Femininism: A Controversy

   

  Women, as marginalized section of the society, have been victim of patriarchy for centuries. But, since the advent of technology and sanity, a group - known as feminists- has been very vocal about their rights. It has been fighting for the cause at multiple fronts to make the environment conducive for women.

   However, despite witnessing the three major waves of femininism, reading dozens of the writings and watching hundreds of the documentaries, feminism is still very much a conundrum for a layman due to several controversies.

   Till date, feminists have no consensus on the very core idea of gender. For the essentionalists, gender is a biological reality based on differences of genitals. While the constructionits believe that gender is a social construction created by language and culture  to keep women in confinement of the male.

  Hypocrisy of the pioneers of the slogans further magnifies the complexities. The west is leading the cause under the patronship of the USA but its record is suggesting otherwise. For example, no women has ascented to the thorne in the USA. The slot of UN Secretary General is still alien to women.

 On one hand, the bloc is always ready to wage war against countries like Afghanistan in the name of liberating women;on the other hand, the same countries do not hesitate in developing cordial ties with oil rich sheikdoms and other countries where women are debared from very fundamental rights.

   The attitude compels an ordinary person to ask the question whether the mantra is about human rights or a tool to further political interests.

  The  balance between right to freedom and right to life also tests the validity of femininism. People like minded to ideology of Republican Party consider abortion rights a grave vilotion of the right to life while the other school of thought in the shape of Democrats and their co's in the world offers the opposite explanation.

   There are also many differences among feminists over the nature of the issues faced by women in the different parts of the world. The primary focus of the movements in the west is public sphere. Here, feminists want additional job quotas, anti-harassment laws at workplace, equal pay acts, removal of glass ceilings-tacit norms to keep women at the bay- extermination of  cultural and linguistic barriers and many other reforms to fully incorporate women in the society.

  The same is not true for the women in Asia, Africa and North America where they are victim of domestic violence, honor killing and other such crimes at the private sphere of life. Therefore, they demand radical measures. 

   Meanwhile, the advocates have also failed to evaluate exact reasons of the persecution of women in the world. To liberals, absence of legal and socio-economic and political rights is major hindrance in the way of the empowerment of women. But, Marxists blame capitalism for the atrocities. According to their exposition, the system allows attainment of maximum profit and exploitation of unpaid women labourforce is the best way to make it.

   Just like the previous case, feminists also do not have any common agendum to bring improvements in the standard of the lives of women. The proponents of modernity emphasis on the trickle down effects of the advancement and development. The others say as women in many societies, especially in the third world, are not part of the modernity project, bottom-up approach is the only way forward.

   To a great extent, the movements are also against the fundamentals of the right to religion under UN Charter of Human Rights. For instance, many states have already gone against the religious rights of Muslim women by banning veil.

  In a nutshell, femininism is not a straightforward notion. It is need of the hour to look at the women's issues through different lenses for the real and holistic welfare of women.