Activist burnout in times of NGO-ization: comparing feminist movements in Belgium and Romania
Activist burnout in times of NGO-ization: comparing feminist movements in Belgium and Romania

Summary/Abstract: In this paper I explored how the last decades transformations of the feminist movements associated with NGO-ization, shaped the organizational and activist culture in such a way that it created new sources of pressure, amplifying the risk of burnout among activists. I have identified different sources of pressure in feminist organizations, related to the NGO-ization of social movements. First, the organizational and job insecurity, related to the volatility of funds, stemming from the fragmentation of subsidies available to movement organizations. Second, the multiplication of accountability mechanisms related to their bureaucratization, and which increases the amount of paperwork activists do, at the expense of political work and work with beneficiaries. Third, the polyvalence of tasks, stemming from project-based work and related to the professionalization of the feminist movement as well as to their financial dependence. Running after funds to alleviate insecurity and working to exhaustion between frustrating paperwork, to justify how the money was used and political work for the cause, led feminist activists to burnout.

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