Feminism

Feminism

By Necta Montes

The Reality of Women in the Asian Context

The session started with the context and the understanding of the problems and issues of women in Asian society before going into the analysis and theoretical discussion on Feminism.

The facilitator stated that unlike political issues, where participants can discuss it with a spectator attitude and devoid of personal involvement, Feminism and Women's issues addresses both the structural and the personal dimension of the problem.

In order to understand the reality of women in the Asian context, she distributed an article to each group to discuss questions of our feelings towards the report and ask the participants to give a brief explanation or impression of the images of women being shown on the screen.

A different set of slides shows on various women's issues in the region, with the title

· Bride-burning in India,

· Infanticide and feticide in China,

· Migration of Women Workers in SEA

· Prostitution

· Violence Against Women (Wife Beating)

· Poverty

· Comfort Women, etc.

Questions for the participants from the slide presentation:

· What comes to your mind when you see these images?

· Is there something common and different about the images you just saw?

· How are they different or how are they common?

· If concrete issues surface, ask what would be the root cause of the issues?

The images according to the participants were:

· shocking to them

· getting angry

· disconnected

· why and how it happens

· women are victims

· choiceless

· commodified

· subjected as cheap price

· we want to take actions.

On the other hand the images of men are powerful, liars, pretentious, customers of clients, and the root cause are mainly economical, lack of education, the bad socio-Political and cultural structures.

The facilitator in turn gives hope that all these discussions will empower to develop positive attitude. She further stated that Feminist Movement is against by people today due to the empowerment of women in 1970's and 80's. However the problems are not eradicated and still prevalent in our society. Therefore it is the church and our ecumenical concerns to do a part in our world.

Case studies on Images of women from different countries, Violence against Women (VAW) were analyse in such a way to give a voice to Feminism.

Why Feminism and the Feminist Movement?

Emphasis was given to the question Why Feminism and what is Feminism. Feminism has its origin and basis, and what was shown in the slides are the core of Feminist ideology and the Feminist Movement, that is the reality of Women's oppression and exploitation around the world. Thus the activity was shown in order to avoid intellectualizing Feminism as a concept, which often breaks-up the discussion into heated and often emotional arguments and debates. In actual sense Feminism was made controversial by groups who were threatened by the amount of lower half of the world population will have if the Feminist movement will succeed. The main focus on the basic reality of women in our countries, so that we will not loose track, and discuss feminism vis-a vis these realities. In the end, present reality will also determine the relevance of Feminism in today's world.

Before we proceed, some of the misconceptions and criticisms about Feminism, and the Feminist Movement was highlighted:

· Feminism is often thought as a recent phenomenon, rooted in western society. This word is in common usage in Europe and elsewhere in 19th and 20th century to signify agitation on issues concerning and effecting women. In 3rd world confusion is caused by conservatives that alleged what feminism is:

· Feminism is a western bourgeois ideology, and therefore is not applicable in Asia where majorities of the women are poor

· Feminism is a thing of the past, and what we have in our midst is the so-called the "back lash" of Feminism;

· Feminism breaks-up families and institutions, destroying marriages and heterosexual relationships;

· Feminists are lesbians and anti-men;

· Feminism and the Feminist movement divide the people's movement, and dilute the aspirations of the people for liberation.

· An ideology of the local bourgeoisie

· Alienates if divers women from their indigenous culture and family responsibilities and from the revolutionary struggles for national liberation and socialism

Feminism is not imposed onto the Third world by the West. But rather historical circumstances produced important material and ideological changes that effected women and responses from women. Feminist struggles originated between 70 and 90 years ago in many countries of Asia. This is now considered a fact that has been " hidden from history". Only recently with the rise of Feminist movements all over the world attention has been directed to early feminist and feminism in 3rd world in Asia. These early efforts were on the debates on women's rights and education was held in 18th century in china. There were movements for women's social emancipation.

Originally, feminist's agitation on issues concerning women related to the democratic rights of women, such as right to vote, property rights and right to education and employment etc. Nowadays it's meaning had expanded to include ideological/theoretical and political formulations such as:

· Challenging the unequal relations between men and women

· An awareness of women's oppression and exploitation within the family(at the very level of intimate personal relationships) at work and in society and conscious action to change this situation

· Social movements for change in the conditions of women to change the traditional role and image of women, to end sexism and the oppression of women equal (not necessarily similar) rights with men. It is based on the understanding from women's point of view

· It is not fight between men and women rather a fight between and ideology which enforces sexual stereotyping and intimations upon both men and women

Feminism therefore goes beyond movements for equality and emancipation that agitate for equal rigths and legal reforms to redress the prevailing discrimination against women. While such movements often advance the struggle for equality, they do not tackle basic issues of women's subordination within the family for challenges existing framework of men-women relations where the subordination of women is locate. It is a struggle for the achievements of women's equality, dignity and freedom of choice to control our lives and bodies within and outside the home and in all aspects of our daily lives. Therefore it is imperative that the understanding of feminism has

to be placed historically and culturally in specific realities, levels of consciousness, perceptions and actions of the members of society that can be articulated differently in different countries, by different groups in the same country.

The first stage of Feminist is liberating woman from constraint society. The next stage is to liberate the remainder of her society from the same system. Thus " inclusion" of men in the process of women's liberation is imperative to its success. While women are slowly starting to escape the social conditioning which constrain us, men have not even begun to challenge the way they are told to live. Whilst feminine has been the strongest movement in the 20th century, it's progress can no further unless men start to be liberate along with it. Men too are the victims of the same set of oppressive forces that dictate to the individuals how we are to behave. Feminine cannot solve problems however in the same way only women can evaluate women's needs and wants only men can bring about change in their own lives and redefine their gender roles

While all women are oppressed, not all women are oppressed equally. Although women share a specific type of oppression simply by being women, they also share other defining characteristics and are subjected to other different forms of oppression. Different women suffer from different forms of oppression. For example

· Working class women at greater risks than upper class women

· Working class women have less access to options open to them

Marginalisation and oppression of women are legitimised by traditional norms, values, institutions and scriptures that provide the broad ideological foundations of patriarchy and other forms of domination, then it is questionable why Asian women's issues are becoming more obvious? Perhaps it is due to the impact of globalisation, factors such as less restriction of immigrant's, easy access to communications such as Internet where women's bodies can sell through credit card.

A historical analysis of women's oppression was done through some slide show and it was concluded that it is quite convincing that patriarchy emerged out of private ownership of property.

Different streams of Feminism

Feminism

Feminism in simple term is an awareness of Patriarchal control, exploitation and oppression at the material and ideological levels, of women, women's labour, fertility And sexuality, in the family, at the work and in society in general, which includes action by women and men to transform society.

What women can do, is to provide the impetus and support for men to go through this process, and to recognise its importance in their own lives.

Each feminism is a blend of ideas, histories and ideological perspectives. There are different perspectives with which feminism has been analyzed and within each of this feminism - patriarchy, male dominance and gender inequalities have been looked at differently. Each type of feminism carries a specific agenda for change arising from its particular analysis. Therefore All the feminists

"Believe in equal rights and opportunities for women all recognise that women are oppressed and exploited by virtue of being women all organise to make change."

But within this commonality are extensive differences in strategy especially in identifying constituencies and allies like:

· -vision about what constitutes women's liberation

· -attitudes and reactions to men

· -understanding the roots of women's oppression

· -setting priorities

Liberal feminism analyses the place of women primarily from a legal/political perspective. Aim at bringing Equality between men and women within the framework of the existing social order - do not question the underlying basis of women's subordination.

Concentrate on lobbying governments for pro-women reforms and trying to influence decision-makers for equal opportunity.

Central theme is "equality of opportunity" which means each individual in society should have equal chance to compete for the resources of that society and to be uninhibited by custom and law. Emphasise on redistribution of opportunity in order to give women access to power and opportunities of men. Barriers to competition must be removed. Concentrate on improving educational opportunities for women to give them the tools to compete, on changing socialisation patterns that shape a feminine personality uncomfortable with competing, and on removing legislation that discriminates women.

Radical feminism focuses its analysis on PATRIACHY - whole system of male power over women. This is reinforced by and reinforcing the power of individual men over women and children within their families. See sexual oppression as primary and aim at changing all oppressive social institutions. Adopt a militant, anti-men stance to the point of being isolationist.

Stress women only campaigns and demonstrations, building women's space and women's culture. Identifies women's unique capacity to give birth to children as central to women's experiences and to the material basis of women's oppression. Women 's role in biological reproduction (often child rearing) is seen to be the basis upon which male privilege is established and the root of male control of women's bodies, which is expressed in exploitative patterns of male /female sexuality and in violence against women.

Identify fundamental emotional, social and political differences between men and women. Validated the differences between men and women and in fact we need the female cultural life-giving values of women.

Radical feminism named the differences between women and men thus made women's oppression visible largely responsible for the development of women-centred culture that takes the form of alternatives against male control of women's bodies - rape crisis centres shelters for battered wives.

Marxist feminism analyses women's oppression exclusively from the economic (class) point of view. Women's struggles are considered part of larger class struggle against an exploitative capitalist system. Capitalism and the class structure are viewed as the Root of women's oppression. It emphasises struggle against capitalism and the need of working class, women and men to unite and fight for equality. Women's emancipation will then follow.

Socialist feminism raises economic and class questions and sees the problem as a combination of Male domination and class exploitation. Seek to analyze the subordination of women as linked with other forms of oppression, and attempt to unite the fight for socialism with that for women's liberation. The family and economy are not looked as separate institutions but are inter acting systems. Emphasise on making alliance with other oppressed groups, movements and left political parties.

Feminist Theology

Feminist Perspective in Reading the Bible:

The discussion was made on why today we need to interpret the Bible in such a way that women could be a part of the society / church in order to build an inclusive community. When we look at the bible, primarily from the Feminist point of view the Bible as "the word of God" is perceived as problematic due to:

- It can be used to perpetuate the subordination of women.

- It is not literal; it is an interpretation.

- It was compiled, translated by male Scripture scholars "the androcentric and sexist tone" pervade.

- It is loaded with patriarchal bias. e.g. the key figures in Salvation History

As a result, for the Bible to be truly liberating it is of the view that there is a need to re-read and re- interpret the texts using the Feminist Lens.

Hermeneutics (Interpretation of suspicion) is the starting point of Feminist biblical studies. The facilitator uphold that hermeneutics of Bible reading will be effective if one:

· Goes through scholarly analysis & inter-disciplinary (archaeology, sociology, anthropology) will be able to approximate the original intention of the text.

· Relate ancient biblical texts to contemporary theological and ethical reflection ( it is appreciated that some of our Asian women theologians are doing that )

· Attempts at biblical hermeneutics could be traced back to the compilation of the women's bible (e.g. Elizabeth candy Stanton ) Today we have the Women's Bible Commentary.

· Asking the right question will uncover the patriarchal bias.(e.g. Creation story Gen 2, I Corinthians 14: 34)

Feminism and the Ecumenical Movement

Basing on the two texts

· "So God created man in his image, in the image of God he created him: male and female he created them." (Genesis 1:27)

· "There is neither male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus". (Gal. 3:28)

The facilitator stated the imperative to act on gender issues and guidelines as an integral part of the mission of the Ecumenical Movement, because as Christians, we believed that men and women are made equally in the image of God, and in the community of the baptised, are equal participants in the Body of Christ. She further pointed out that the implications of our mutual partaking in the divine image and in Christ Body are deep; therefore they have to do with mutual love, respect, and an attention to each other's God-given dignity in all we do together in the ecumenical movement. At the same time the WCC Guideline which stated that the ethos which WCC seek to cultivate is founded on the basis of our Christian calling. It is based on a

fundamental belief in the dignity of human persons, and therefore upon mutual love, mutual respects, mutual trust and mutual understanding.

Conclusion:

Feminism is a movement emerged out of women and their struggles for being a human being. The texts are only to give framework for the academics and activists to let them closer together.

Information Box: Terminologies

Female

Of the sex that has ovaries and produces ova.

Feminine

Having qualities seen as suitable to a woman in a particular culture at a particular time.

Feminism

The social movement that seeks to change the traditional role and image of women, to end sexism and the oppression of women and to attain for women equal rights with men. It is based on the understanding of the women's point of view.

Feminist

Identify with the principles and aims of the broad feminist movement which works for women to have equal rights with men. Many question whether women can be feminist. Since it is a revolutionary movement based on the experience of being a woman under patriarchy. Sympathetic men are called pro-feminist.

Gender

Is a set of qualities and behaviours expected from a female or male by their society. A person's gender behaviour is affected by social or cultural expectations. These expectations come from the idea that certain qualities and therefore roles are "natural " for woman while other qualities and roles are "natural" for men. These qualities are usually created by social pressures or conditioning.

Gendering

The process by which females and males learn and act out the different qualities that society considers " natural" for them.

Gender oppression

Can be experienced by both men and women. However, since patriarchal norms dominate our society, all women experience genders oppression, to a greater or lesser degree. Does not exist in isolation but is affected by other, systems of oppression such as colour, class, culture and age, of both the oppressor and the oppressed.

Gender Sensitivity

Means to be aware that there are both biological and gender differences between men and women. Also that women and men in different parts of the world have been gender in different ways.

Gender Subjugation

Is a social system in which are socialise into accepting sets of beliefs. 'I'his beliefs hold that women are inferior. To men the power relation's attached to these ideas give men more power than women in society.

Male

Being of the sex produces sperm.

Male Chauvinist

A Man who regards women as being innately inferior to men and treats women with no respects.

Masculine

Having qualities that are seen a appropriate to men in a particular time and place.

Patriarchy

It is a social system which is based on beliefs of men's superiority and which gives men the major decision-making power. It means the " power of the fathers" "father's right". It also means a social in which descent is traced through the male line in the family and which serves men's interests and men have taken and have been given rights over women. These include rights over women's labour, women's bodies, women's childbearing, women's identity. Nowadays, it refers to a system of male authority and control that oppressed women through its social, political and economic institutions. In any of the forms that patriarchy society takes, whether feudal, capitalist or socialist, gender discrimination go together.

Rape

Is the act of forcing someone through violence or coercion to have sexual intercourse. Feminist theory defines rape as an act and social institution winds both maintain patriarchal domination. Feminist analysis shows that rape is the logical conclusion of sexism. Rape is a constant reminder to all women of their vulnerable Position.

Sex

Is determining by biology or the person's anatomy or female sex. There are 3 characteristics (a) external sex organs (b) internal sex organs, and (c) secondary sexual development at puberty (breasts etc)

This word is more often taken to mean sexual intercourse or activity.

Sexism

Is when people stereotype, discriminate against or show prejudice against other due to their sex. It is generally used to describe an attitude of behaviour of a person or an institution while degenerates or unfairly disadvantage females.

Sexuality

Is that dimension of human being to do with sexual feeling behaviour and relations. It has to do with interrelationships between potential or actual sexual partners that the subordination of Women is a central feature in al social systems where some people dominate others.

Subordination of Women

It describes the condition of Women the dominance of women by men within the patriarchal system of society. Women are placed in a position in society, which is consistently inferior to the position of men. This is justified by theories of biological difference. Women are held in this position by social institutions like the family, the church, law, education and government and women have consistently less access to the benefits and resources of society than men have.

Violence against Women

This includes sexual harassment, sexual assault, rape, incest, pornography that maintains battering. Based on the is idea that women are men's property it maintains the system of male domination through violence and fear of violence

Women's Oppression

Is the experience by Women as gender oppression as a system of domination. The term is commonly used to mean that women as a group are oppressed in all sections of society. Women's access to society's resources and benefits are mediated by men. Women mostly are excluded from decision making process, which perpetuate and maintain patriarchy. Women's rights to their own bodies are subordinate to patriarchal interests and men's access. Patriarchy ensures men's control over women's labour power, women's property and reproductive power. While all women have been oppressed/ victims in certain aspects of their lives, they have been also been agents of oppression. On the other hand, women are oppressed in the family by fathers or husbands and on the other they have also held power over other women and men.