The Power Flower

The power flower helps us reflect on the ways we wield power, for no other reason than where we were born, how we look, or what our background is.

If you are reading this, you are most likely aware of the way the dominant systems prioritise and privilege certain human beings over others, using factors such as the colour of our skin, our gender expression, our sexual orientation, the passports we hold, and more. What does it mean for an individual to be born into such systems? 

We may do all the work we can to deconstruct concepts such as gender or race and be actively against any type of discrimination but we are still a part of the system. We will still be treated better, or worse, based on certain things, most of which are not under our control. 

Oftentimes, we will be blissfully unaware of if we are part of the privileged group, and painfully aware of if we are not. This blog post about the Power Flower is one way to rectify this. We will take some time to understand in a more granular way how privilege and power plays out in our own lives. This is essential if we want to be a true changeworker. Because if we subconsciously replicate the same paradigms we are trying to change, we are changing nothing at all. On the contrary, we are perpetuating the discriminatory paradigms - we are its unwilling advocates and missionaries. We have become a part of the problem.

We don’t want that, do we? We would like to be the stewards of a new world, the servant leaders ushering in new paradigms alongside our fellow changeworkers. To do so, we must understand our own positionality - our own position in the scheme of the current paradigms. 

To be able to navigate it consciously, and to be able to undo some of its harm wherever possible. To be clear: we likely will never be ‘perfect’ at this, there will always be another growing edge, another topic or issue we had not previously known about, or a nuance that is just now landing. That is part of the process, we can only accept it. So if things here are new to you, I invite you: rather than feeling bad or guilty or angry, celebrate! Celebrate that you learned something new, something absolutely essential to being a changeworker. Something that will inform all of your actions and choices moving forward. What a reason to celebrate. Let’s dive in, shall we? 

The Power Flower

First introduced in a 1991 book called Educating for a Change, “the Power Flower” was created by Canadian social change educators to support groups in “identify[ing] who are (and who aren’t) as individuals and as a group in relation to those who wield power in our society” (p. 87). 

The tool is designed as a flower, whereby each petal represents one category or aspect of identity. Depending on the rendering of this tool, each petal has two or more sections, whereby the outermost section describes the most powerful or dominant identity or attribute, and the innermost one the least so. In the middle of the flower are the labels of what each petal is about. Considering each aspect of identity one by one, participants fill out the power flower by pencilling in or circling where they fall on the spectrum. The goal is to reflect on each person’s positioning, based on how close or distant they are to the most dominant end of the spectrum. The bigger the person’s flower (i.e. the more the person has fully filled out multiple petals), the more social power this person may wield, and the more privileges they hold.

Below you will see our adapted version of the Power Flower. When doing this exercise live in a specific context, we would also discuss content specific relevant categories or identities that may not apply to others. For example, if you’re working within a school, you may want to put a petal with director - staff - student, to take into consideration that power dynamic. If you’re working within a religious context, you might add clergy - lay into one petal. In a similar way, whilst we cannot discuss it together, I left multiple petals empty for you to add in relevant dimensions of power that are specific to your context. This could be formal roles, specific ethnic groups, etc. 

When you have completed the empty petals as necessary and feel ready, it’s time to begin. You can take a coloured pencil or highlighter (digitally or on paper), and fill out the petals to match your personal identities. This can be quite uncomfortable, both in cases where you realise you hold power, and in cases when you realise you don’t. This is another opportunity to practise self-care and self-love, being gentle and taking it at the pace that works for you. Take breaks if you need to. Or get support to work through this exercise. Whatever you need to be able to complete it, and to do so honestly. 

Here’s what the existing petals refer to: 

• Physical safety: are you physically safe? The innermost section would be living in an active war zone, under occupation, or in a situation like a poorly resourced refugee camp. In the middle would be being generally physically safe, but with occasional threats, for example living in a neighbourhood where crime is heightened, or where you risk being harmed for who you are. The outermost petal would be living in a peaceful place, with few direct threats to your physical safety. 
• Nationality: the innermost section would be being stateless, having no nationality at all. From there, it would be having a nationality and passport, but the ‘value’ of said passport increases along the petal. ‘Value’ here refers to the restrictions placed on people based on their passports, for example in terms of travel, obtaining a visa, being allowed to work abroad, and so on. The most privileged would be holding one or even multiple of the most ‘powerful’ passports (you can check on ecosia which ones are ranked highest right now, typically it includes Singapore, Japan, South Korea, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Finland, Ireland, Austria, Belgium, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Sweden, Greece, New Zealand, Switzerland) 
• Housing: how stable is your housing situation? Innermost would be homeless, and from there it gets gradually more stable, with renting but barely being able to afford the rent, to living in a rent-controlled or state-subsidized housing, to owning a flat, owning a house in a premium location, all the way to owning multiple properties. 
• Healthcare: how good is your access to healthcare? This refers both to the quality of healthcare provision in your geographic context, and your personal access to it. For example, if healthcare is inexistent, that is the innermost level of the petal, but if healthcare is potentially excellent, but absolutely unaffordable, then that would be a pretty poor access. 
• Education: having had no opportunity to complete any education would be the innermost part of the petal, and from there gradually increasing in age (primary, high school, tertiary), as well as quality. Outermost would be having completed a Masters Degree or even PhD, particularly if it is from one of the top 20 universities globally, as this comes with a considerable degree of additional privilege. 
• Language: obviously, native English speakers are afforded a lot of privileges globally, even more so if they are bilingual. From there, the dominant languages are considered to be Mandarin Chinese, Spanish, French and Arabic. The more of these languages you speak, the more your petal grows. 
• Financial security: this petal refers to your personal financial situation. If you stopped earning money tomorrow, for how long could you maintain the basics of your life? We are talking about rent, food, and other mandatory expenses. If the answer is less than a month, that is a very precarious situation, and would find itself at the innermost part of the petal. From there, we increase gradually depending on the answer. For example, if you can make it for 3 months, for 6 months, for 1 year, or for 1+ years. 
• Social safety net: this now refers to the support you might receive in the face of hardship, from the state, your family or friends. If you lost your job, would your government have a programme in place to help you survive until you find a new one? Or if you suddenly faced a big expense, could your family or friends support you? 
• Purchasing power: this petal is more on the macroeconomic side of things. Our global system does not see all currencies as equal, so even someone who earns enough to live lavishly in a certain country, may not be able to take a holiday in a certain other country without saving up for it. So the question is here with your income and/or saving in your specific currency, what can you purchase, both locally and internationally? If you’re not sure, you can look up “purchasing power parity”. Also consider how much can be paid for with a given salary in a certain context, i.e. factor in the differing cost of living. 
• Income: this now compares your income to that of other people, globally. Many people don’t know that if you earn over $70’000 a year, you are part of the 1% globally speaking. Statistics on this vary, especially country by country. Still, a sobering realisation! To find our where your income lands in international comparison, you can use the World Inequality Databases’ Income Comparator. You can also consider whether you are able to save some money (if you work full time and consider must-have expenses) every month, some months only, or never. 
• Religion: rating this petal is quite context-dependent. If your religion happens to be the one that is dominant in your context, that would be a significant privilege. But also consider the way your religion is seen internationally. For example, Islam has been the subject of a defamation campaign by the ‘West’ for decades. So when you travel as a practicing muslim, you are likely to face discrimination on this account. The least privileged here would be belief systems that the ‘West’ does not take seriously at all, or that risks you being punished, ostracized or physically harmed.
• Gender expression: this refers to how the world perceives you in terms of your gender expression. If you appear to be male, that would award you the biggest level of privilege and hence the biggest petal. From there, being perceived as a woman is in the middle, and appearing non-binary or androgynous at the innermost extreme (i.e. not performing either of the two genders seen as ‘legitimate’ in ‘Western’ societies). 
• Gender fluidity: This refers to whether you are being perceived as the gender you have been assigned at birth, or not. At the outermost part of the petal are cis-gender people, people who are feeling and showing up as the gender they were assigned at birth. Then we have trans people, who live and express a gender that is different from the one assigned to them at birth. Trans people face considerable discrimination and challenges, but due to the fact that many transition in such a way that people who don’t know could not tell, they can ‘pass’ as cis gender. The people facing the most intense backlash and discrimination are people who refuse to perform either of the two genders prevalent in ‘Western’ societies, and challenge our gender norms by simply showing up the way they are (for instance, Alok). 
• Skin colour/ethnicity: white or caucasian would find itself at the outermost part of the petal, and from there skin tones getting progressively darker and further away from the European colonisers’ ‘beauty’ ideal. 
• Body type: fatphobia is a lesser known but very real type of discrimination. The more skinny you appear to be, the bigger your petal. 
• Dis/ability: being fully able bodied would place you at the outermost part of the petal. If you have a chronic illness that is debilitating for example or another type of invisible disability, that would place you around the middle. Visible forms of disability are the ones often met with the most discrimination. 
• Neurotype: being neurotypical (i.e. not having any conditions such as ADHD or autism) places you on the outermost part of the petal. The more neurodivergent you are, and the more this affects the quality of your life (and perhaps the more accommodations or special care you need), the smaller the petal. 
• Sexual orientation: if you identify as heterosexual, that results in the biggest petal. If you are homosexual, gay or lesbian, that places you somewhere in the middle. People who are bi/pan/omni or asexual typically find themselves at the innermost part of the petal.
• Other things you could add if they are relevant in your context:
• Class or caste
• Aristocracy
• Clergy
• Other types of relevant roles (e.g. student, teacher, school director)
• Experiences with migration or being a refugee
• And more

Relating this to your cause(s)

When looking at the causes you work on or care about, and your own power flower, what do you notice? Think of the stakeholders of the cause, or causes plural if that’s applicable to you:

• Who is affected? And how is the power flower of the people most affected (the people you might seek to engage, serve or support in some form) different or similar to yours? 
• Who takes the decisions, who is in power? And how is the power flower of these people different or similar to yours?
• Are there any other dimensions that were not included in this flower that you now realise you need to add? 

Journal on any insights, thoughts and questions that come up as you reflect on this. 

In addition to doing your individual reflection, you could use this tool with your team or even with your stakeholders.

If we want to be agents of transformations and in service of more just and regenerative paradigms, it is essential we do all that is within our power to not replicate harmful patterns. How was this exercise for you? We’d love to hear from you via social media or our contact form ♥️

Download the template

• To use online / digitally
• To print & fill out