Is the feminist movement tearing itself apart? This was one of the questions that Stacey Abrams, a board member of U.S. nonprofit National Democratic Institute, and Maliha Khan, the CEO at Women Deliver, tackled in a wide-ranging fireside chat, which included discussions on empowerment from television shows “Ted Lasso” and “Buffy the Vampire Slayer,” during the second day of the Women Deliver conference.

Khan highlighted how “the narcissism of small differences” — an unwillingness to collaborate with those you share minor differences with — is shredding the feminist movement.

“It’s like some evil genius sat there and said, ‘How can I get the feminists to fight each other? Get them to fight over who’s a woman.’ And that, to me, is a masterful strategy on their part and a foolish naivety on our part that we’re falling into it,” Khan said.

There shouldn’t be a “sole narrative” within movements, as that restricts space for conversation and questions — and one of the defining elements of the Women Deliver conference this week is the space being given to various groups, Abrams responded.

This also relates to criticism around the decision for Hungarian President Katalin Novák to speak at the opening ceremony, which we reported on yesterday. While the organization said they pushed back on the decision to invite her, Women Deliver ultimately did co-sign the invitation and decided on speakers collaboratively with the government of Rwanda, the host country. “As a feminist movement, we have to be inclusive, and we have to be pragmatic. We don’t always choose the partners that we are working with,” Khan told Devex.