On International Women's day: Feminism, Culture and the Broader Picture.

Today is International Women's Day and what better day than this to make a post about something which changed my whole perception of Feminism and women's experiences generally.It was this time last year that my interest for gender equality began to develop and I wrote a post exactly a year ago about IWD!

A few weeks ago I had a essay to write for my feminism and political theory class and wanted to share briefly some of the ideas that I learnt from it. The essay was 'Given the variety of values and priorities between cultures, is it inappropriate to try to apply the same feminist agenda to all cultural groups?'

Now the conclusion I got from researching this question was that, of course, a one-size-fits-all feminism is not going to work because women are not just a solely a social entity . To assume that all women face oppression in the same way just because they are a women is clearly wrong, and it's an idea that has been challenged and has lost its popularity over many years. It has become clear to me though that yes, feminism has a clear general aim, but it will mean different things to different women. 

In studying the topics of multiculturalism and feminism, and particular looking at the lives of women in poor developing countries. This quote in particular stuck me. 

‘although sexual egalitarianism is a major goal for all feminists, gender discrimination is neither the sole nor perhaps the primary locus of the oppression of Third world women’. - Cheryl Johnson-Odim [x]

Now maybe this is a disputed idea, or maybe this is an obvious point, but it made me rethink in some ways what for me, feminism's purpose is, and how it needs to be catered to the women or the community it hopes to liberate. I can't really remember what I thought intersectionality meant before I did this essay but I believe now I have a better understanding of it. 

Although people's perception of other cultures is slowly getting better as people become more open and understanding. I would say there is a still a problem. The fact that we assume harmful practices such as Sati, dowry murders, child marriage and FGM are things innate to a countries culture or religion is so awful. To push these terrible things under the category of 'cultural values' gives the idea that because the west don't have these practices that the West is somewhat superior. 

Yet, if we are being honest, western countries are in no way better; forms of oppression and discrimination are widespread. The key difference is that the oppression of women in the west is seen as a problem that just needs solving, while the oppression of women in developing countries is seen as 'culture'. And the media goes to perpetuate these ideas. In an article by Leti Volpp, she talks about how the New Yorker, in writing about Dowry Murder in South Asian communities called it 'the cultural alternative to Western divorce'. This is the article [pdf link ]. I would really recommend it, as it explains it much more detail the problem of terming these practices as part of 'culture'. 

Anyways, before I get off on a tangent and start re-writing my essay, the ideas above are just some things that got me re-evaluating how I see the struggles of women in countries other than my own. For the main thing I want to get across in writing this is that women's experiences in countries other than our own can not be seen as just a gender issue. Oppressive structures of racism and poverty are playing a part in women's lives.

I feel like the feminism I read and talk about can be so western centric and sometimes I found myself assuming the discrimination and difficulties found by women in my near vicinity as ones faced by all women and therefore are the most pressing issues facing women.  It never crossed my mind before that women in other countries may be in such a difficult position that achieving gender equality is not the only and first way they need to improve their lives.

So there are just some of my thoughts on International Women's Day, for me, a day to open my eyes beyond my experiences and look at the broader picture. 

Sexism: Examples in Sport, Politics and Film.

The news stories have recently got me riled up. Therefore I wanted to highlight some examples of sexism that have frustrated me in particular.

Sport.
The Women's Tennis Champion Marion Bartoli. This blog posts highlights the disgusting and enraging comments made towards her.You can read it for yourself.
 http://publicshaming.tumblr.com/post/54864863081/womens-wimbledon-champion-marion-bartoli-deemed
What makes the whole thing even more depressing is that John Iverdale, the Radio 5 live commentator, commented on Bartoli's win by saying  "I just wonder if her dad, because he has obviously been the most influential person in her life, did say to her when she was 12, 13, 14 maybe, 'listen, you are never going to be, you know, a looker.".
 And its the sad fact that a male sport person never has to worry about the way they look, they just perform and if they are not necessarily conventionally attractive, it doesn't matter! In fact it doesn't even pass through anyone's mind to comment on it. Yet the way a women looks in sports is somehow relevant enough to be commented on and surely must be relevant to their performance! People commenting that Bartoli was sweaty and using that to put her down. Wow, she was sweating, no shit!

Politics
Another example I want to highlight is with the case of Julia Gillard. Now whether you think she should have been removed as Prime Minister or not, and whether you think she was a good leader or not, is not what I want to address. What I want to address is how she has been treated by the media. In an interview, a radio DJ asked her if her partner was gay, because he was a hairdresser. Why did this even seem an appropriate question to ask her. We can all assume that an interview with a male person of similar position say Paul Rudd, or Tony Abbott, would not have been asked such an inappropriate question. I really recommend this guardian article. It shows how difficult her position was, being the first Australian Prime Minister. That she can't just be seen as a Prime Minister like all others before her, but because being the first Female PM she put on a pedal stool and heavily criticised.

Film.
How Scarlett Johansson gets asked questions about her underwear and her diet while her co-star Robert Downey Jr is asked a serious questions about his character.

http://boston.ihollaback.org/2012/08/21/sexism-in-the-media-and-street-harassment/

Its this idea that women have to look conventionally pretty and if not they are not worthy of respect and can't be praised for their achievements. It's this idea that someone finds it perfectly acceptable to ask a women questions that are obvious inappropriate and humiliating. Its this idea that for a female actor, its more important to know how she fits into her clothes, what she eats to keep her figure and what underwear she wears rather than asking her a serious question about her role in a film.

The Progress of Social Movements and the question "Where are we in 2013?".

As a history and politics student I believe get to learn the best of both worlds. I study events that are happening right now and depending on what you define as history, events that happened ten to a hundred years ago. History; some question the relevance of a person who lived 200 years ago, and often see it to have very little meaning to the world we live in today. Yet surely the events of the past have shaped the world we live in today, and as the quote goes "Those who cannot learn from history are doomed to repeat it."

When I look at the news today, it often makes me think; in years to come, these events I see will no longer be defined as current issues. But will be written as historical facts in textbooks. They will be intensely analyed by academics, historians, sociologists, etc! If you think of all the areas of history that have shocked you, or made you question the morals of people at the time. Students will study the events will are living in right now and some will think "I can't believe that happened, why did no one do anything to change that, I'm so glad we don't live in a world like that anymore".

I wanted to put it into the context of social movements. Those campaigning for improved women's right in the western world, in the developing countries. The LGBT movement: the concept that homosexuals deserve the same legal and human rights as heterosexuals do. The fight for gay marriage.  The African-American civil rights movement, the position of black americans today still shows that it is not over, as well as the fact that racism is still a sad part of society.
Many of these social movements have been, in different forms, campaigning for years. Some argue so much progress has been made if we compare the rights of these social groups in the 1960s and 70s. Yet many are frustrated with the progress of change. I noticed this frustration in the women's movement.
Women are in such a better position than it was 40 years ago, but it makes us question. In the year 2013...

- There is still so much sexism. Just read the accounts of women and girls from the everydaysexism twitter account. [@EverydaySexism]
-Women are still being paid less then men. This is supposedely unlikely to change until 2067. [X]
- The Steubenville Rape Case, highlights the terrible stigma there is to rape victims and the fact that the media continues to enforce this "Rape Culture".
- The case of the 5 year old girl raped in India. The first response of the authorities was to dismiss the complaint by the girl's parents and the offer of 2,000 rupees to the parents to keep quiet. That shouldn't be the first response. [X]
-The list could go on.

It makes you think. 'Really, this is where we are in 2013.'

Sometimes, it is quite disheartening seeing the great areas of progress in social movements, but then seeing examples in the news that makes you think, "if this is still happening, how is there ever going to progress at the pace that we want it?". I question sometimes this progress, and I wonder, will I see a female Prime Minister or a female US president in my generation? Or even a female political party leader.
 But I suppose, for those fighting for social rights, we, of course should demand change now, but these efforts should also be seen as part of history. That as long as people continue to campaign, areas will improve, and its the past movements that fuel the present, which will then empower future generations. I have no summary to this post, but yeah, there are some of my thoughts.

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A side note: I recently read a really interesting essay in the Newstatemen, Centenary edition. A piece by Natasha Walter called "Lift up your voices". I think the edition has passed now, but if you happen to have it, I really recommend a read. It basically talks about the progress of Feminism over the last 100 years, as it the anniversary of the Newstatemen. It is very interesting and empowering piece.

22.5% of Women in UK Government. Is that good enough?

The issue of female political representation is something of particular interest to me. At the start of the Spring term I created a create a 3000 word assignment, essential a dissertation plan. I struggled for a while at what I wanted to write about, all I knew is that I wanted it to relate to women in politics. I finally decided to write about levels of political representation. In the end, I am pleased with this topic. Firstly it has a  wide range of work already written on it, which makes it challenging but also gives you more to work with. Secondly the topic is still debated, and the issue is still has relevance today. The question is why in the modern day, do highly developed countries, such as the UK have such low levels of women in government. I don't have an answer yet, but I my approach to this topic is hopefully to research enough to understand why there is such variation across Europe and ways in which these efforts are being made to improve this, both at National and EU levels. 
Many people will agree with me that once you focus on something, there is often not much else you want to read or talk about. But in always being passionate about women's equality as well as my now focused research topic, I became very interested in a UK based campaign which as you will tell, is identical to what I want to change and learn more about.

"Counting Women In" - A campaign fighting for 50/50 gender representation.  Connected to the work of Fawcett society, a gender equality thinktank. 
Key things to take from this campaign:

• Sex and Power 2013 Report
• Sign the petition to make David Cameron keep his promise.
• Follow their Twitter
• #CountingWomenIn

Here are the simple facts. There are only 22.5% of women in parliament in the UK. Compare this with Sweden which has 44.7% of women in Parliament. Out of 190 countries, we are 57th! (Data taken from this website.)

I hope that once I have begun to fully research this topic, I will then be able to have my own opinion on the matter. There is no question that I believe more women need to be Parliament, while over half our population are women, it makes no sense that our government does not represent our population and therefore its interests. And without sounding like a radical feminist, I don't believe it is right that we have men dominating the political system. 
Whether we should implement positive discrimination, in the sense that we push for increased levels of women through the use of quotas is debatable. I hope that levels can increase because women are actively taking political roles and that the ability to gain positions in government are equally available.

PBS's Makers - Women who make America Documentary - My Thoughts.

I recently came across this documentary on a tumblr blog called 'because I am a women'. (A blog I highly recommend by the way). The documentary is part of the Makers website, highlighting the women that have made America. Not only does the website contain the full documentary: a three part series, it also contains a number of videos from well known women such as Ellen Degenerous to people you may not have heard of.  Firstly I want to say that I really enjoyed this documentary. After watching it I felt so much more knowledgable about the history of the women's movement. Not only that, but after watching it, I felt quite inspired and in awe of these amazing women.

It looked at the women's movement from very early on, throughout the 1970s and 80s. This documentary is particular interesting,  containing the testomonies of so many different women, those women that made an active difference to women's position. There number of inspirational women stood out to me, women I hadn't heard of before. Women politicians, lawyers, homemakers, activists and others have who contributed to where we are today.

Gloria_Steinem : A social and political activist that cofounded the Ms Magazine.

I honestly did not know in so much detail the history of women's equality. This documentary really opened my eye to what these women did and the battle they had to go through to get rights, that we take for granted...