ABSTRACT
The rise of self-created spaces for young women and girls as leaders of social movements in the Pacific has, until now, had too little attention in social movement scholarship. In the Pacific region formal decision-making traditionally takes place between states or between elder men. Wider civil society actors often find they are excluded or ignored. This chapter explores the spaces for young women’s leadership participation in Pacific feminist civil society. It draws on the Pacific Feminist Charter for Change and over 30 interviews with participants and organisers of the Pacific Feminist Forum, participant observation of the Pacific Feminist Forum in 2016, and a young women’s focus group conducted in Fiji in 2016. I argue that informal spaces self-generated by social movements can offer innovative approaches including young women in leadership and decision-making. I look at barriers to young women’s leadership in social movements, and at how a young women-inclusive social movement might be created. This chapter offers lessons from an innovative space for diverse young Pacific women leading.
