And this patriarchal oppression is directly linked “with other systemic oppressions, like racism, neocolonialism, the economic model, capitalism”, said Celia Alldridge, of the Membership Develop Team of FOEI´s International Secretariat, during an interview for Real World Radio in Accra. “We really understood coming together that it’s together that we need to think about how to face these challenges and how to really go about dismantling patriarchy, both within our societies, but also within our own organizations”, added Celia.

The feminist and environmental activist shared these statements at the end of the meeting, during an interview for Real Wokd Radio with Rita Uwaka, of Environmental Rights Action– Friends of the Earth Nigeria (ERA), and Fiona Ranford, from Friends of the Earth England, Wales and Northern Ireland (EWNI).

The goal of the Accra meeting, which was held for three days, was to conceptualize and plan future work to be carried by FoEI around gender justice and the dismantling of patriarchy.
During the interview Rita said: “we feel that if we need to dismantle patriarchy in Africa it has to be holistic, collective, and it will require everyone playing a role, as a man and as a woman”.

Meanwhile, Fiona highlighted that in the European context “the environmental movement is really doing a good job around gender justice, because women are at the grassroots level really taking the lead in environmental struggles, which is incredible”. Nevertheless, she ensured that “women are burning out and feeling really exhausted in our grassroots movements and also within our organizations”. “So one of the things we need to really investigate is how do we create sustainable organizations for women, where they are able to rest and take time out”. The representative of EWNI believes in the need to divide labor in a fair way.