by Lavonne Leong and Anisah Abdullah
The Hesitant Feminist’s Guide to the Future was written for futurists and the futures-curious who believe that all genders should be considered equal, and yet weren’t sure whether they were allowed to call themselves or their practice ‘feminist’, or what price they might pay for doing so. We have all taken different paths to arrive at this symposium’s doorstep. Many of us are , or have been at one time, hesitant feminists. One of us, raised by a feminist mother, has been a feminist since before she left grade school–and sometimes still doesn’t mention it first in mixed company, in order not to be misconstrued. To be feminist is often to say the quiet part out loud, by definition to transgress on limitations that ought not to exist, in the service of a fairer and more inclusive world. By contrast, the other grew up deeply socialised into patriarchal ways of living, which shaped her imagined future—one defined by the well-trodden paths of being a ‘good daughter’ and a ‘good wife.’ It wasn’t until well into her late thirties that she recognised how these expectations had constrained her sense of self. She has since come to realise that stepping away from the familiar is often necessary to truly find oneself.
By engaging with feminist movements and conversations, we find the courage to reshape how we work and live. Drawing on Riane Eisler’s work in reimagining society through the ‘partnership system,’ we envision a world where caring is economically valued, egalitarian and equitable adult relations are the norm, and parenting is authoritative rather than authoritarian. This system nurtures fluid and empathetic gender roles, fosters narratives that normalise mutual care and nonviolence, and reduces fear, abuse, and violence by rejecting top-down domination in favour of respect for diversity and human rights (Eisler & Fry, 2019).
The mountains moving day is coming
I say so, yet others doubt,
Only a while the mountain sleeps.
In the past
All mountains moved in fire,
Yet you may not believe it.
Oh man, this alone believe,
All sleeping women now will awake and move.
– by Yosano Akiko quoted in Bart (1974, p.43)
When we sent out a call for papers for the Hesitant Feminist’s Guide to the Future, we weren’t sure what to expect. We ended up receiving so many pieces of quality and substance that we filled an entire print issue and knew there was more that needed to be said. In an unprecedented expansion, the symposium has overflowed into the journal’s Perspectives section. It is clear that many of us feel the causes of feminism—equity, partnership, peaceful resolution, diversity, worth regardless of power—are both urgent and important. Perhaps now more so than ever.
The Perspectives authors offer a rich and diverse exploration of feminist futures. Esmee Wilcox asks whether public-policymaking still needs feminism, and how might it embody a future beyond epistemological violence. Young author Joelle Roth wonders whether, if time is power, why women have so little of it–before offering a young feminist’s vision of change. Christopher Jones reflects on his engagement with “sisterhood futures,” highlighting the historical shift from male dominance to rising women’s power and emphasizing feminism as a force for creating alternative futures. Sanna Ketonen-Oksi and Tiina Wikström advocate for “rebellious girls,” envisioning feminism as “Mother Earth” and calling for multisensory spaces to challenge Eurocentrism and exclusion. Zorana Antonijević questions how feminist futures can emerge when societies remain trapped in the past, yet boldly offers a vision for 2054 despite the persistence of anti-feminist politics. Steven Lichty introduces Quantum Feminist Futures, integrating concepts of complexity, uncertainty, and intersectionality to address issues of identity, inclusion, and environmental transformation. Elaine France applies Causal Layered Analysis to women’s entrepreneurship, framing it as a “heroine’s quest” for empowerment. Gillian Young explores feminist international relations, linking systemic violence to collaborative policymaking. Finally, Susana Hernandez-Toro, Rike Neuhoff, and Kirsten Laugesen Van Dam engage in intergenerational dialogue on motherhood, questioning how it can be redefined as a source of empowerment rather than a constraint of outdated gender roles.
Together, these authors reaffirm feminism’s enduring relevance in shaping just and inclusive futures. They investigate, along with many other discourses that speak urgently from the margins of today’s accelerating world, what are perhaps the most vital questions of our time. What is the place of peace in a world of seemingly continual conflict? Can a model of society based on partnership rather than hierarchy thrive in such a world? What could alternatives to “might makes right,” or “moving fast and breaking things,” look like? What might it look like to base a society on love, rather than fear? Or to assume that all humans are of equal worth, or that all beings are connected?
The temporal locus for these visions, of course, is in the future—they carry echoes of the past, but our hope is that they will blossom in the years and decades to come, and that the seeds of these values and new systems can be found everywhere in the present, waiting for the right conditions to flourish.
References
Bart, P. B. (1974). Why women see the future differently from men. In A. Toffler (Ed.), Learning for tomorrow: The role of the future in education (pp. 33–55). Random House.
Eisler, R., & Fry, D. P. (2019). Nurturing our humanity: How domination and partnership shape our brains, lives, and future. Oxford University Press.
