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.

Why Hate the Angry Feminists

After the last blog I wrote, a friend said to me that while she can understand that feminism helps me to understand the world, for her it makes her angry because she can see how pervasive patriarchy is.

This got me thinking about the perception that a lot of people have of feminists. I asked some friends what their perception of feminists were and they said feminists are “shouty” and loud. They are “overbearing” and “preachy”. I did some superficial research and when you type in angry feminist into Google the results are very extreme. Images of the Russian rebels Pussy Riot and punks with colourful hair, who appear to hate authority and structure.

I’ll be honest, sometimes I can be an angry feminist but I’m not sure that is a bad thing. Let me explain why:

I had a conversation with some friends and I asked them why they are not feminists. They said, “because you guys are a lot.” I was surprised and asked what they meant. They said that for them feminism is only about promoting the rights of women and that they would call them an “equalist”.  You won’t be surprised to know what I explained that feminist is about equality between the genders but anyway, the conversation moved on to discuss how feminists are perceived.

The words they used to describe feminists was “aggressive”, “in your face”, “opinionated”. I was shocked and asked them if that is how they perceived me. They said no, not feminists like me but most.

I am in a fortunate position in that I have met many feminists and maybe I am biased but I would not perceive any of them to be this way. My experience is that women who openly claim to be feminists are articulate and are upstanding members of society.  I know this is a sweeping generalisation, but I have not met many of the “angry” one’s. I

do wonder why women being seen as feminists is so negative. Especially because when men are described in the exact same way the connotations are very different. I don’t know maybe I am the “angry” feminist and no one wanted to say it to my face? That aside, I feel like patriarchy has done a good job of tarnishing the name and image of a feminist.

I always want to be as practical as possible so I was reflecting on how I could have communicated the fact that feminists are not angry and aggressive and I came across the following examples:

1. It is unreasonable to see all feminists as angry or aggressive because it plays on a stereotype and is sexist. It like saying all black people are rough or “ghetto”. It’s racist and true.
2. Saying all feminists are angry is not based on fact because no universal survey has been done on all feminists asking them about their emotions and feelings to establish this. (To condescending – the irony that this may come across as angry!)
3. Having an emotion alongside is objectively not a bad thing. Anyone, in almost any context can be angry and hold a political or social view. You can have angry liberals or angry conservative, that’s not objectively a bad thing.
4. Even if you disagree and think all feminists are angry,  why is tat a bad thing? Women live in a world where they have been denied political, social, economic and religious power, why shouldn’t they be angry.

I don’t know if these are helpful for you but as over the years I have had conversations like these often I found it useful to spend the time to think about how I would respond.  Hopefully now I will be more prepared. I would love to know what your responses would be.

To end on a positive note, here are some of my favourite feminists for anyone to reference when dispelling the myth of the “angry” and “aggressive” feminist:

• Maya Angelou
• Bell hooks
• Malala Yousafzai
• Chimamanda ngozi adichie
• Roxane Gay
• Ruth Bader Ginsburg
• Angela Davis
• Coretta Scott King
• Yoko Ono

The Movement is Strong!

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.