Self: 6. Feminism in fragments

Some say that because sexism is dead, feminism has become redundant.  But the abuse and put-down of women has scarcely abated around the world. Despite this, a global women’s movement to battle the issues has not evolved.

In regions where life is cheap, gender hostility is displays with virulence. Women are targets of war and civil strife in Africa, and victims of honour killings in the Middle East, Asia and their immigrant communities.

In polite circles, the dominance adopts subtle forms. In Parliament, the British Prime Minister rebuffs a woman peer when she interrupts his speech: “Calm down, dear, calm down. Listen to the doctor!” Indeed, sexism in varied tones is alive and kicking.

Sociologist Bergman believes the earlier feminist movement has been “engulfed by the political establishment”. Certainly men have conceded some positions in political and corporate hierarchies to women. But beyond the window-dressing of favours, women’s global advancement is little. When other issues, like world peace, environment and even corruption, occupy majority attention, feminism finds no priority.

The first wave of feminism was inspired by ideologies of liberalism and socialism. Hence, feminism is often regarded as a sub-set of other ideologies, with no individual significance.

Williamson explains:

Individuals are entitled to equal treatment regardless of sex and so any form of discrimination against women should be prohibited. Liberal feminists … accept that women’s leaning towards family and domestic life is influenced by natural impulses and so reflects a willing choice. … they see no need to push for the sexless personhood goal of feminism …

Liberalism supports equality in the sense that ‘all men are equal’. It does not, however, concern with gender equality. Similarly with socialism, Williamson writes:

Socialist feminists argue that the relationship between the sexes is rooted in the social and economic structure itself and only profound social change or a social revolution can offer genuine emancipation. … to liberate women, is placed second to liberating the proletariat.

Clear instances of this are notable in the ongoing social ‘revolutions’ against authoritarian regimes in Egypt and other Middle East countries. Women activists are being ordered home, beaten and even shot for demonstrating publicly.

Women’s issues get the short shrift in the absence of a united global force. Constrained by cultural conditioning, women have been unable to unite under one banner. Feminist focuses differ with cultural groups, although the scattered groups do have some common issues like patriarchy, equality, sex and gender. The “rival tendencies” within women’s movements prevents the formation of a common doctrine. 

Radical feminism broke new ground in the 1960s and 1970s, building entirely on the women’s perspective. Its ideas were to create purely feminist traditions, to strengthen an ideology independent of other influences. This second wave of feminism opposed influences of patriarchy on women’s social, personal and sexual lives.

The intent of their “let’s ignite bras” campaign was to develop a positive feminine identity and to encourage the woman’s choice. It made dramatic visual impact in the West, with its focus on the liberation of one’s body and sexual freedom. 

Swami Vivekananda, the Indian reformer, prophesied about a century ago, that America would be “… developing woman and the masses.” Indian women had since been looking Westward for inspiration in seeking betterment. However, the approaches of radical feminism transgress traditional emphases on modesty and chastity.

I should think that the same time, social demographics of Western societies also began to change. With the influx of diverse ethnic cultures, their homogeneity was lost. This future of diversity was perhaps unimagined and unaccounted for by feminist leaders in the ‘70s and ‘80s. Their campaigns target the Euro-American woman,excluding those of colour, and those from less developed nations. 

Non-Western groups associate the radicalism as a return to gender-centricity. The immigrant communities also perceive Western feminism degenerating to exhibitionism and promiscuity. The women of diverse groups become concerned with preserving the ethnic cultural identity in alien surroundings, against alien values.

Because social change and development has not been forthcoming in Arab states, their women’s movement has been through the increase in NGOs dealing with women’s health, education, legal literacy, income generation and rights advocacy. These organizations have evoked a mixed reaction in the Muslim world.

Jad explains:

These NGOs are widely viewed as the development of an Arab ‘civil society’, which can contain the authoritarian state, and as a healthy sign of real, ‘bottom-up’ democracy in the region. On the other hand, they have also been viewed as a new and growing form of dependency on the West. The West is seen by fundamentalist groups as a power which wants to impose its cultural values…

The NGOs face an uphill task. They lack grassroots connections, or the same face-to-face human contact as male cadres. Without mobilizing and organizing capabilities, they fail to find similar success. 

Instead they may be suspected of perpetrating “colonial feminism” or forming a “globalised elite” outside the indigenous culture. In states taken over by populist authoritarianism they may even be banned. In their place, state feminism is allowed to dispense controlled benefits of health, maternity services, education and work.

Jad writes:

Yet it is important to note that a large number of small associations, even with very diverse agendas, can in cumulative terms come to constitute a women’s movement.

With globalisation, women discover diversity of interests, locations, cultures and forms of expression. They realize that to “influence opinions and change society” is not easy or possible. The euphoric optimism of earlier generations died down to a new sense of realism, pessimism even. The monolithic façade of feminism as one total movement has splintered.

The feminist activism of today is far more issue-based, which allows diverse focus groups to work with politics, human relations and especially, culture. Through the 1980s, new traditions began to emerge with narrowed focus, e.g., black feminism, cultural feminism and psychoanalytical feminism. 

Bergman says in an interview, that:

The new young feminists are often connected to movements for animal rights, veganism and anti-pornography activism. … New networks of active older women … seek to banish the myths surrounding the menopause.

Feminism did not die or become irrelevant with the fragmentation; it became focused, agile and adaptable instead. Women needed to be more evaluative in judging outcomes. They learned strategic placements, in joining organizations or working outside of them, to achieve goals.

Women have joined the political establishment among others. In Finland, women parliamentarians network across party lines. Indian women parliamentarians managed recently to wrest support for the Women’s Bill, after six decades of conflict with patriarchal norms. The President of India and of the party in central governance of the republic, are at present, also women. Advancement in a globally fragmented feminism is slow. It is hoped it proves sustainable.

References for this post:

1. Islah Jad “The NGO-isation of Arab Women’s Movements”. shebacss.com 2004 
2. Lövdahl, Ulrika “The Women's Movement is Less Uniform but Radical Feminism is Still Alive” NiKK NORDIC GENDER INSTITUTE. Dated 3 2002. 
3. Williamson, Robyn. “To what extent is feminine a single doctrine?” Breaking Perceptions. April 18, 2010.