Statement From Native Women Lead & New Mexico Community Capital
Native Women Lead (NWL) and New Mexico Community Capital (NMCC) were recently called in for the use of the term “womxn” in our proposal for the Equality Can’t Wait Challenge. Usage of this word was done with the intention to include our trans relatives and simultaneously stand against current and historical patriarchal systems of oppression that women face. While our intention was one of inclusion, we now understand that our organizations unknowingly utilized language that has been weaponized in distinguishing trans women from cis-women.
In this learning, NWL and NMCC have taken some time to reflect internally and connect with the Transgender Resource Center of New Mexco for guidance, education, training and assistance as we develop our organizational policies and practices. We are dedicated to becoming better allies in the fight against all forms of hate, discrimination and oppression. Our goal is to ensure we maintain inclusivity of our LGBTQIA2S+ relatives in our commitment to increasing representation of trans, queer and gender non-conforming individuals in our work. In full transparency, we will share these plans with our community and networks in our goal to co-create a truly inclusive space for our Indigenous relatives' entrepreneurial and business journeys.
We will update this language moving forward and add disclaimer footnotes to social media posts. It is important to share that as we revert back to the usage of “women” we want to be clear that our definition of women is inclusive of all women identifying relatives which include cis-women, trans-women, non-binary, two spirit and gender fluid relatives.
We appreciate our community who have guided and supported us as we develop plans for our organizations to further live out our community agreements in co-creating an evermore inclusive space for Indigenous relatives striving to build businesses.
These Community Working agreements were always meant to be a living pledge of NWL’s work and approach:
Our organization is committed to the understanding of the inherent value of the women in our community. We believe we can learn from each other and it is this exchange which is critical to our movement.
Celebrate mistakes. Our work to revolutionize systems requires a dedication to experimentation and fearlessness. We will make mistakes and will learn and grow from them.
We are committed to radical transparency understanding as an organization that will work to heal each other and our communities in the decisions we make. We are committed to learning together in public and will share our reasons for decisions with our stakeholders and relatives.
We believe in thinking critically about our work and its impact on our Earth Mother and our peoples.
We come to the table of Native Women Lead as equals. Dedicated to striving for excellence and holding one another accountable as we co-create.
As we deconstruct the western systems of entrepreneurialism, we strive toward greater inclusion of our relatives who are Black-Indigenous/Afro-Indigenous, LGBTQIA2S+, veterans, possessing differing abilities, and coming from different backgrounds.
We believe that our work must be intentional and utilize anti-racist frameworks to ensure we keep moving forward with social and economic justice in mind for all.
