What is the Feminist Collective’s focus for 2025?

Our main activity is to advocate for intersectional feminism at the Institute. The broad motto underlying our approach is to contribute — at our scale — to make the Institute a safer space for everyone, a space for dialogue and trust, where everyone feels comfortable. This takes different forms: panel discussions, talks, film screenings, poster campaigns… Thanks to our non-hierarchical structure, members can easily propose topics and project ideas, resulting in a wide range of activities and discussions. We all have different experiences and areas of interests, and our work reflects this! 

We aim to foster a sense of community through non-academic events, such as the feminist party held in February. These moments provide not only opportunities for connection, but also a way to support local feminist initiatives. The proceeds from the event were donated to the foundation Au Cœur des Grottes, which supports women affected by domestic violence and abuse.

One important aspect we have prioritised since January 2025 and will continue to pursue is to strengthen our link with other student initiatives and merge our expertise on different topics close to our hearts. To take recent examples, we co-organised the panel on Latin American feminisms at the Latin American Network Initiative (LANI) Congress, and opened a discussion to encourage more women to run for GISA positions with the Afrique Students’ Association (ASA). There are also some amazing events coming up: one on “How the feminist-queer struggles expose the architecture of crisis”, which will be held with the Queer International Student Assembly (QISA) on the 12th of May, and a Menstrual Products campaign to be organised hand in hand with the Global Health Initiative, the Environmental Committee and the Welfare Committee, also in May. 

Another goal we have for the upcoming year is to deepen collaboration with the Institute’s administration. Ongoing exchanges are taking place with the Well-Being Center, particularly around key moments such as Sexual Harassment Awareness Day end of April. Additionally, work is currently underway with various divisions and experts to review and improve the existing misconduct management system, as outlined below.

As part of these goals, the Feminist Collective is revising the misconduct management system along with the Direction. What is a misconduct management system and how is it important to students from a feminist perspective? 

The misconduct management system is put in place in case there is a violation of the Code of Conduct, such as harassment or discrimination. The Institute has implemented this system for members of the Institute, especially students, which allows them to report a violation either via an internal or an external process. 

 This is a major way to ensure accountability, promote safety and equity, as well as challenging systemic power imbalances. Therefore, it must be tailored at best to reflect students’ needs and concerns.

We’ve been invited to collaborate on its improvement. A working group has been established to identify existing gaps, and a survey will be launched in early May to gather students’ perceptions and feedback.

With Sexual Harassment Awareness Day coming up on April 29th, we’ve also updated our Linktree resource list to better help students that need specific support. It now includes the names and contact information of various specialised organisations offering assistance related to sexual and medical violence, legal aid, and psychological support.

In collaboration with the Gender Centre, the Feminist Collective recently organised an event “Feminist Rage in Social Movements: Reclaiming Emotions, Reclaiming Agency” on 24 March. Could you tell us about the event and its takeaway? 

This project was born from the desire to bring the topic of feminist rage — and, more broadly, the role of emotions — into an academic setting. To do so, we invited four speakers (Dorra Sayari, Coralie Robadey, Tilda Nkomo and Inés Leon Gimenez) to share their perspectives on anger and rage, and how these emotions can be acknowledged, understood, and transformed into collective action. 

This event stands out as one of our proudest accomplishments this semester. It created a space rich with meaningful conversations and brought together students who share similar feelings and experiences. We’re deeply grateful to the Gender Center for their invaluable support — this would not have been possible without them. 

We are currently planning a feminist rage congress, where we hope to delve deeper in this topic and its various underlying questions. If you wonder what is the role of emotions — especially rage — in social movements and struggles for change, or how this rage can become a tool for empowerment and mobilisation rather than a force to suppress, we would encourage you to follow our communications ! 

The Feminist Collective organised a workshop to teach feminist self-defence on 28 March, which was a first at the Institute —  Can you tell us about it? 

This workshop was led by Viol Secours, a Geneva-based NGO that offers a range of services including psycho-social support, art therapy, and discussion groups (for more details, visit their website). They are particularly renowned for their feminist self-defense workshops, which teach both physical and mental self-defense techniques. These workshops aim to build confidence, self-esteem, and self-respect — “fundamental to maintaining and developing one's autonomy, and play an essential role both in the prevention of gender-based and sexual violence, and in the resilience of victims of such violence”.

In this particular case, we condensed their typical 1- to 2-day workshop into a 4-hour session focused on verbal self-defense. Participants engaged in exercises that helped them identify boundaries, respond to verbal aggression, and assert themselves with clarity and confidence. Despite the shorter format, the session fostered a sense of trust and solidarity, demonstrating that self-defense extends beyond physical action to include powerful verbal and psychological skills. This afternoon was filled with empowerment, active participation, and meaningful exchange.

Learn More about the Feminist Collective