One of the most common complaints I hear from conservatives about feminism is that it is too left. To hear it from them, feminism was created for liberal women, not all women. Isn't Sarah Palin a feminist? The question came up again on reading Jessica Valenti's excellent article "Who Stole Feminism?". Valenti concludes:
Feminism isn't simply about being a woman in a position of power. It's battling systemic inequities; it's a social justice movement that believes sexism, racism and classism exist and interconnect, and that they should be consistently challenged. What's most important to remember as we fight back against conservative appropriation is that the battle over who "owns" the movement is not just about feminists; feminism's future affects all American women.
While having women in positions of power is a critical feminist cause, it isn't the only one by far.
Margaret Thatcher became Prime Minister of the UK and showed a woman could become Prime Minister (something Thatcher herself famously doubted), but 25 years later there is still an underrepresentation of female MPs- especially on the Conservative side, where there are only 49, versus 81 for the minority Labour Party which has fewer total MPs. In fact, during the Thatcher years the number of female Conservative MPs stagnated; a wave of women came in with the election of Tony Blair-- a man whose party used its power more actively to help women-- in 1997. Thus even in the very, very narrow realm of MPs, having a woman as Prime Minister didn't mean anything.
Nor did having a woman leader in Pakistan automatically repeal the patriarchal Hudood Ordinances, laws that allowed women in Pakistan to be raped without hope for justice unless four witnesses could be brought forward. Nor did having women heads of state in 16th to 18th century Europe such as Mary, Elizabeth I, Catherine the Great, or Maria Theresa do a thing to lift the oppression of women living in those times.
So when conservatives say,
Gov. Palin just doesn't fit the prototype, so she's not in the "SISTERHOOD"
, as one commenter replied to Valenti's article, they may be right.
But without the "sisterhood", women like Christine O'Donnell who has "has said that allowing women to attend military academies "cripples the readiness of our defense" and that wives should "graciously submit" to their husbands," or who oppose womens' rights in other ways are undermining women, not helping women, especially when they try to co-opt the language of feminism. We must not allow this to happen.
Issues like reproductive rights, equal pay, Title IX, safety in the military, affordable child care, economic security, or more insidious cultural norms that define what is masculine or feminine often to the detriment of the latter- are feminist issues because they speak to everyday women. Can a conservative be a feminist? sure: support womens' rights and equality on these issues. Of course, that would make them less conservative. Running around the country calling yourself a feminist while endorsing politicians who would impose greater restrictions on American women and make them economically worse off is an insulting perversion of feminism. It is based on just about the most caricatured, shallow conception of what feminism might possibly mean. It is a 'feminism' of image over substance, intended as a opiate for women to imagine they are advancing while their rights are stripped away and their interests undermined.
Feminism will always be a Left issue because it fights inequality, oppression, and traditional patriarchy. Contrary to what conservatives believe, it does not restrict women or include only liberal women. Palin herself owes where she is today to Seventies feminism, even if she can't burnish her gratitude without facing abandonment from her own so-called base. Feminism is for all women because it benefits all women. What could be more simple? But it'll always be a movement on the Left because advocacy for the oppressed and dealing with interlocking social and economic inequalities is the business of the Left.
I leave with one more thought from Valenti:
Ensuring feminism's future doesn't stop at embracing intersectionality—we must also shine a spotlight on the real feminists. Part of the reason Palin and her cohort are so successful at positioning themselves as the "new" women's movement is because we fail to push forward and support new feminists of our own.
Let's make sure feminism isn't co-opted by the Right.