Once upon a time, back
in the early days of the women's liberation movement when we were
naïve and hopeful, we used to say that all women were sisters
under the skin. Splits, internecine warfare, and external opposition
from women as well as men soon disabused of us that notion.
Sometimes it just takes
a while.
The Feminist Majority
Foundation, which Ellie Smeal founded and heads, has been arguing
for years that "the Taliban has been leading a campaign of terror
against women, ethnic and religious minorities in Afghanistan
with the help of Osama bin Laden."
In mid-November the
Bush Administration, not particularly known for listening to feminists,
took up the baton. In a report released on November 17, the State
Department highlighted the Taliban's "war against women" as "particularly
appalling." It documented how "the Taliban has perpetrated egregious
acts of violence against women, including rape, abduction, and
forced marriage."
Quite a few representatives
of feminist organizations were invited to the briefing announcing
the report. Ellie Smeal and other feminists met privately with
National Security Advisor Condoleeza Rice, Karen Hughes, the Counselor
to the President who conceived the campaign, and Deputy Secretary
of State Richard Armitage.
First Lady Laura Bush
became the first First Lady to give the weekly Presidential radio
address in order "to kick off a worldwide effort to focus on the
brutality against women and children by the al-Qaida terrorist
network and the regime it supports in Afghanistan, the Taliban.
"
The US may even insist
that women be involved in the new government.
So why is the anti-feminist
Republican Administration putting a feminist plank in its pro-war
platform?"?
Of course the administration
sees propaganda value in promoting the participation of women
-- both at home and abroad, but why should we care?
The Northern Alliance
was just as brutal toward women before the Taliban took over in
1996 (though in a slightly different way). It stands to be a leading
player in any future government, thanks to the US military intervention.
Anything the US, the
UN, or anyone else can do will be an improvement. Just putting
women's rights on the agenda is an improvement. Feminists should
watch carefully to see that these fine words are followed by actions.
But it will take more
than a formal declaration that women's rights are human rights,
or even the formal inclusion of women in whatever government comes
next. It will take more than giving women education, health care,
mobility and jobs.
Someone will have to
tackle the mindset of the men who thought women's place was under
house arrest; that is the source of the problem.
Since, as Laura Bush
said in her talk, "The severe repression and brutality against
women in Afghanistan is not a matter of legitimate religious practice,"
the problem isn't Islam. The problem is institutions and values
that took patriarchy to its most extreme form, and then shrouded
it in religion.
While Laura Bush and
Ellie Smeal find common cause in the liberation of Afghan women,
perhaps society should (and that includes our own government)
take a long hard look at what made men want to treat women so
badly in the first place.
