FAQ: What is WoLF’s theory of change?
This is the first in an on-going series of posts answering in detail common questions WoLF receives. Read them all here.
Women’s Liberation Front (WoLF) is a nonprofit organization based in the United States. We work to protect, advance, and restore the rights of women and girls by focusing on the issues that almost no other feminist organization will tackle. We are a radical feminist organization comprised entirely of women (adult, human females) and our work is largely focused on addressing the ways that gender is used as a tool to oppress women under patriarchy.
We are gender abolitionists. We seek an end to male violence, including the violence of the sex industry. We assert women’s right to reproductive autonomy. We acknowledge that overlapping systems of injustice built on misogyny, racism, and wealth inequality must all be dismantled for all women to be free. But how will all of this be accomplished?
Choosing a tactic and focus
In any movement for liberation, there are multiple (sometimes diverging) tactics used to overcome oppression. The women’s liberation movement is no different. Our movement is global, transcending all classes, races, and ages of women—so it’s no surprise that there are advocates for a variety of tactics within it. Whether it’s non-violent direct action, boycotts, public education campaigns, lawsuits, or political lobbying, we believe that there is room for a range of strategies in the women’s movement. In fact, a diverse variety of tactics will ultimately be necessary to confront the patriarchy on all fronts. That being said, each organization brings its own special area of expertise and interest to the movement, and every organization can not meaningfully represent every tactic.
WoLF focuses our efforts primarily toward policies that affect women and girls in the US which are ignored by mainstream feminist organizations.
The rights of women and girls are under attack in the United States from all sides. From the right, the patriarchy has overturned Roe v. Wade. On the left, the patriarchy is using the notion of “gender identity” to eliminate protections for women and girls at nearly every level of public life. (If you’re not familiar with the harms caused by “gender identity” policies, we recommend starting with these examples). These same organizations are also advocating for the sex industry, ignoring the harms of surrogacy, and threatening women’s freedom of speech.
All of these are major threats to women’s rights. All will have dire consequences on the safety, and even lives, of women and girls across the nation. However, this is one major difference between attacks from the right and left: there are many feminist organizations working to protect abortion access. Yet despite the rising tide of grassroots resistance, there are currently few, if any, other feminist 501(c)(3) nonprofit organizations in the US working to counteract the harms of gender identity ideology, the sex trade, and surrogacy at a national level.
“There is a need for a feminist counter-narrative on the issues of gender identity and the sexual exploitation of women through pornography, prostitution, and surrogacy.”
The threat posed by gender identity policies is both incredibly consequential and utterly neglected by the largest feminist organizations in the United States. In fact, many of them are actively work against women’s interests in this area, pushing harmful “gender identity” polices that give men essentially unlimited access to women’s spaces, eliminate sex-based protections in education, and write women out of the law entirely. Many liberal feminist organizations are also promoting the sex industry, advocating for the legalization of pimping, ignoring the harms of surrogacy, and advancing policies that will harm women to cater to men. While we unequivocally support the efforts of these organizations to advance women’s reproductive rights, there is a need for a feminist counter-narrative on the issues of gender identity and the sexual exploitation of women through pornography, prostitution, and surrogacy.
WoLF has determined our area of focus by identifying this gap in women’s policy advocacy. We have put together a team of legal, policy, and communications professionals and other dedicated volunteers who are working tirelessly to stop the advancement of regressive gender identity policies, sex trade decriminalization policies, and other legislation coming from the left that erodes women’s rights.
Creating policy change
WoLF is still a small organization compared to the giants we are up against. WoLF has always been run primarily by volunteers. Our total annual budget is less than one percent of the size of an organization like the Feminist Majority Foundation (based on most recent available financial statements). Yet, even with our relatively limited capacity, WoLF has been leading the feminist charge against gender identity policies in the United States by forming key legislative partnerships and identifying areas of opportunity.
Creating policy change means working with policymakers. While there is no organization in the United States with which we agree on every issue that matters to our mission, there are a variety of organizations that do align with us on particular issues, such as preventing gender identity policies from infringing on the rights of women and girls. While we may have come to the same conclusion on gender identity from different perspectives, the value gained from these strategic partnerships means that we are better able to serve the interests of women and girls.
WoLF was the only feminist organization in the nation to submit legal briefs to the U.S. Supreme Court calling for the preservation of sex-based civil rights laws and objecting to legal recognition of “transgender status” under such laws.
“Creating policy change means working with policymakers.”
Our members have testified before Congress against proposals to undermine women’s civil rights through bills that would enshrine “gender identity,” and met with top officials at three federal agencies to educate them on the value of sex-based civil rights for women and girls.
WoLF testified in support of the Vulnerable Child Protection Act, introduced in the South Dakota legislature by Rep. Fred Deutsch, to prevent medical harm to children who’ve diagnosed themselves with gender identity issues. We also worked with legislators in several other states on bills requiring adherence to sex-based policy standards in government documentation and Title IX civil rights compliance.
In 2020, we successfully petitioned the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to propose regulatory modifications to restore the right of emergency shelter providers to maintain women’s shelters, with eligibility determined by sex rather than claims of transgender status or other gender-related identity.
We have also released groundbreaking polling data on both state and national levels exposing the lack of public support for “gender identity” policies, such as allowing men and boys to identify into female-only sports and sterilizing dysphoric children.
WoLF is the only feminist nonprofit providing a counter-narrative to gender ideology and the sex trade at every level of government in the United States. This is thanks to our willingness to develop strategic partnerships with people and groups with whom we may only have one issue in common.
Looking forward
Heading into a Democratic administration, Joe Biden has promised to pass legislation and executive orders that will eliminate women’s single-sex spaces, educational opportunities (including sports), and the ability to even define ourselves as a meaningful class. Some progressive and feminist organizations have tried to legalize the sex industry, which would unequivocally harm women. Now, more than ever, women and girls need advocates on the front-lines ready to fight these policies.
WoLF will continue to join forces with key partners on any side of the aisle who are able to help us strategically advance our issue areas as well as grow our membership base of women who are bravely opposing gender ideology.
We hope that our feminist sisters will join us in this fight by becoming a member of WoLF or donating to support our work. But, perhaps more importantly, we hope that our feminist sisters will acknowledge the power in a diversity of tactics, and the need for strategic policy advocacy to protect and advance the rights of women and girls in the United States against the threat posed by “gender identity” policies.