Feminist Leadership for Women in CSOs

The survey closed on Monday 15 May 2023. 

Are you a woman in a leadership position in civil society? We want to know your opinion on feminist leadership and your experience as a manager!

Through this survey, we were seeking to shine a light on what is happening for Women CSO leaders in Europe as working culture and systems are shifting in the wake of COVID; in light of multiple systemic crises as well as the impact of #MeToo, #BLM and climate movements.

Why this survey ? 

The past decade has seen a growth in the number of women taking up leadership roles in Civil Society Organisations at all levels, seeking to bring systemic change approaches to their work. We have also seen how difficult it still is for women to flourish, even in our allegedly progressive organisations where patriarchal and long-hours cultures prevail. Women leaders seeking to bring much needed transformative and feminist leadership styles are facing challenges within their organisations as well as within wider society, which came into sharper focus during COVID. 

We were seeking your concrete ideas for how employers and donors can invest in improving the situation for diverse women in leadership roles in civil society. By contributing a little of your time to this survey, you were helping to deepen our collective understanding of how organisations and donors can invest in transforming outdated systems and workplace dynamics to bring about a much-needed seismic shift culture of work.

Your responses and contributions, which were entirely confidential and anonymised, will also bring recommendations for the NGOs as employers as well as for their donors and supporters within the EU institutions, Member States and philanthropic arena. 

Who is this survey for?

This survey was aimed at women in leadership positions working in civil society, in Europe and beyond.

Who are we? 

Four progressive European foundations joined forces on this project: FEPS, Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung, Green European Foundation and Heinrich Böll Stiftung. The feminist leadership expert Joanna Maycook and systemic change specialist Céline Charveriat will be working together to conduct the research. 

In addition to the survey, we will also be carrying out structured interviews and focus groups.

Until when can you take part? 

The survey closed on Monday 15 May 2023. 

Thank you to all the women who took the time to participate in this survey!