Ms. Magazine Blog: Feminists Conflicted About Helping Women In Pakistan--Say What?

Afghanistan, Feminism, Feminist, Media, Militarism, Pakistan, U.S. Politics, Uncategorized 1 Response »
Aug 302010

Okay, I get that there is a percentage of the population that feels rather strongly that feminists are to blame for everything that ever went wrong, but what I don’t get is when feminists themselves start blaming feminists. That however seems to be the gist of several recent posts by Rafia Zakaria on the Ms. Blog. Several weeks ago, Ms. Zakaria dismissed posts on the Feminist Peace Network as, “The Left’s framing”* and now apparently Zakaria is worried that feminists are to blame for the slow response to providing aid to Pakistan.

While very correctly pointing to the gendered impact of the disaster, she then writes,

For feminists, the crisis in Pakistan presents particularly tough questions regarding the ability of women around the world to come together for a humanitarian cause. Despite the fact that Pakistan remains a prominent ally, few American women’s groups have initiated campaigns to either collect funds for flood survivors or to coordinate efforts that would insist that American aid be disbursed in a way that insures that women’s needs are accounted for.

First of all, why should aid be tied to the fact that Pakistan is an ally, this is a humanitarian issue, not a political issue.  Women’s groups regularly raise a ruckus about the need to provide women-responsive aid, but the scope of this disaster is far beyond what most women’s groups can begin to adequately address and it is well past time that women-responsive aid be an internationally recognized need, and not something  assumed to be an issue that women or feminists are responsible for addressing.

While the Global Fund for Women has mounted an admirable effort to raise funds for flood-affected women in Pakistan, the issue has failed to gain significant traction among feminist groups, even those that have been focusing on the region with campaigns on ending the American military presence there.

Being opposed to militarism makes us impotent in the face of a humanitarian crisis?  Must one be in favor of militarism to be empowered to mount an aid effort?  Zakaria’s logic here escapes me.

The silence points to some of my worst fears: that the fervor of arguments preaching immediate withdrawal from Iraq and Afghanistan may have bled into a general attitude that wants nothing to do with the region at all. Simultaneously, as I discuss here, the admirable push to empower Afghan and Iraqi women may at times slide into the wishful thinking that they can perform a miraculous, by-the-bootstraps self-empowerment, without support.

No one is suggesting that and Zakaria provides no examples. Demands for immediate military withdrawal should not be confused with support for humanitarian efforts.

Could an unfortunate consequence of such thinking be that respect for the ability of Pakistani women to help themselves without foreign interference has been crudely transformed into the belief that they do not need any help from feminists around the world?

With all due respect, how could any thinking, compassionate person possibly think that?

Indeed, acknowledging the integral possibility of self-empowerment must not impose an insularity on global feminism that prevents solidarity at crucial times of humanitarian catastrophe. These unfortunate realities are abstract and achingly difficult to explain to the hundreds of thousands of women crouching in small makeshift beds and holding crying babies who continue to ask aid workers why the world does not care about them.

So the question stands for us to answer: Has global feminism been ravaged by the contentious debates over Iraq and Afghanistan, or can it revive in the face of the worst humanitarian disaster in the history of the United Nations?

That question is quite a leap. Zakaria offers no evidence of what she terms ravaging but with so many examples of how feminism continues to grow this is an odd assertion.  To the extent that feminism is strained, the root causes lie in economic hardship, racism, ecological stress and patriarchal politics, not contentious debates.  In any case, there has never been any debate that we should offer our support to Afghan (and Iraqi) women.  Women in Sudan and the Democratic Republic of Congo and many other places need our support too.  That we are not providing it is a reflection of our misguided national vision and extreme lack of understanding of the dire nature of this need, not our lack of humanity or feminist principles.

It defies understanding as to why there is still debate in the feminist community regarding whether military intervention is a viable way to provide that support or whether in fact a policy that includes the crass and cynical use of the difficulties faced by these women to justify our presence in these countries does more harm than good.  The amount of money we are spending for destruction dwarfs the amounts spent to enable Afghan women, or for that matter spent to provide humanitarian aid to Pakistan.  While there is no doubt that the women of Afghanistan need support, our current policy is not providing that support nor was it ever primarily intended to do so.

As regards Pakistan, again, the way we provide aid needs to be re-conceptualized but in fact, it is worth noting as the Feminist Peace Network did last week that feminist groups from around the world are working to help women in Pakistan.  I find it disturbing and disheartening that Ms. continues to run pieces on their blog that bash other feminists with little to back up those assertions.

———-

Note:  This is the response I wrote to that particular piece.  As a result of that, a productive dialog was held between Ms. and myself regarding the issues  involved and they were very kind to put a link to my rebuttal on their web page.  In the aftermath of that dialog, this most recent post is particularly baffling.

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Posted by Fempeace at 8:18 am

Women's Inequality Day

Feminism, Feminist, Gender Equality, Media, Uncategorized, Women's Equality Day Comments Off
Aug 252010

August 26th is Women’s Equality Day.  If we were being honest, we would call it Women’s Inequality Day.  Yes indeed, we did win the right to vote 90 years ago, but that does not equal equality.  In that regard, we’ve still got a long way to go.  As Catalyst notes,

Women hold 16.8% of seats in the U.S. Congress, while less than 20 female world leaders are in power. Women hold only 3% of positions of clout in mainstream media. Less than 10% of TV sports coverage in the United States is devoted to female athletes. And of the 250 top-grossing movies produced last year, 7% were directed by women.

Hell, we’re even discriminated against when it comes to naming streets–turns out that only 7% of the traffic circles in our nation’s capitol are named after women and when it comes to economics, that the faces on our paper money are all male should tell you something.

Bella Abzug

While Women’s Equality Day represents more of a wish than reality, I decided I wanted to learn more about it, and found this on Wikipedia,

Every president has published a proclamation for Women’s Equality Day since 1971 when legislation was first introduced in Congress by Bella Abzug. This resolution was passed designating August 26 of each year as Women’s Equality Day.

In a section on the modern observance of the event, there is also this informative tidbit:

GoTopless.org, a US organization, claims that women have the same constitutional right to be bare chested in public places as men. They further claim constitutional equality between men and women on being topless in public. In 2009, they used August 26, (Women’s Equality Day) as a day of national protest.

That this is the best example the authors of this page could find to illustrate the impact of Women’s Equality Day certainly lends credence to the fact that we’re just not there yet.

But it isn’t just Wikipedia that doesn’t get it.  Earlier this week, the New York Times ran a profile of  political hopeful Reshma Saujani, or more accurately, they ran a profile about her shoes,

Finally, as we returned to her office, I asked: About those shoes?

“They’re the Kate Spade wedges,” she said, sagging slightly, as if she had only just then been reminded that she had feet. “They’re these politician-woman shoes.”

I’m not a big fan of high heels, so I might be inclined to vote against Ms. Saujani if such things mattered.  But actually, I’d rather know where she stands on issues such as climate change, education and oh yeah, women’s rights.  Long time political activist and writer Jill Miller Zimon sums it up nicely,

Women  politicians should be covered  by the media for their issues and character and leadership abilities, based on their  experiences, accomplishments and vision for how they’ll fulfill  expectations in public office should they win.  Exactly as men  politicians.

It’s beyond the pale now: there is NO QUESTION that  the NYT did this story  to get up hackles and in the end, throw serious  political reportage of women candidates under the bus.  It’s an  inexcusable dog and pony show for readers and frankly, if I were that  candidate, I would have demanded a different article.

Now – lest I be picked on for saying that a woman politician should be able to choose being portrayed anyway she wants, fine.

BUT  I would then ask: WAS SHE GIVEN A CHOICE? Did the Times say to her: we  can either do a fashion piece on you and connect shoes to women running  for office, or we can do a piece on how you and Maloney differ and what  you bring to the table that she doesn’t.

Let’s celebrate all that we’ve accomplished, and honor our foremothers for all of their hard work.  And then let’s get back to work, because when it comes to equality for women, we’re not there yet.

———-

To learn more about Women’s Equality Day, click here.

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Posted by Fempeace at 12:31 pm

Where's The Money Honey--Funding Women-Led Work

Economics, Feminism, Feminist, Sheroes, Uncategorized Comments Off
Jul 282010

Funding social justice work is never easy.  You know this because you probably get umpteen requests in your inbox every day from all manner of worthy organizations–stop the war, clean up pollution, feed children.  It is endless and there is no way to give to everything, you have to make choices and they aren’t easy ones. But perhaps the hardest to fund is work that enables women’s lives and work.

The reasons aren’t hard to understand.  You would think that while maybe these issues wouldn’t be at the top of the radar screen for men (although they should), at least women would be all over this, after all it is our own lives we are talking about.  But while many women are very, very generous, the bottom line is that women not only tend to have less to give, they also tend to prioritize everything but their own lives,  Add to that that when women’s concerns come up within the social justice framework, it is all too common for them to be framed as something to be taken care of after we worry about the ‘big’ issues.

That is a paradigm that Women Moving Millions,  “a partnership of visionary donors and the Women’s Funding Network,” is working to change.

The Women Moving Millions campaign aims to inspire gifts of a million dollars and above in support of women’s funds across the globe.

The campaign is a partnership of visionary donors and Women’s Funding Network, a global movement of 150 women’s and girls’ funds that invest in women-led solutions to critical social issues like poverty and global security.

In May 2009, Women Moving Millions announced that more than $181 million has been raised through partnerships between 101 donors and 41 women’s funds! This groundbreaking achievement exceeds the original goal of raising $150 million!

This massive infusion of investment will be a force for lasting change in the life chances and opportunities of women and girls around the globe, with major reverberations for entire communities and countries. Together, women’s funds will create lasting advances in areas from community leadership and education to poverty eradication and healthcare access. Learn more about the impact of women’s funds.

The donors and founding partners are now gearing up to expand the power and reach of Women Moving Millions with new fundraising initiatives aimed at expanding the reach of the campaign. These include welcoming donor circles and men into the growing movement of trailblazers committed to women-led social change.

To learn more about this exciting and important campaign, click here.  Of course all of us aren’t millionaires.  In fact, most of us aren’t.  But at every economic level, when you consider giving, please consider focusing your giving on efforts that enable the work and voices of women and girls.  The payoff for all of us will be enormous.

And yes, the Feminist Peace Network gratefully accepts donations of any size.

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Posted by Fempeace at 8:35 am

Toma Lynn Smith: Why Do We Take Off Our Clothes

Feminism, Feminist, Matridynamics, Misogyny, Patriarchy, Pornography, Trafficking, prostitution Comments Off
Mar 222010

The following is cross-posted with the kind permission of the author, Toma Lynn Smith from her excellent blog, Social Justice Butterfly:

Lately something has been bothering me.  Naked women are everywhere, rather it be an owl’s eyes in a Hooters billboard (their breast shaped) or Nia Long appearing in a PETA magazine ad:

I understand that we live in a world surrounded in penises, from neckties to skyscrapers, but it so rare that men appear in the nude.  Or should I say resort to taking their clothes off to pay bills or because they seek fame (i.e. Levi Johnston: Sarah Palin’s daughter’s baby daddy).  So what is driving us to be naked in plainsight?

My only answer is patriarchy.  And of course, there is the “of your own freewill” argument.  Too many women seek the approval of men, even if that means losing a part of themselves.

Despite strides of women making just a little more money in the workplace over the years, a female stripper can make a lot more cash on a pole than she can typing away as a secretary.  In some cases, like a “call girl” in Las Vegas, can make more money in one week than what a recent college grad can make in the first year of post-graduate employment.

So what can be done about this?  First boys and men could stop buying Hustler and going to strip clubs and for girls and women to realize that they are more than just a server to men, what’s between your ears is just as important as the lumps on your chests and the “whateveryouwanttocallit” between your thighs.

Yes women have appeared nude for centuries in art, but like it “was then,” the degradation continues, leaving women and girls to believe that revealing their skin for cash or for boys/men’s satisfaction is OK and it is not.

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Posted by Fempeace at 7:12 am

Iranian Women--Solutions To Crisis In Iran Must Address Women's Rights

Feminism, Feminist, Gender-Based Violence, Human Rights, Iran, Matridynamics, Militarism, Misogyny, Patriarchy, Sheroes, U.S. Politics, Violence Against Women Comments Off
Feb 162010

While Hillary Clinton others Iran, talking tough about how Iran might trigger a nuclear arms race (never mind that companies like Halliburton have been more than happy to supply them with the means to do so) and become a dictatorship (which we only denounce when it is in our so-called political best interest to do so), women in Iran are offering substantive ideas for changing the Iranian paradigm as if women mattered.

Jailed Women Activists In Iran

Via the Women’s Forum Against Fundamentalism in Iran (WFAFI):

A group of Iranian women activists issued a statement listing their own solutions to the current crisis in the country. They maintain that the proposals put forth by opposition leaders, Mir Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi “neglect” the demands of women. Some of the jailed women activists: Iran Arrest of 19 Activists from the Women’s Movement, Women Journalists and Civil Activists Iranian women have been a very key part of the opposition movement.

The statement lists: “annulment of all discriminatory and anti-women laws, recognition of women’s right to their body and mind, ending violence against women and prosecution of all perpetrators of the crimes committed in the past thirty years” as solutions for exiting the current crisis.

They add that women’s issues are a major part of the current crisis and “no solution will be effective” without recognizing and trying to resolve these issues.

The statement also supports general demands such as “freedom of thought, speech and assembly.” While calling for an end to torture and the death penalty, they also express their support for “the immediate and unconditional release of all political prisoners.” Some of these demands are similar to those included in the proposals by Mir Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi.

The statement emphasizes that the demand of the women community “is not changing the president or limiting the power of the leadership; but rather the realization of fundamental and structural changes.” Shadi Amin, Golrokh Jahanguiri, Fariba Davoudi, Shadi Sadr, Mahboubeh Abbasgholizadeh and Shahla Abghari are amongst the signatories of this statement. Women have played a major role in the recent protests in Iran and scores of women’s activists have been detained and imprisoned for their participation in the protests.

In November, Mir Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi condemned the violent treatment of women by government forces during the protests.

Demands included in the statement:

1. Abolishment of all discriminatory laws against women including divorce rights, marriage age, polygamy, inheritance laws, testimony, etc.
2. Recognition of women over her choice of clothing and body. This include freedom of wearing or not wearing the veil, and, abortion rights.
3. Abolishment of all forms of violence against women both at home and in publish, this includes abolishment of honor-killing.
4. Separation of church and state.
5. Prosecution of all the officials engaged in crimes against humanity and women in the past three decades.

See also here and here.

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Posted by Fempeace at 11:49 am
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