The Professionalisation of Activism – the impact

of regulation on feminist organisations

Linda Rodgers, Member ServicesScottish Women’s Aid

Context• 1973 – first Women’s Aid groups set up in

Edinburgh and Glasgow.• 1992 – 40 local groups each managed collectively

& a collective national agency (SWA)• 2003 – one group decides to change from

collective to a hierarchical structure. SWA amends affiliation agreement.

• 2004 – SWA becomes a hierarchy managed by a board of directors.

• 2011 – network of 38 groups, 25 of which are organised as hierarchies, two are in the process of changing structure from collective to hierarchy and eleven describe themselves as collective.

Method• Twelve qualitative interviews• Mixture of hierarchies, collectives and

groups in the process of change• Mixture of types of interview – group,

individual, 2:1 – chosen by the participants.

• Focussed on the interviewees perceptions of the internal and external pressures on collectives and the impact of the change on the network.

Findings

• The effect of external pressures – funders opinions and regulators

• The effect of other organisations – the mainstream, the women’s aid network and SWA

• The role of professionalisation, networking and educational attainment

Regulatory bodies• OSCR –regulates against new collective

organisations; prevented existing collectives from incorporating as pure collectives; prevented changes to constitutions.

• Care Inspectorate (previously Care Commission) –requires named managers in all registered organisations.

• SSSC – requires specialist qualifications for different roles

What Women’s Aid workers said

“like the manager with the care commission, if you’re called the manager – even if it’s in name only – basically you’ve got more responsibility”(A, collective worker, 1:1 interview)

What Women’s Aid workers said

“The first recruitment we carried out here after the qualifications requirements came in, do you know ‘minimum qualification required’, it’s totally alien, just to see it in black and white.”(P, collective worker, 2:1 interview)

What Women’s Aid workers said

“And again, it’s been again the regulatory bodies that have prevented women from more included in the collective”(M, collective worker, 2:1 interview)

What Women’s Aid workers said“Now I’ve got to do an SVQ3 – I started off with an honours degree in social sciences, I’ve got a COSCA counselling course and as a women I feel – well is there many men out there for a start off who would be going back the way?”(H, collective worker, 2:1 interview)

What Women’s Aid workers said

“We don’t want to be social work light, we just don’t…we’re something else, we’re a women centred service and we are professional and we are extremely good at what we do”(M, collective worker, group interview)

What Women’s Aid workers said

“We go down a road of a hierarchical structure that is mair social workery, blurs the lines between a movement and the statutory organisations”(M, collective worker, 2:1 interview)

What Women’s Aid workers said

“I look around me and I think, I don’t recognise this, what is this – you know? ‘Service users’ – even that word, I hate those words – survivors are not mentioned”(C, worker in group in the process of change, 1:1 interview)

What now?

“I think if we’d been a bit more proactive as a network in trying to improve collectives, or get a better understanding of collective working…the structure that’s important to us, it’s about equality, it’s about feminism…so why are we just saying ‘aye never mind that we’ll just try something else’”(C, collective worker 1:1 interview)

What now?

“The impact on collectives is unintended consequences and I think that could still be challenged and amendments could be made to the legislation, you know?”(C, collective worker 1:1 interview)