
Accessibility information
Contact
Dr. Barbara Fried
Referentin für klassenpolitischen Feminismus und sozialistische Transformation; Redakteurin der FLINTA*-Redaktion der Zeitschrift LuXemburg, Rosa-Luxemburg-Stiftung
Email: barbara.fried@rosalux.org
Phone: +49 30 44310404