Women must unite against a global wave of repression
At a literary festival last autumn, a speaker I shared the stage with told the audience there was no need for feminism in Western societies, adding: “America is not Afghanistan”.
I have heard this kind of talk before. When I was based in Istanbul, a female researcher visiting from the US told me she wasn’t a feminist, but said it was understandable that I was one, since I lived in Turkey. What she ignored is that patriarchy is universal. There is no doubt it is far more dreadful and desperate in some parts of the world. But what it means is that gender awareness and a struggle for a more equal and fair society is needed everywhere. And this should be a cause for everyone.
The patriarchy makes women unhappy. But it also makes men unhappy — especially young, disempowered men, or men who do not conform to existing definitions of masculinity. To be a feminist means defending their rights too.
In the early 2000s, optimists would tell us tomorrow will be better than yesterday, and thanks to digital technology democracy would spread everywhere. Now we know better. We have too much information, less knowledge and even less wisdom. If we continue to learn nothing from history, generations could repeat their grandparents’ mistakes.
If all this is true, we women need to be more concerned — East and West. Because whenever populist nationalism, political isolationism and, eventually, authoritarianism are on the rise, so is sexism. The first people to lose their rights are women and minorities.
When asked why there weren’t more women in his cabinet, Hungary’s Viktor Orbán said few women could handle the stress of politics. Recently, gender studies were banned in Hungarian universities. Its women are encouraged to have four children via a lifetime income tax exemption. Orbán’s interest in controlling women’s productivity is closely tied to his anti-immigration stance.
Then there is Jair Bolsonaro in Brazil. A politician who once told a congresswoman, “I am not going to rape you because you are very ugly”. A father who said, “I had four sons, but then I had a moment of weakness, and the fifth was a girl.” A father who said he would rather see his son die in a car accident than see him date a man.
Then there is the ultra-conservative group Hazte Oír (Make Yourself Heard), in Spain. They painted buses with pictures of Hitler, wrote #StopFeminazis on them and drove them around ahead of International Women’s Day.
The demise of democracy often starts with language. Spain’s far-Right Vox party talks of “gender jihadism” or “supremacist feminism”. Not only is this unfair, it is also dangerous. Jihadism is a real threat. It kills people. So does white supremacy. To ignore this, and accuse women’s rights activists of the very things they are against, is an attempt to distort truth itself.
Elif Shafak is speaking at the Women of the World festival on Friday (thewow foundation.com; southbankcentre.co.uk)
