'Support your sisters, not just your cis-ters': Feminist leaders' challenges and strategies in curating trans-inclusive identities

Abstract

Leaders play an important role in social change efforts by influencing individuals to work together towards a collective goal through the construction of a shared identity. However, the external conditions in which a group is situated can facilitate or constrain leaders' identity strategies, which, in turn, may affect the success of the group's social change objectives. Using the feminist movement as a case study, we employed qualitative surveys to examine how leaders (N = 39) in Australia, the United Kingdom, and the United States constructed and communicated group identities that were inclusionary of transgender women, and the challenges they faced when doing so. Results from a reflexive thematic analysis showed that leaders created trans-inclusionary feminist identities by developing value-aligned coalitions with transgender groups, ingroup policies and inclusive symbols and slogans. These group identities were challenged by unsupportive policies, funding requirements and outgroup backlash. Feminist leaders responded in various ways, including altering the shared group identity or reaffirming the identity. From these findings, a cyclical relationship is proposed between leaders' identity strategies, the challenges posed by their groups' external environments and how leaders navigate these challenges in maintaining and communicating group identity.