F
eminism has become such a polarizing term today, with some completely identifying with and proudly adopting the feminist label, while others — some of whom actually do believe in gender equality — utterly shun this “f word.” How many of us have noticed that our parents treat us differently from our brothers or sisters? Men, how much pressure has society put on you to be “macho,” “masculine” or “strong?” Women, how often do you feel objectified by society? This is exactly why we all — men and women, boys and girls — need feminism and can be feminist activists. Feminism is a way of thinking and acting that aims to achieve social, political and economic equality of the sexes in the public and private realms of life. Feminism seeks to dismantle systems of oppression, mainly patriarchal and male-dominated social structures, in order to open up the possibilities for a more just world. Feminism is not about pitting women against men or merely the fight to get equal rights and opportunities, but it is also about deconstructing the binaries of gender (masculine vs. feminine; boy/man vs. girl/woman), sex (female vs. male) and sexuality (homosexual vs. heterosexual; asexual vs. pansexual) as distinct, opposite and disconnected forms of lived experiences, and looking at gender, sex and sexuality as a spectrum instead. Gender stereotypes are attributed to us even before we’re born — usually during “gender reveal” parties. Don’t even get me started on gender reveal parties, though, which should actually be called “sex reveal parties.” Gender stereotypes start when blue is attributed to boys and pink to girls, certain superhero and Lego block toys to boys, and dolls, babies and play kitchens to girls. These expectations roll like a snowball throughout our school years, accumulating even when we are adults. Can men truly drive better than women? Do women really have “maternal instincts” and are they better cooks and caretakers? Or are these all just stereotypical assigned gender roles? Everything from families and societies
to social media and movies have been reaffirming and reifying those gender stereotypes — stereotypes that feminism is slowly but surely chipping away at. Intersectional feminism, with which I personally identify, attempts to identify, understand and address the intersecting and reinforcing systems of power that exacerbate gender discrimination and affect those who are most marginalized in society. An intersectional feminist approach analyzes the overlap of these (oppressive) systems of power, including gender, age, race, class, (dis)ability, nationality, sexual identity, religion and creed. Within this analysis, intersectional feminism acknowledges that women have different experiences. What this essentially means is the experience of a working-class woman from a minority race or religion significantly differs from that of a younger upper-class woman. To confront and dismantle these systems of power, we must adopt feminist approaches that are centered around women’s agency, knowledge and forms of leadership. The Westerncentric approach of “empowering” or “educating oppressed women,” adopted by many INGOs, deprives women of agency and posits them as “objects” that need saving. Work with women and marginalized communities should be built on a participatory approach, in which they shape the direction based on their knowledge, needs and contextual analyses. As current practices of peacebuilding globally — and specifically in the Middle East and North Africa region — only deal largely with the already powerful, there is a dire need for major shifts in power towards citizens, especially the marginalized. Making the fundamental shift in peace building processes requires challenging existing power structures and creating access to voices that are usually marginalized and excluded from these decisionmaking spaces. Looking at peace from a feminist perspective broadens the existing narrow approach that considers peace to be the absence of the violence of war. Feminist peace examines the linkages between violence and war, and the socio-economic and cultural structures
that produce and reinforce this violence by upholding imbalanced gender relationships and power dynamics. Feminist peace holds that peace cannot be obtained by allowing militarized types of powers, which nurture environments where women suffer violence at home or within the society, to continue to exist. By addressing the root causes of violence with a feminist lens and mobilizing for nonviolent action from local to global levels with a bottomup approach, we build action and momentum towards feminist peace. Feminist activists globally are organizing across our differences to build shared and fuller visions for our future. We have to look at feminism as part of every issue: the women’s movement knows social justice movements should not be viewed as silos; all these things are connected. By creating new models of work and care outside the state, outside of capitalism and outside of our boxes, we’re breaking down machineries of hate and greed. Feminist movements have profoundly impacted the world and we have just begun. Today our movements are global and so is our power. Tomorrow our strength, solidarity and feminist solutions will pave many paths toward a just and caring world for all.
The Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom Leen Al-Abed ’10 has been working as a Syria Associate at the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF) since 2018. WILPF focuses on analyzing and challenging the causes and consequences of patriarchy, militarization, and neoliberalism as the dominant order and providing feminist alternatives for peace. The league mobilizes for non-violent action and taking power back to influence decision-making. It rejects the implicit consent that governments and non-state actors have assumed about militarism, war and violence.
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