Women as Global Citizens - Mo Ford

When the Suffragettes fought for women’s right to vote, critics called them ‘greedy’: they had, for the most part, husbands to provide for them, they were spared the tiresome duty of participating in the world of work outside the home, they had no obligation to worry their pretty little heads about politics… what more could these ungrateful creatures want?!

And yet, their fight was essentially won. In many countries today, the position of women has massively improved on several levels, from women in government to property rights, to education. But should this be regarded as a victory, a chapter in history written and forgotten? There is an abundance of women who appear to be afraid to demand more, lest the ‘greedy’ label resurface. In particular, those living in affluent societies with seemingly endless opportunities afforded to them are often loath to criticise women’s status in their own cultural context, when they are increasingly aware of the more urgent needs of many women in developing countries. This was a dilemma I faced upon my recent return from India.

Before I continue, it seems appropriate to include a ‘disclaimer’, as it were. One of the things that struck me about India was the enormous diversity of its people and the vast differences in the positions of its women, from the most fiercely independent and radical to the most marginalized. As such, I should point out that I do not intend to homogenise by discussing ‘Indian women’, ‘Western women’ or any other group as if they were all the same. Any generalisations are made self-consciously and are intended to describe trends as opposed to the full situation in all of its incumbent complexity.

I was deeply humbled by what I encountered in each region of India that I visited – the women worked tirelessly, either at their work fighting to advance the situation of the marginalised, their college courses, or ‘just’ looking after their homes and families. Their dignity and unwillingness to complain regardless of how difficult their lives were made me realise anew how much I take for granted. I thought myself very privileged to have been born into a society that allows me free expression and choice.

But it is crucial to avoid seeing people whose autonomy is compromised and who have little material wealth as ‘victims’. This only serves to create divides, and at times seems to lead the ‘haves’ to believe that they may speak for and make decisions on behalf of the ‘have-nots’.

Teaching in a primary school

And yet, we cannot ignore the realities of practices borne of desperation and lack of choice. Of these, the issues which made the most harrowing impression on me in the context of women in India, were purdah (where a wife is kept indoors, cut off from society – this is a means of showing that the family is wealthy enough to keep her away from degrading paid work), ‘bride burning’ (where the wife is killed or injured by being doused with kerosene and set fire to because her family has offered insufficient dowry – it allows the husband to remarry), sati (widows throwing themselves, or being pushed onto their husband’s funeral pyre), female infanticide (many financially impoverished families kill their infant daughters because they cannot afford to pay her dowry, and because a girl is seen as an investment with no ‘returns’ as she will not support her parents in later life) , and the discrimination of women living with HIV/AIDS (the vast majority being infected by husbands who have unprotected sex with prostitutes, and most of the rest being sold into prostitution and afraid to ask their ‘clients’ to use condoms. In most communities, the woman’s infection with HIV is considered her own fault and her family and community members reject her).

I do not mean to imply that these issues are still widespread, and I only encountered two personally – one was a suspected case of ‘bride burning’ at a rural hospital in which a young woman’s husband and mother-in-law insisted that she had acquired over 60% burns to her body in a ‘cooking accident’. The other was far more ubiquitous in my experience as I was working on an HIV/AIDS awareness project – I saw, and heard of countless instances of women who became ill and depressed, and who died preventable deaths as a result of stigma and discrimination. It would be naïve to assume that modernisation has eradicated these issues, or come close to doing so. The new cultural context often serves to further widen the gap between rich and poor, between those with the opportunity to change their position in life and those arguably enslaved by it.

What role should privileged women play in empowerment of their sex?

Faced with such instances, it seems almost indulgent for those of us with access to choice, with relative wealth and autonomy, to ask for more. But since returning home, I have immersed myself in feminist issues as they apply in the only culture I truly understand, having been brought up in it. Issues such as the objectification of women’s bodies, poor self-image, (which I believe is hugely supported by the mainstream media) and a belief among too many women that they are unable to perform certain tasks on the basis of their gender, are currently occupying my thoughts. And while they may pale in comparison to the issues outlined above, they are borne of a singular desire – the desire for equality and autonomy in the female population.

In the contemporary global community, we have a responsibility to see our respective situations as connected. Despite the fact that ‘women’s issues’ vary from individual to individual, from culture to culture, a singular notion remains: women comprise half of the world’s population and have the capacity to help lift communities out of poverty if empowered enough to do so. Women in the U.K. may not be dealing with the same problems as those in the developing world, but we have a louder voice with which to challenge injustice and to positively promote equality. We may be demanding justice at home on a smaller scale, but the outcome we seek is in keeping with the promotion of the equal and common humanity we share with people (not just women) everywhere. I know several men who believe feminism is about the supremacy of women and that it implies male inferiority. This is at odds with what I believe it to be; globally conscious feminists want to bring about equality in a real sense for humanity as a whole. Growing together as a global community is undermined if half of that community is seen and treated as inferior in any sense (whether implicit or explicit). The fight, then, is not won yet – and it can only be won with solidarity.