Women, trans, and gender-nonconforming people who use drugs and are engaged in illicit drug economies have largely been left out of broader feminist movements, despite the fact that the impacts of the drug war, including gender-based violence, incarceration, and economic injustice, are issues often central to feminist movements.
New movements led by women who use drugs, prison abolitionists, women coca farmers, women opium growers, and others are seeking to bring down the walls separating drug policy reform and feminist movements, proving that building solidarity between these movements ultimately strengthens them both.
This event, held in collaboration with the Association for Women’s Rights in Development, explores why drug policies centered on the experiences of women and gender diverse people are important to imagining and creating feminist realities.
In this discussion, we will bring together three contributing authors of the edited collection The Impact of Global Drug Policy on Women: Shifting the Needle to look at how women, trans, and gender-diverse people are actively resisting the war on drugs, and are imagining and creating feminist drug policies and practices centered in care, justice, and autonomy.
Speakers
Judy Chang
Speaker
Judy Chang is the executive director of the International People who use Drugs (INPUD). She has direct lived experience of drug use and has been a feminist for 20 years and strongly believes in building intersectional linkages between drug user and women’s rights movements.
Fenya Fischler
Speaker
Fenya Fischler is a co-creating feminist realities coordinator for the Association for Women’s Rights in Development.
Giavana Margo
Moderator
Giavana Margo is a portfolio analyst with the Open Society Global Drug Policy Program and co-editor of the book The Impact of Global Drug Policy on Women: Shifting the Needle.
Marcela Muñoz Quesada
Speaker
Marcela Muñoz Quesada is a licensed professional in Natural Sciences and Environmental Education and holds a master’s degree in comprehensive watershed management; she is a peace builder who provides professional support to peasant organizations in Colombia and currently works as an advisor to a congressman in the House of Representatives of Colombia.
Imani Robinson
Speaker
Imani Robinson is an interdisciplinary writer and artist committed to political education and abolitionist organizing; they are the communications strategist at Release and the editor of TalkingDrugs.org, a multilingual platform for news and analysis on drug use, policy, harm reduction and related issues across the world.