2009 17th WOSonOS
OPEN SPACE REPORT FORM
Topic Name – How to Use Open Space in a Strictly Patriarchal / Hierarchal Society Where People Don’t Have the Same Space To Speak
Topic Number -2F
Convenor - Yang
Participants (including Bumble Bees)
Isac Takino, Zhi-Wei, Shufang, Amy Chang, Tim King, Suzanne Daigle, Tim Lam, Tong ___ ___ Yang, Wong Wai-Kwong, ET, Jori Wu, Lee ___, Mark Pixley, Big Brother, Jay Hung, Joy ___, Lisa Heft and others
Insights, Questions Raised, Possible Actions, Recommendations, etc:
Tim and Yang were reflecting on their recent work in Aboriginal community villages, working on disaster response and reconstruction / resource issues. These are very hierarchal and patriarchal society structures.
Someone who is not of those tribes might think that two villages who are also of the same tribe are as one. However even though people may have the same ethnicity, being in two different villages – they feel a bit separate and see people from the other village as outsiders. Tim and Yang observed visiting priests – such as a female priest coming over to help a neighboring village – is seen as an outsider. They also observed gender dynamics such as males being the ones who mainly meet and make decisions about the villages.
Women can influence male family members’ decisions – however women are traditionally not included in the public discussions about the important matters. So for example in the discussion an decisions about post-typhoon response – although the woman are talking amongst themselves (both within the crisis time and immediately afterwards) about how to care for the elders and children, the men discuss immigration and land use as the overarching issues and issues of care for elders and children are omitted from that discussion / decision-making.
There are invisible worlds and boundaries of gender, class and separation in these villages. Separation and isolation of issues and ideas because of who is talking about them. Nobles do not have these discussion with those of lower classes, men without the women and so on.
There was some discussion about how the various Colonialists and occupiers of / in Taiwan perpetuated this separation and isolation between tribes as a form of control.
Even so, the culture of the tribe itself may offer possibilities and opportunities for improvement of this situation. Yang is interested in focusing on the women’s situation as one way to help this situation. By raising self-awareness, confidence and self-recognition of culture and relationship in women, this can help the community as a whole.
Under such conditions, how can we use Open Space, asks Yang?
Question: After the typhoon, it was a very critical situation – and / however because of these hierarchal situations, the children and elders were put at risk? Yes – only certain issues were on the list. No one was making decisions which included these people.
You should include other processes besides Open Space – asking this question by saying ‘how can we use Open Space for this’ limits the possibilities. This is an invitation to open your thoughts to include not just Open Space but how other dialogue and decision-making processes can be used.
In Japan, it is very matriarchal. Women do not have the power to speak in public. But they can influence their husband. During discussion with his wife, that discussion can change that husband’s decision completely. The wife can be very firm with the husband, although not in public.
I have found that if there is a great power dynamic – a big difference in perceived power between people – it is often most helpful to have a 2-day Open Space. You will see that during day 1 some of those people with lesser voices may stay in groups, not move around, be more silent – but with more time in Open Space, you will see them talking in duos on the side of the room, deciding not to sit in a next group where there is someone who does not let them speak, perhaps two quiet people will join to post a session together and their voices emerge.
The other thing I have found is that it helps to be very strategic with invitation. Who is inviting the people of lower power, is it someone like themselves, or is it someone who says to them ‘your voice matters’, we care that you are there, etcetera. I have also found it is very useful to invite those with the least power to the room beforehand – maybe hours or even a day before. You do something with them – poetry, discussion, art about the issues – and then the others arrive – and by that time, these young people (or elders or women or whoever you have invited who is in the minority) ‘own the room.’ Another idea may be to – if you decide to do separate meetings so all the women are together, all the men, and so on – you could share the documentation of some key issues among the groups to help them interconnect and learn from one another in that way.
Our strategy included inviting everyone just to come and enjoy the hot springs and to relax. They had had a difficult two weeks – we said come, relax, enjoy. And then on the *second* day we did Open Space.
Aha! [laughter]
How are you perceiving your own dynamic in the group – and are *you* perceived as an outsider?
I feel a part of them, and I find that there are some languages with which we can all communicate quickly. But I wonder… I still feel between some women and men, and some priests, these invisible boundaries. But Open Space is a new experience – a kind of a seed that may grow some time later into a flower. The wives of the priests are speaking a bit more over time. The most difficult part is to work with the men. They unconsciously like to take control when they are speaking – and you can see in their eyes that they are flying away when women are speaking.
One thing I am very impressed by – this was only a one-day Open Space. The first night was the welcome dinner. At dinner we asked everyone to introduce themselves. The husbands would stand up and say something, and the wife would just smile. She would not even have a name, just ‘my wife’. Even the priest’s wife. After one day of Open Space… in the Closing Circle, everybody spoke. The wives spoke. It just opened up a bit.
But: it opened! You want it to open more, but: closed<->open. It opened!
It was powerful. Lots of these women have their own survival strategy, which includes managing their husbands to accept some of their ideas. But maybe in Open Space, the priests also felt safe. When they feel safe, maybe they feel more open. Maybe when they feel more open, it is more comfortable for the wives to speak.
Then we go back to our every day life, and the village continues. Then later, we return to the villages. The most difficult thing…how can we make a safe space in the village? You speak out here, and everyone says goodbye. I’m wondering … I come back to my own village. We live together, we work together, and I know the relationships between everyone. Lisa gave me more insight on – how do we prepare better. There are lots of difficulties – rumors, gossip…
When I said ‘think of other processes besides Open Space…’ and then when Mr. Tong recommended doing Open Space with the different separated groups – I think there is a balance of what do you want to use Open Space for – to change the culture? Or, to handle the disaster? What percentage do you want of that? The way you describe how the women opened a bit – did you have to affect and change the culture for that? How much does it help decisions to have the women be heard? I don’t know.
Yes, but isn’t your response to an issue better if you include different thinkers; all parts of the system?
Yes, and Open Space gives everyone a voice, even if they meet in separate groups. So there is the possibility that you can give them separate experiences.
They spoke out after only one day of open Space – so you can see that they catch up quickly. I feel comfortable working with women… I wonder, how can we work with the men? And another thing – I wonder if maybe I am not the right one to facilitate – because I am a woman. Maybe I cannot go further in that work.
That is a question I wanted to ask you. Would it work better to have a man facilitating.
I would think that Open Space would be very effective for harvesting ideas so in groups of people of the same level of hierarchy – you could harvest ideas, then collect them in a central place, then handle the next step in a structured meeting process – like Robert’s Rules of Order. So that all the ideas (without any names) would have to be supported. A structured meeting.
I worry about using Robert’s Rules of Orders…about applying a Western cultural filter to their work. Wouldn’t a better process echo their traditional culture, such as meetings that happen in circles?
I am saying – use a directive process that causes all ideas to be heard. Even Robert’s Rules of Order is a very democratic way. Everyone knows the rules. And that’s the catchy part. After an Open Space, use a formal structure to cause all ideas to be heard equally.
I am struggling with … the part I relate to is bringing all ideas to the circle in a central, confidential and protected way. After that, however – who owns the process? I feel when you go back to the hierarchy, the male-dominated… it might take away something as the ideas would become impersonal. How to find a way to have the relationships continue? I don’t know, but I feel it has to be very careful.
I don’t mean to change the culture of the hierarchy – that is not to be decided by me. I just want the culture to have a dialogue. I did not start this to change the hierarchal culture. There is maybe some reason in each culture for hierarchy that I cannot see. There is some cultural logic in their lives. I’m more concerned about this because – I am from Haan culture – we can tell by each others’ name what place in the hierarchy someone is. So when we say ‘we are equal / we can speak equally’ – maybe I am not the person to say this. I have several different roles.
Yes. Power - or whether you are seen as an outsider or not – is often not about you – it is about how others perceive you. And about culture: sometimes it is useful to have the facilitator definitely be someone of the culture – and sometimes it is helpful to have the facilitator be of a completely different culture. The interesting thing is to decide which is most useful in any different situation.
I am also helping them, and I am not of their culture – I live in Taipei. What I think I did most in that Open Space is that I just heard what the women were saying..
You are the listener.
You are the *male* listener. For these women. That is big!
I don’t know what… if that helps.
It is huge. It’s the gift. *You* are the gift.
Yes you are.
The women of the village take care of the elders, the children, the women, and the security of the communities. They carry out the work. The men just speak out. We do the work.
Do the women really do the work of the men’s decisions? Or do they just do it they way they really want? [laughter]
When facing the children, when facing destiny, when facing the future – the process of decision making including all the voices is huge – as this is directly connected to the future of our nation.
There are so many things I want to say, so many things I am thinking. I feel that I identify with the women in the group, and I cannot intervene. You say everyone is equal to speak out, but that is not true – everyone does not have equal language to take initiative, to language – those things are not equal or available. Most women do not speak in the groups – they speak after the groups. They can speak in twos and threes – but in the big group if they cannot speak at all…
I am just thinking – we were talking about more women speaking at the end of the Open Space. What about the men who typically speak? What were they feeling at the end? What is going on in the male? The shift happens in the way the men speak – it changes just a little bit. And then I am watching all of *us* - watching when we started – I just wonder.
I don’t know if I can follow you.
I don’t know if I can follow myself sometimes! [laughter]
How can we get people in an equal position to talk? What if a group of people – women and men – turned off the lights – when we have people of all different diversity – and we do not let people talk, but instead, they draw – they communicate with their eyes, not their ears. People communicate better that way. You put all the drawings, all the issues in the center. You cannot talk about these issues, you just look at them in the dark.
You are incredible. You are my mentor.
I am hosting a session on how we can transfer the leadership to the young.
They are already leading (yes, they certainly are!) and I feel very good about that.
