This feminist is imagining the next phase of feminism: a world rooted in matriarchy.
FEMINIST caught up with Nergiz De Baere of Chix to learn more about her exploration of the next phase of feminism, matriarchy, and how becoming a mother has impacted her activism.
Nergiz De Baere
Nergiz De Baere is a feminist, founder, creator, writer, and mother. Faced with climate anxiety in our warming world, she forged a community that intersects environmentalism and feminism, known as Chix (formerly Chicks For Climate), which has evolved into a media company dedicated to forging a path towards a healed future. As an entrepreneur, she delves into sustainable fashion with her brand Magi. Her literary contributions include "365 Ways To Save The Planet," and she is currently crafting her next book, centered on the matriarchy.
How do you use your power to empower your community?
One of the most transformative mindset changes I’ve made is thinking of power as a constellation, not a pyramid. Each of us in our own uniqueness has power, whoever we are and whatever we do. I’m a marketer and a writer, and a deeply hopeful and optimistic person at heart. I’ve used those skills and aspects of my personality to create Chix. Hopefully, anyone who interacts with Chix feels inspired and hopeful, which I think are necessary ingredients to be empowered to create a healed future.
Tell us the story behind founding the community Chicks for Climate? (now known as Chix)
It was a hot day in February 2019 and while everyone seemed to be enjoying the weather I was experiencing profound anxiety about what the temperature meant about the climate crisis. It was my anxiety that pushed me to create Chicks for Climate, a page that would bring feminism and environmentalism together through educational content. Even though anxiety still troubles me, there’s a galvanizing aspect to it I’m deeply grateful for.
Your community recently changed from Chicks for Climate to Chix, can you explain some of the thinking and why you rebranded?
Yes! I like to say Chicks for Climate was the sapling and Chix is the mother tree. Through my CFC work, I learned that the climate crisis is the culmination of many sub-crises like racism, colonialism, and capitalism, which are all rooted in patriarchy. Humanity is deeply wounded by patriarchal trauma, and we desperately need alternative narratives and mindsets. That’s how Chix was born - to share ideas to create a future liberated from patriarchal capitalism. The reality is that if we don’t liberate ourselves from patriarchy, we will go extinct. Mainstream media doesn’t share these ideas, so we exist as an alternative.
In your essay, ‘The Next Phase of Feminism is Matriarchy’ you profoundly envision a new system where women are at the center. Can you paint a picture of what the shift from patriarchy to matriarchy is here?
A patriarchy is a hierarchical system with men (rich, white, cis) at the top. A matriarchy is simply a society that integrates the idea that every human being originates from a mother as a cultural, economic and political fact. Many Indigenous societies operate in a matriarchal manner, which is much more in line with nature and places value on the sacredness of life. The idea is that if we center society around the needs of mothers and children (which is inherently inclusive because everyone has been a child), then our society will be just. This doesn’t mean mothers are “more important” than anyone else, because hierarchy is a patriarchal construct. Imagine you’re on a sidewalk with a little kid or a disabled person. You’d want them to be on the inside, away from the cars, because it’s safer, right? That doesn’t make them more important than you, but it’s more about protecting the vulnerable and the future of humanity. This is such a new concept, especially to the patriarchal mind, so I’m working on a book called Matriarchy: The Path to Liberation which will explain everything.
I understand you are a mother, has becoming a mother impact your approach to activism?
Absolutely. My daughter Kimaya is 7 months old, and I’m so determined that the society she inherits is filled with joy and love for everyone. I know that future can exist, and I know we can create it. However motivated I was before she was born, I’m even more so now.
She was born on October 9th, right when the current iteration of the conflict in Palestine began. Seeing the dead bodies of little girls just like her who never had a chance at life because of ideology fills me with such grief and pain. Our institutions are rooted in violence, our tax dollars fund genocide, and it has to stop. We must all do what we can to stop it.
Can you describe the role of mothers in society and how their labor is often overlooked?
Motherhood is so much work. We’re raising the future of humanity, and not only are we not compensated for it, but we’re punished - especially on a financial and emotional level. How can we expect the future to be better if we don’t give the people creating future generations any support? I am so lucky because I have a village, but the vast majority of mothers don’t, because everyone has to constantly work to survive. There’s no time for community. So mothers have to give all of themselves, and constantly have to run on empty. We exploit and deplete mothers the same way we exploit and deplete nature. Everything is connected. We cannot possibly create peace and joy in the future from this rotten foundation.
What does being a feminist mean to you?
I am absolutely a feminist. For me, feminism is about liberation from patriarchal principles of exploitation, domination, greed, and individualism.
What does a liberated future look like (or feel like) to you?
When we live in a society based on regeneration, love, reciprocity, and community, then we will be liberated. I’ve written a little about what this could look like in the Chix manifesto which I’m using as the basis for my upcoming book. Stay tuned for that!
