Opinion: Equality For Women Is Progress For All
[Opinion column written by Jonathan Starling]
Today, March 8th, is International Women’s Day, and has the theme of ‘equality for women is progress for all’ as the official UN theme for 2014.
International Women’s Day emerged out of the labour struggles and socialist movement of over a century ago, and has been adopted by the United Nations as an official observance since 1975.
This day gives an opportunity for all of us who believe in social justice, and who are committed to building a better Bermuda – and by extension a better world – to reflect on the importance of doing so in a feminist fashion. As the official theme makes clear, we cannot have progress for all if we don’t make feminism central to our lives, values, actions and struggles.
The vast majority of us did not choose our sex, or to be born into a sexist society; however, we can all chose to be feminists and work to build a non-sexist society.
Sexism manifests itself in our society in a myriad of ways, be it the way we raise our children [including sex-specific colours, toys and behaviours], ongoing wage inequalities, widespread sexual harassment, violence and exploitation, the way we navigate our workplaces, unequal burdens of domestic labour or the ‘glass ceiling’ of managerial or other leadership positions being dominated by males.
It is important to note that, while in a male supremacist society [patriarchy] like ours females are generally the principal victims, males are also deformed by the nature of patriarchy. Males are socialised to a patriarchal male ‘ideal’, a mythological masculinity.
And this leads to its own particular expressions in our society, from males seeking to realise this ideal through a distorted hyper-masculinity that expresses itself through violence, both physical and psychological, and the abuse and exploitation of women or those perceived to be ‘weaker’. Other men seek to realise this masculine ideal through emotional distance, or consumerism or even substance abuse. Males in our patriarchal society do benefit from male privilege, but are victims of patriarchy all the same.
So just as racism deforms the lives of both the racist and the victim of racism, so too does male supremacy deform the lives of both men and women. Similarly, just as a privilege of White privilege is ignorance of that privilege [for those who benefit from it, of Whites], so too does male privilege far too often render men ignorant of the sexism in our society.
And just as the end of formal – legal – racism in the form of segregation has not made our society any less racist [and in some way has even reinforced the racist nature of our society], the removal of formal/legal sexism has not made our society any less sexist.
Feminism is, simply, to quote the celebrated feminist theorist bell hooks, ‘a movement to end sexism, sexist exploitation and oppression.’ It is not about being ‘anti-male’, but simply a recognition that we live in a sexist society, specifically a male supremacist one which we can call patriarchy. And it is a commitment to overcoming patriarchy and building a non-sexist future.
Feminism must inform anyone committed to building a better world and to complement the equally valid understanding of our society in terms of race and class.
Our class structure has been largely shaped by our racial politics of White supremacy, and it is only through recognising this that we can come to an understanding of class relationships – and class struggle is unescapably connected to the struggle to end racism. Feminism complements this by adding a key insight into domination and exploitation, as well as the way these are internalised through socialisation.
‘Equality for women is progress for all’ – Each one of us, in our home, in our circle of friends, in our neighbourhoods, in our workplaces, needs to recognise the truth of this statement. And from that recognition we must also practice feminism, actively, in all those spheres. And this must extend to other spheres, especially our political parties and the labour unions.
If we want to build a better world, a better future, feminism must be central to our doing so, in our lives, values, actions and our struggles, including both anti-racism and the class struggle.
-Jonathan Starling
Jonathan, it is surely an oversight that on this of all days you fail to mention the growing cisexism of large numbers of mainstream feminist women to transgender people, especially those that choose to live as women. I think it fair to say that while this discrimination continues, feminism as a liberation ideology for all and in on the ground practical terms too, will have failed. This LBGT phobia on the part of feminists is astonishing given the enormous grass roots support of LGBT communities globally to their cause these past three decades. If you would be so kind as to post your thoughts on this, it would be much appreciated.
Morning Gotham,
I generally don’t comment on threads explicitly concerning me, but I think I can make an exception in this case.
It was indeed an oversight, yes.
I was trying to keep the article to an easy-to-read length, and so was hoping that my comments regarding masculinity and that I’d only mentioned some of the manifestations of sexism in our society would be sufficient.
Homophobia is, in my opinion, one such expression of patriarchal sexism, and I don’t think that a feminism that fails to confront homophobia is a genuine feminism – at the very least it is a limited feminism which can only have a limited success in confronting patriarchy.
I hope the above helps address your concerns.
Jonny would you care to comment on the opposition leaders damiming indictment of homosexuals?
Is it appropriate for a mainstream progressive party to have a leader with such views?
Morning Campervan,
I have previously spoken in response to both the Premier and Opposition Leader’s comments regarding same-sex marriage and homosexuality in general.
In fact, I wrote an OpEd here on Bernews at the time, focused on the issue of same-sex marriage, which you can read at http://bernews.com/2013/07/starling-same-sex-marriage-right-thing-to-do/
I agree with equality but where is the line drawn? I think this equality movement has had some unexpected consequences as here in the UK women seem to have more rights within the law as the courts usually side with the woman in domestic and marriage issues, double standards have been created especially when it comes to marriage and sex offenses, where a man would get a lengthy sentence, while a female will only get a slap on the wrist for the exact same crime. Also a very concerning aspect of equality, which no mainstream media is talking about, is the unsustainable negative birthrate of mainly European countries where ‘equality’ is prevalent, i am not aware of any scientific studies being done but i have a feeling it is directly related to ‘feminism’ and equality.
PS This negative birthrate is why we got our uk passports and the uk borders have been opened, not niceties the UK gov is completely aware of the irreversible effects of a declining population.
Wait…
You have ABSOLUTELY no evidence to back up your claim… and admit that… yet, you think it’s ok to make it?
Huh?
“i am not aware of any scientific studies being done but i have a feeling it is directly related to ‘feminism’ and equality.”?
You want to know why “no mainstream media” is talking about it?
Because it’s something you made up!
In your entire post, you don’t show a single bit of evidence to back up ANY of your claims.
You “agree with equality”… but don’t actually want it.
That doesn’t make a lick of sense.
Jonathan, a very interesting article. No one disputes a woman’s right to pursue educational or economic advancement, and it certainly seems apparent that women have been making tremendous strides in many areas since the hey-day of the feminist revolution in the 1960′s. However, when one evaluates the state of our society, it certainly begs the question of whether feminism has been the key “progress for us all.”
I came across the below article in the Huffington Post a while back, which I found to be very thought-provoking, and I believe it does have elements of truth:
http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/lydia-lovric/working-mothers-childcare_b_4024763.html
I don’t really think women are equal…nope …not in any way!…I think they are better…their warm and cuddly…smell good …are the yang to my ying….Dey aww de rollah skate to mah key!….MmmmmmMmmmm goooood!
I’m with you 100%. Men have made a total mess of things throughout time while women have had to put up with it – up to now. Personally, I find nothing more fulfilling than an intelligent, vibrant, powerful woman taking control of things…