14: Women's Activism Worldwide
- Page ID
- 153112
by Charissa V. Jones
The Pussyhat is a bright-pink knitted cap with cat ears that came to symbolize the Women’s March in Washington, DC, on January 21, 2017, the day after Donald Trump was inaugurated. Cofounders Krista Suh and Jayna Zweiman wanted the hats to be a symbol that reclaimed the derogatory term “pussy” after Trump’s infamous Access Hollywood remark that women should let him “grab them by the pussy.” Suh and Zweiman chose pink, traditionally associated with femininity, because they wanted to visibly stand up for women’s rights. The pattern was available for free online; craft stores couldn’t keep the color in stock as women around the country created knitting circles to make the hats.
While the hats did unite some people of all genders around women’s issues, for others, the sea of pink also brought up the lack of intersectionality within feminist movements, becoming synonymous with white feminists, trans-exclusionary radical feminists (TERFs), and sex worker-exclusionary radical feminists (SWERFs). These narratives were destructive: Not everyone who doesn’t identify as a man has a pussy. Not every pussy is pink. When marginalized communities challenged the white, cisgender narratives of the Pussyhat and the March, supporters called them divisive. But Black, Indigenous, and other People of Color (BIPOC) don’t owe anyone thanks for acting as allies. They continue to bring to light how being a non-male person is affected by racism, sexism, Islamophobia, xenophobia, ableism, and other social justice issues.
Transnational Feminist Activism
by Shannon Garvin
Human Rights Watch estimates that about 300 million women around the world have mental or physical disabilities. In poorer nations, women comprise 75 percent of the population with disabilities. In 2006, 164 nations signed the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD). Globally, the United Nations estimates that less than 5 percent of disabled persons have access to education. Disabled women are half as likely to find employment as men.
Local support of disabled persons can be challenging because of overlapping issues of gender, race, socioeconomics, available resources, education, attitudes toward disabilities, and the specific disability affecting a person. But women with disabilities and their allies are increasingly advocating for equity and inclusion for themselves in all aspects of life.
In east Africa, the Ethiopian Women with Disabilities National Association (EWDNA) works with women who are Deaf or Blind, or who have autism or an intellectual disability, to provide vital services such as skills training, work opportunities, and integration into the local community. In Kenya, This-Ability collaborates with other organizations to increase visibility and inclusion for women and girls with disabilities in everything from access to health care, to representation in websites and other media, to participation in sports.
Across Oceania, the Pacific Disability Forum advocates for all people with disabilities by seeking to ensure governments honor the provisions of the CRPD. Vanuatu’s Volley4Change and Papua New Guinea’s Gymbad offer sports programs designed to include people with disabilities, especially women and girls. Women with Disabilities Australia advocates for “women, girls, feminine identifying and non-binary people living with disabilities” through leadership trainings, information on an accessible website, and advocacy with governments.
These are just a few of the organizations working for the rights of women and girls with disabilities worldwide. To see a more comprehensive map of these organizations, click on the Women Enabled International link here.
A New Era of Global Transnational Activism
On February 11, 2021, Saudi Arabian women’s rights activist Loujan al-Hathloul was released from prison. Al-Hathoul is known for challenging the ban on women driving and the male guardianship laws that require women to receive the consent of a male relative on decisions related to issues such as education. Under the strict gender segregation of Wahhabism, the form of Islam practiced in Saudi Arabia, the idea of a woman behind the wheel was seen as sacrilegious. Saudi Arabia continued to ban women from driving until 2018, even though demonstrations against the ban had occurred previously; for example, in November 1990, forty-seven Saudi women had driven their cars in protest in Riyadh.
Al-Hathloul has been arrested several times, most recently on May 15, 2018, for her involvement in the women’s rights campaign. In June 2018, even after Saudi Arabian women were granted the right to drive, al-Hathloul remained under arrest. In 2021, she was finally released by the Saudi Arabian government in response to the Biden administration’s criticisms of the country’s human rights violations. Al-Hathloul was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize in 2019 and 2020, and she was awarded the 2020 Václav Havel Human Rights Prize in April 2021.
Breaking Silence
by Risako Sakai
Okinawan women historically played important cultural roles such as priestesses (nūru) and spiritual guides (e.g., kaminchu) who communicated with ancestors and nature gods. But the invasion and colonization by Japan brought heteropatriarchy and paternalism, dividing Indigenous men and women, and reducing women’s roles. Today, tourism and US military presence portray Okinawa as a feminized figure of paradise and Okinawan women as sexualized and infantilized.
Even activism in Okinawa has frequently embraced patriarchy, focusing on issues such as militarization over “women’s issues” (Tanji 2006, 2007). Today, Indigenous feminism invokes Unai (うない), an Indigenous Okinawan female god, to protect activists (Tanji 2006; Katsukata-Inafuku 2016). Okinawa: Women Act Against Military Violence (OWAAMV) applies the concept of Unai, stressing women’s and Indigenous Okinawans’ empowerment while networking transnationally with other feminist movements in militarized settings (Ginoza 2015).
References
Ginoza, Ayano. 2015. “Intersections: Dis/Articulation of Ethnic Minority and Indigeneity in the Decolonial Feminist and Independence Movements in Okinawa.” Intersections: Gender and Sexuality in Asia and the Pacific 37, 13.
Katsukata-Inafuku, Keiko. 2016. “Creating an Okinawan Women’s Studies: Confronting Colonial Modernity with the Agency of “Unaiism.” Gender Studies 21: Waseda University Gender Research Center 6, 11-35.
Tanji, Miyume. 2006. “The Expansion of Women-Only Groups in the Community of Protest Against Violence and Militarism in Okinawa.” Intersections: Gender, History and Culture in the Asian Context 13, 17.
———. 2007. Myth, Protest and Struggle in Okinawa. New York: Routledge.
References
by Rebecca Lambert
What does it mean to be “woke”? The term has recently gained popularity, but where did it originate, and what does it really mean? As expressions gain mainstream popularity, their deep political roots are often erased from narrative and even co-opted and used in ways that do not relate to their original intent. The term woke has a long history based in African American Vernacular English (AAVE). Author William Melvin Kelley used the term in his 1962 essay in the New York Times titled “If You’re Woke You Dig It,” which talked about the co-optation of AAVE by white people.
Since then, the term has appeared in numerous outlets, from songs (such as “Master-Teacher,” recorded by Erykah Badu) to social movements. The term arose in Black culture and identifies a way of being in the world, a way of staying aware of the struggles and systems of oppression that the Black community has faced and continues to challenge. As woke became more mainstream, it started to be used more broadly, leading to an idea of a “woke culture,” a society that keeps the important political issues at the forefront of the public consciousness. As terms are rediscovered and incorporated into mainstream conversations, it is important to remember the cultural basis of language and speak accordingly.
by Shannon Garvin
In the wake of international criticism by human rights organizations on how peaceful protestors are attacked by police to disperse the crowds, feminists in Kazakhstan are finding their voice and experiencing a reprieve. On March 8, 2021, a Women’s Day march was observed by officials but allowed to proceed unhindered. About five hundred people attended, walking through the historic city of Almaty and listening to speakers address not only human rights issues that affect women but also those that address the needs of the handicapped and lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans, queer, and intersex plus (LGBTQI+) communities. Domestic violence and disparity in access to economic resources have long plagued the vulnerable populations of the former Soviet Republic.
Veronica Fonova is a web designer who recently became a feminist activist and organized the country’s first official feminist rally. Organizers hoped to highlight chronic and systemic issues of discrimination and violence. The United Nations supports the work of local activists like Fonova and recently highlighted her work on its 25 Women—Generation Equality news page. Perspectives on the role of women and the level of patriarchy acceptable in a home and village vary greatly from the urban centers to the rural mountainous areas. Kazakhstan is a country in immense transition, as it has moved from an isolated Soviet Republic to an oil-rich nation selling its resources to the world in only twenty-five years. Veronica Fonova wants the future to be as rich and safe for its women and vulnerable people as it is for its men.
Listening to Our Activist Selves
Conclusion
by Janet Lockhart
In Stacy Schiff’s review of In Praise of Difficult Women, she says the author, Karen Karbo, describes the ways a woman can rankle others: “She can be independent, exacting, impatient, persistent, opinionated, angry, unaccommodating, ambitious, restless, confident, brilliant, articulate, or just plain visible.” (To rankle means to annoy, irritate, or cause resentment.)
Six women respond to this description:
Laureal: You can be yourself instead of who someone else wants or expects you to be. You “rankle” if you don’t meet the expectations others impose on you. Fuck that! That’s on them.
Andi: Oh! These words don’t just describe women but also the girls that they were! My parents worked very hard to raise an independent woman and were extremely pissed off (though also proud) by their success. To truly rankle, the woman simply has to be comfortable being themselves. I have compared sharing my world as similar to learning to water ski. Initially, the boat is way too fast. A person must hold on for dear life and hope that the driver knows how to navigate the waters; but if they hang in there, eventually it becomes fun. Although, some people just don’t like the waters.
Niki: The quote’s not wrong: women are perceived as difficult if they do any of those things. I don’t agree with it! I’m irritated that women are perceived that way, because they shouldn’t be. You take a woman who voices her opinion, she’s a bitch; but you take a man who has the same opinion, he’s listened to.
Shoshana: Being a “difficult” woman is often imbued with racialized connotations. Black, Jewish, Latina, and Indigenous women who speak out about injustice within institutions must navigate cultural stereotypes that intersect with their gender about being angry and uncooperative.
Dawn: These qualities were systematically driven out during my childhood—I’ve spent my adult life trying to embrace them without guilt.
Olivia: I love seeing women unapologetically acting as men traditionally would and claiming words such as “ambitious” and “unaccommodating.” Sometimes just their existence can cause others to be uncertain how to handle them. There’s something so beautiful about a woman that takes up space in an environment that doesn’t want her to.
Are you a woman who rankles? How do you feel about it? If you choose, how can you rankle more?
Learning Activities
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Image Attributions
14.1 “Public Domain: 1963 March on Washington by USIA photographer, 1963 (NARA)” by pingnews.com is in the public domain
14.2 ““I wish you’d admit that you harass”, “I wish I could feel safe in the streets.”” by UN Women Arab States is available under CC PDM 1.0
14.3 “Intersectionality” by OSU OERU is licensed under CC BY 4.0
14.4 “Sign at a 16 October women’s empowerment rally in Nigeria” by Africa Renewal is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0
14.5 File:Abuja, Nigeria Oct 12, 2020 01-28-13 pm.jpeg by Aliyu Dahiru Aliyu is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0
14.6 File:Oslo Women’s March IMG 4244 (24948017197).jpg by GGAADD is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0
14.s6.1 “PussyHats” by adrianmichaelphotography is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0