Those Small Initiatives Do Matter: Importance of Small Steps in a Collective Movement
A purple- blue gradient with navy steps going up from left to right. On. each step is the words of the title “Those Small Initiatives Do Matter,” with the rest of the tile on the bottom right “Importance of Small Steps in a Collective Movement.”
When you hear about breaking down big goals into small steps, it is usually connected with improving your lifestyle and well-being. With developing good habits (or breaking bad ones), tackling a big project at work, or attempting to do chore tasks, making the steps manageable and attainable to complete is considered the key advice to success.
By setting us up to appeal to our need for instant gratification of checking off that task, it can lead to us being more consistent with what we set out to do and reduce the impact of burnout. The more we work on those steps consistently, the closer we get to that big goal we dream of.
For some of us, that big societal change in our activism work is something that we are always striving for. But, it feels overwhelming and intimidating when we look at the big picture. How can we apply those small steps to a massive collective movement?
Small Steps in Activism
The small steps in a movement do not look exactly like breaking it down into multiple tasks to achieve that goal. While we know the overall goal, there are many approaches that need to be taken to achieve that vision that we all can experience.
For the collective movement, we may not witness that big goal. We may not even know what that ultimate end goal looks like. We can only imagine how that can come to fruition. This means we do not know how much capacity and resources it would take to actually achieve that goal.
There has been some information on how much we need to create that shift towards making an impact on an issue, typically between 15-30% of the public would need to care about the issue to be able to make that change. However, the process does require people making those small steps towards the goal. It is seen in initiatives within the communities.
By creating more awareness about the issue on a smaller scale, it can be the case study that determines whether it is worth the effort to expand to more communities. The approach can be positive or uncomfortable leading to the comfortability of applying the approach in a different area. By slowly making that impact on a smaller scale, it can create the momentum for a larger movement.
You can use the lifestyle advice for the smaller scale easier. Set an attainable goal within your local community to raise awareness about the issue and break down how you can create an initiative. The initiative can be as an individual or as a team to start building the momentum needed for the issue.
As we exist in a media-heavy society when information is at our fingertips, we can be more aware of many social and justice issues that urgently need to be solved. While we could witness the impact in many areas of the world, we may not feel it. Being part of the movement through a smaller initiative locally can connect to that gratification of meaningfully participating in the movement and feel some of the impact.
The nature of how social movements happen makes taking action both inspiring and daunting. We may not know how impactful an action is until we consider it looking back in history. It does not make the action any less important if it is not as recognized as some initiatives. Many voices get left out in the process, but their work still impacted the people and communities that they interacted with. It gets more lost when the breaking point and shift in the movement occurs, the moment that changes everything.
The Shift of a Movement
With how interconnected the world is with technology and information, the breaking point to make social change is more clearer than ever. There are many cultural shifts of a movement that happen over the course of decades of the work being done and that people are continuing to work towards. Below are some movements and goals that have different breaking points that can create momental awareness and potential for policy change due to public perception.
Women in Politics: Significant measurement to change
According to Women, Politics, and Power: A Global Perspective on chapter 9, the concept of critical mass for gender parity is typically considered to be 30% of women in a level of government to see impactful changes to allow women and gender diverse individuals to get into politics and to make meaningful changes. While there are many factors that can make the percentage useful or meaningless, the interaction and momentum of having more women and gender diverse individuals in politics at once can provide opportunity for change.
MeToo Movement - A hashtag that sparks sharing
In 2016, the hashtag, #MeToo went viral to voice the experiences of sexual harassment and assault within the entertainment industry and beyond. It allowed people to share their stories in hopes of meaningfully changing societal expectations. Learn more about the Me Too Movement here.
Black Lives Matter - All you need is for it to work once
The mistreatment of BIPOC individuals from the police and enforcement officers has long been vocalized and brought up by communities that are targeted. In 2020, the death of George Floyd due to police brutality jump started a global movement where the wider public got involved on social media and the streets. The urgent need of anti-racism training and evaluating the behaviours and attitudes that we may have not recognized are harmful. Learn more about the Black Lives Matters movement here.
Stonewall Uprising - Somehow, one made the difference
On June 28, 1969, the event of the police raiding a gay bar lasted over six days leading to the shift of white cisgender people to consider LGBTQ+ issues. While it was not the first time an uprising occurred, the Stonewall Uprising against police brutality was significant due to media coverage and pride traditions leading to the change in the discourse. Learn more about the Stonewall Uprising here.
Disability Rights Movement - Right Audience at the right time
Imagine having to crawl up the Capitol stairs to make a point to move key legislation forward. That is what the “Mother of the Disability Rights Movement” Judith Heumann did with other wheelchair users to get the American Disabilities Act passed in 1990. Learn more about this event by watching Judith’s Ted Talk here.
Every Child Matter - Finally revealing the truth
In what is colonially known as Canada, May 27, 2021 was a shocking day for most Canadians as it was confirmed that 215 children remains at the Kamloops Indian Residential School. This sparked more areas to be looked at through ground penetrating radar technologies to find more of the missing Indigenous children that never made it back home. Learn more about this finding from Tk’emlúps te Secwépemc’s press release here.
It is crucial to note that with all of these movements, the same work and knowledge has always been done within their communities. It is not always predictable on what is going to be the point that gets people to take action along with you. It does show how the work still needs to be done whether or not it is the moment that changes everything.
The work is never truly done
Even with movements,
BIPOC still experience microaggressions and racism
People with disabilities still do not get full access
Indigenous people still cannot reclaim their land and the safety of their culture
Women’s autonomy are still being threaten
2SLBGTQIA+ and Trans’ rights still have ways to go in legislation.
If you have intersectional identities, experiencing exponential more discrimination that may not be clearly defined in specific identities makes it more difficult to live. It is also more important to voice and take action as intersectionality is also vital to achieving the big goal we want to see in society.
Take Those Small Steps
Those points when everything changes are not predictable. They can happen for many reasons. While we can look back and say these are the reasons that this moment worked, we cannot always plan that in the present. Knowing that, the consistency of doing the work, the consistency of taking action is key to making sure that that big change can happen. It is the small steps that keep the momentum going.
We also inspire each other. While the knowledge and work has always been done, all it takes is one time to move on to the next level of challenges. The work is long and may never truly be finished. However, there is one thing that we can rely on to keep us going
The impact it made on you
Taking on activism is challenging. It is also rewarding. The work that you do to contribute to the greater goal will impact you. The skills you learn while you are working towards the goal, the people you meet who are equally passionate about the work, the experiences you gain by doing the initiatives, and the successes you witnessed (small and big) have made an impact on you. You may not be here to witness that dream of an equitable and inclusive society that you envision, but the people along the way will show you how it impacted you, regardless of how far we are as a collective movement.
Amanda