Women driving – a win for feminism?

Guess what? Women in Saudi Arabia are now legally allowed to drive. The law changed on June 24 and is seen as a triumph by many Saudi activists.

The move to change the law to allow women to drive began in 1990. You may have seen pictures on social media of police officers giving out flowers to female drivers and fathers giving their blessing. There was quite an event surrounding the lift of the driving ban for women.

When midnight hit, a group of women who had been granted licences started their engines. Some with fathers or brothers alongside, and others in new cars bought for the occasion. Several women shouted with delight. Others cried, and many more took videos of their first time at the wheel.

This legislative change is seen as the last remaining ban of its kind and for the activists who campaigned for this change, the fight was not without it’s challenges.

At least 3 out of 11 of the people linked to the Saudi women’s-rights movement were detained as part of a broader crackdown in May. Several women were targeted in a “smear campaign” on social media and state-linked media outlets, accusing them of being traitors to the state and collaborating with “foreign entities.”

I did a bit of research to try and see if this was the full story and interestingly, the media event that showed the support for the ban lifting, did not give the impression that the Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman is not so keen on free speech.

I was so excited when I saw that women in Saudi Arabia finally have the legal right to drive. In my eyes women driving shouldn’t be a big thing or a triumph. But I saw this shift as representing a change in attitudes and perspectives across different cultures, especially in a country and in a culture that is often perceived as oppressing women. I really felt like it was a win for the feminist movement. But my perspective was not shared by a lot of activists and writers.

The more I looked into this, the more I realised that while this is a win, the war continues. In Saudi Arabia, women are still not allowed to do the following:

1. Make major decisions without male permission
2. Wear clothes or make-up that ”show off their beauty“
3. Interact with men
4. Go for a swim in public
5. Compete freely in sports
6. Try on clothes when shopping

Source: The Week

While these 6 restrictions to the freedom women have, make it clear that equality is a fair way off, I think they also provide a lot of context. Let me break it down. A few days ago, the fact that women were unable to drive would have been on the list too. However, that is not longer a fight women in Saudi Arabia have to face.

The Crown Prince in Saudi Arabia is promoting himself as a reformer and wants to be seen as a progressive leader. I reckon that feminists and activists in Saudi Arabia and internationally can take advantage of this. Yes, the lack of free speech will be a barrier and I don’t make light of that. My point is that in the context of Saudi Arabia this is a win. For all women there but for the feminist movement at large which supports and promotes gender equality.

To use the war analogy – war is won not all in one go but it is won one battle at a time.

Does feminism explain the world around us?

I find myself having very interesting conversations since I started writing this blog. Not too long ago, a friend said to me that they don’t think Feminism is important and that they will never describe themselves as a feminist because it does not explain the world. They said that as a theory it does not help us to understand each other nor a political framework. This got me thinking, does feminism explain the world around me and does it need to?

To give you some context, I started describing myself as a feminist before I understood the perception a lot of people have of feminism. I was a feminist because I believed it to be a theory that recognises the imbalance of power between men and women. This is still the case and having studied feminism I am more convinced of this.

But I know for a lot people their worldview or theoretical understanding needs to be around a concept that explains the world around us. For a lot of people feminism does not do this, but for me it does. But let me explain why and give you some context.

I talked about how faith and feminism can come together in last week’s post and I have a scenario that took place in church a while back that may explain to why I think feminism explains the world around us.  I ended up having a conversation with a stranger about how men and women in a church should relate and how some roles are better suited to men rather than women and vice versa. FYI I’m not going to get into the should women be leaders in the church debate – that is a post for another time.

Their view was that women are naturally more caring and nurturing. They are mothers and wives and so should be responsible for hospitality and teaching the children in the church Christian values. I don’t have an issue with women who want to help with hospitality and Sunday school but I don’t want to feel that is my place or role in church. While I love children and I’d describe myself as friendly, this is not me.

So where does Feminism come into this?

Feminism has taught me that I don’t need to accept other people’s perspectives and ideas of what I should do and be based on my gender. What does that mean in practice? Well, it means I can respectful disagree with the stranger I had a conversation with and feel confident enough to challenge why I am qualified to do some things and not other based on my gender.

Seeing things with a feminist lens, I think, makes me more open-minded and I feel I can understand that their perspective of the roles men and women have in society is based on the gender norms that they have been taught. I am using some flowery, language here I know, but bear with me. What I am getting at, is that I feel freer seeing the world from a feminist perspective. I can see how power whether in church, at work, in politics or even on TV makes society a restrictive place that encourages some while criticising others.

I am aware that I am in danger of being arrogant and assuming that most of the world around me is not as woke and doesn’t fully see the feminist perspective – this is not my intention. What I am saying is that in reality, not feeling bound to restrictive gender norms is so empowering. It is also so helpful because as a ethnic minority, black, female living in the UK I am less angry at the world around me because I can see the patriarchal forces at play and I can choose to opt out.

Is Feminism about choice?

In the last 2 weeks I have witnessed several Twitter discussion or wars rather, where the discussion relates to the choice that some women choose to make. Whether that be to focus on a career, get married and have children, be a stay at home mom or a working mom, it seems feminism is about the right to choose. This makes sense on one level but is also very simplistic. I did some research to see what other views were out there.

First Perspective: No, feminism is not about choice

The researcher and writer Meagan Tyler, is of the opinion that thinking about feminism in terms of choice is limited because it assumes that women have a lot more unmitigated freedom than exists in reality. She explains that these choices are shaped by the world around us and real choice can only come about in a “post-patriarchal world”.

Second Perspective: Why Feminism is about choice

The aspiring writer, Tori Shaw, breaks choice down to be; yes, it is okay to be a wife and yes, it is okay to have children and yes, it is okay to enjoy cooking and those things don’t take away from your feminist belief or perspective. She says that what is not okay is the expectation that one must be a domestic goddess because of your gender.

Maybe for you what feminism is and is not is not important and you see yourself as someone who believes in equality. That’s great! I don’t want to sound like a feminist evangelist but I feel like I am about to, so bear with me.

What does this have to do with me?

The reason I started thinking about this and think knowing whether feminism is about choice or not is important is because I think it challenges or supports the idea that women can have it all.

Some women won’t like me saying this but honestly I think the idea that we can have it all is an unhealthy perspective. Why? Because why are women expected be mom’s, career women, domestic goddesses, have every “i” dotted and every “t” crossed. Men don’t have these expectations. Granted they face the challenges of toxic masculinity but that’s another blog post for another time.

I think this unrealistic expectation is linked to the idea that feminism is about having or making a choice because there is the assumption that if you have more choices, you can make not just one, but many. It’s a lot.

I am also conscious of the fact that from where I stand, viewing feminism as a choice is unhelpful because it suggests that as a woman, when the world turns on you, it is not because of misogyny and sexism. It’s also not down to the pay gap, entrenched gender roles, women’s lack of representation in corporate companies and boards or in parliament, or because of an epidemic of violence against women. Instead it’s because you made the wrong choice – unhealthy no?

Maybe this is too much and you don’t agree? I am not saying you need to agree with me. The reason I wanted to write about this topic is because I am all about making an informed choice (see what I did there – irony). Knowing why you see feminism as a choice or not.

I used to see feminism as being about choice but don’t anymore because I started to feel that I should not have to choose and have either choice be judged by society. For example, when I’ve said I am considering focusing on my career and not children someone has said to me:

“Will you care about your career when you’re old and alone?”

On another occasion, I have said I wanted to have more than 4 children and the comment was:

“That would be the end of your career – and you have so much potential”

My issue with this is that when a man chooses to spend time with his children over his career, he is praised and when a man is ambitious and career driven, he is praised. Do you see where I am going with this? This is not the case for me and informs my view that feminism is not about choice.

Let me leave you with this – if feminism is about choice then have we been conditioned to accepted some choices over others?

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If you’ve read this far, thank you. I went a little ham on this post and yes, had a definitive opinion – but didn’t you know feminist’s were opinionated (that was a joke by the way). Everyone needs a little light comic relief when discussing such topics.