The other day I went to a women’s group meeting where women were encouraged and welcomed to freely tell their stories and share experiences confidentially and without judgement. The leader proudly told me she was a radical feminist. And I was excited to meet her and share stories as a fellow feminist and wanted to network with her further to hear her stories and learn from her about her work and her experiences. However, after attending the meeting, I was told my voice wasn’t welcome. Okay, that’s fine. There are plenty of other groups I can belong to and contribute towards, no problem.
What struck me was the fear. The leader of the group saw me as competition for scarce resources, a common problem not just amongst feminists in particular, but also in the charity sector more broadly. There’s a perception that the pot of funding and creative solutions and organisations to address these solutions are limited and that bidding for funding is a zero sum game where there are winners and losers. It’s the view that someone will only be able to gain at the other’s expense. Therefor it’s imperative to outdo, belittle, marginalize and spread vicious rumors about the competition and do all you can to outmaneuver them.
I disagree. My approach is win-win and that there are infinite resources. Each human, never mind each charity which is made up of lots of unique and creative individuals, represents a unique idea, a unique perspective that is needed if we are going to transform our cultures into ones where everyone is able to flourish. There are too many injustices in the world and too much injustice against women and girls to quarrel over who owns feminism or who owns a particular strategy or organisation or to insist there is only one way to address a particular form of violence against women, e.g. female genital mutilation or wage inequality.
There are probably as many brands of feminism as there are feminists. And feminists come in all shapes, sizes, ethnicities, genders, nationalities and races. There is a lot of baggage associated with the word feminism. The dictionary definition is very simply “the advocacy of women’s rights on the ground of the equality of the sexes.”
Recently, I was tickled to learn about some teen age boys in East London in the United Kingdom who were written up in a recent article for the Sunday Times. They were feminists because they saw that it was unfair that women and girls were discriminated against and they thought it was unfair that women earned 19.2 percent less than men. See http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/magazine/article4657024.ece for the article. Also, men and boys, through the White Ribbon Campaign, have also become involved in campaigning for ending all forms of violence against women and see inequality as a human issue that impacts on males and females.
However, numerous groups of feminists and feminist organisations still purport to speak for all feminists and advocate that their version is the one true dogma. I’ve spoken about fundamentalisms before and indeed there are feminists who are fundamentalists.
For example, I am reminded of another women’s organisation here in the UK, comprised probably now of women in their late 70’s who were some of the earliest pioneers of women’s rights in the 1960’s. They have fought hard the hard fightand they have their battle scars to prove it. I respect their experience and wisdom and the lessons they’ve learned. They bring a lot to the table. However, they’ve formed a good old girls network, much in the same way that there have been good old boys networks in the past, and if you don’t agree with them about abortion, select birth abortion (in countries like China, India and South Korea where pregnant women have ultrasounds and if they’re carrying a girl, they abort the fetus) and prostitution, you’re not a ‘true’ feminist or a part of the ‘gang’. Furthermore they were very reluctant to acknowledge that today’s young women view and pursue feminist goals in very different ways and embrace their perspectives and voices.
Also until five or six years ago, it was an anathema to say that men and boys should be involved in championing women’s rights or that gender equality is not just a woman’s issue but a human issue that affects men and women in different ways. Men were not welcome by feminist organisations. Finally, an old feminist stalwart, Germaine Greer, has been silenced, no-platformed, by feminist university women here in the UK for her stance on Caitlyn Jenner. Why? Greer has a unique perspective, whether one agrees with it or not, to bring to the table, and her voice should not be silenced.
Religious women and men can also be feminists. Religions and their interpretations are not static and they are not inherently sexist. Rather, they are manipulated by male religious leaders with a political agenda to maintain their positions of power and privilege. Women of all faiths are taking back the interpretations of their holy scriptures and challenging traditional male religious voices. There are multiple feminist voices within each culture and religion. Important to note here is that religion and cultures are constantly changing and are not static ahistorical entities. Muslim women are feminists and they all don’t speak with one feminist voice, the same with Christian women, Hindu women, Buddhist women and women of different pantheistic traditions.
Each voice brings a unique perspective and a unique approach to addressing inequalities between women and men. We need all the voices and perspectives. The issues are systemic and affect all areas of society. To address the systematic oppression we need to listen and learn from each other and from our different stories.
I speak as a white, middle class, middle aged woman with dual American and British citizenship who has worked cross-culturally and traveled to over 70 countries. I also come from a particular religious standpoint which is constantly growing and changing, but which emphasizes the transcendent and spiritual dimensions of life. I want to join my voices with others, not be silenced, and to do the part I’m meant to do with generosity of spirit, openness, a listening heart, always ready to learn from others’ wisdom and experience. I want to connect and network and share my insights and resources where they are helpful and work with other sisters and brothers constructively, with love and generosity, not fear or dogmatism, for equality and justice for all.