The engine of progress: Feminism victories that changed our lives
March 8 once again split the society in half, perhaps even more explicitly than usual. Traditionally-minded Russians still congratulated the “lovely ladies” and wished them to remain “beautiful, tender and desirable” (let’s not remind you that the self-proclaimed man’s right to award women with a crown one day a year gives carte blanche to water all the others). On the other hand, women and progressive-minded men reminded louder and louder that this holiday was dedicated not to “femininity” in any reading, but to the struggle for equality.
While holiday articles about feminism are fed up in Russia, world scientists confirm that it works: it is thanks to the actions of feminist movements that the life of women around the world is gradually getting better, and their rights are protected. We decided to recall several important events from the history of the question, which show why the struggle for the rights of women is necessary and must continue.
"Women's day off, or Long Friday"
The right to vote is one of the key rights of an individual, which makes it possible to choose the future of their country, to participate in the political process and change it. It is hard to imagine that in the course of the 20th century in many countries, only one part of the adult population, and not the whole country, chose the political course. A vivid example of a formal, and then a real change in this policy was Iceland, one of the most advanced countries in the observance of human rights at the moment.
As early as 1915, at the height of the pan-European suffragistic movement, Icelandic women won the right to vote (after New Zealand, Australia and Finland), but years went by, and there were no real changes in women's politics: 5 percent of the seats were in women’s parliament , compared to about 20 percent in other Scandinavian countries. Therefore, a new wave of feminists decided to take harsh measures: for example, on October 24, 1975, Iceland is known as the “Women's Day Off,” or a general strike in which 90 percent of women did not go to work. They gathered in the squares, watched films about suffragists, gave speeches, while on the radio the voices blocked the voices of the children, which the men had to take with them (kindergartens and nurseries were closed).
This moment was a turning point in the life of the country, and five years later, Vigdis Finnbogadottir, the first European woman president, won the presidential election. All over the world, women are still insufficiently represented in the political process, and feminists are associated with stereotypes like "women with hair-in-arms". It is all the more important to recall the image of a divorced single mother, Vigdís, who would easily fit into the British royal family.
Abolition of polygamy in Turkey
The role of women in the family is the most difficult aspect of law enforcement, because religious norms and cultural traditions are eliminated much longer than laws are written. Until the beginning of the 20th century, women in most countries of the world did not have status and, accordingly, did not have the rights of an "adult" or "capable person", only in some European countries such status was granted to widows and, even more rarely, unmarried women with deceased parents. Turkey is an example of a country culturally and politically located between Europe and Asia, therefore the position of women here has changed many times over the centuries.
At the end of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th century, the feminist movement began the struggle for women's education, the right to vote and, of course, for the equality of spouses in marriage. The key event for the country was the legislative prohibition of polygamy, the equation of men and women in inheritance rights, marriage and divorce, spelled out in the civil code of 1926. However, this step is still largely formal in nature, because enforcement is much more difficult: for example, polygamy still exists (the scandal recently broke out after Turkish Prime Minister Recep Erdogan’s adviser announced that he was going to take fourth wife). The position of the woman after the divorce and child custody issues are still the cornerstone of the feminist movement throughout the world.
First university graduate
In different epochs and in different countries, women were admitted either to primary schooling, now to academic, then to no school at all. Even in Europe, up to the end of the 19th century, there was a huge gap between the number of illiterate men and women: many representatives of noble families could read, but practically did not write. Despite this, there were always exceptions to the rules, thanks to which the rules gradually changed.
It should be noted that in Russia one of the first was established elementary schools for girls, but such an education could not give a woman the opportunity to earn a living profession that requires some training. Therefore, an important and symbolic episode in the history of education is considered to be 1861, when the Frenchwoman Julie Victoire Dobier, a journalist and fighter for the rights of women, became the first female student and then a bachelor of the University of Lyon. Unfortunately, her figure is little known outside of France, which is especially sad, considering that it was thanks to the efforts of Dobieu and her associates in 1866 that women received the right to take exams for a bachelor's degree in all higher educational institutions of the country. A year later, they were able to receive education in all faculties, except theological.
In the same years, the Higher Courses of Women were established in several large universities in Russia, but government authority was absolutely not ready for equal attendance and obtaining university degrees for men and women, therefore many noblewomen went to Europe after education. Nowadays in the West, the issue of education for women has long been closed, while, for example, in Pakistan or in Yemen, even school education for girls causes outbursts of terrorist aggression by fundamentalists.
Admission to competitions in gymnastics and athletics
It is difficult to imagine the Olympics without the women's team in rhythmic gymnastics, figure skating or synchronized swimming. In such sections traditionally give little girls, because in society there is an opinion that these sports are "feminine." However, until the 50s of the last century, these disciplines were primarily thought of as masculine. For the first time, women had the opportunity to compete in the Olympic competitions in athletics and gymnastics only in 1928 at the summer games in Amsterdam. In those games, 277 women participated in 14 competitions in 4 kinds of sports — athletes made up almost 10 percent of the participants, which was by no means small.
However, the entertainment competitions in athletics and gymnastics, designed for men, at that time left much to be desired. It took more than twenty years for new rules and new competition programs to appear, giving women-gymnasts and athletes the opportunity to realize their potential in a completely new way. Therefore, when controversy is raging around the shape of female boxers admitted to the Olympics in 2012, or when the lack of entertainment of women's football or basketball is ridiculed, it is worth looking back at the history of other sports. Over the years, the rules and practices are likely to change, and the world will see these sports in a completely different light.
Case P v P
Perhaps the most traumatic experience that is scary to share and which is familiar to far more women than we guess is sexual abuse. It is especially scary in relationships, where in addition it is extremely difficult to prove that you are a victim. Marital rape passes under the radar of law and society in many countries, because it is practically unprovable and humiliating as much as possible for the victim and her family. For example, in the North Caucasus republics, women either flee from their families, or live for years, suffering beatings and sexual violence, and only in isolated cases do they try to defend their rights. But in the West, this problem is really acute and only recently began to receive legislative support.
In the UK, the 1991 case R case was resonant, in which the husband, accused of rape his wife, appealed, citing the fact that the laws on rape did not include the precedent of marital violence. Actually, the very concept of marriage in the minds of the majority is still interpreted as the willingness of spouses to meet the sexual needs of each other at any time, which often comes down to the demands of this from a woman.
After a long trial, it was found that, despite the loopholes in the law, rape in the family should qualify as a special case of rape, and the appeal was rejected. The case was considered by the European Court of Human Rights, and in 1994 the precedent was established, thus rape in the family officially became illegal. Unfortunately, in many countries, including Russia, rape in relationships is not articulated from the standpoint of the law, and even initiating a criminal case on the fact of a crime is not easy. However, this only means that it is necessary to create conditions for such requests to be registered and create new precedents.
Right to abortion
Reproductive rights remain the most difficult area of law enforcement for women. Christianity to this day condemns contraceptives, and abortion in the eyes of the general public is, depending on the religious and ethical views of people, more or less evil. In many countries, including progressive in many respects in Ireland, abortions are illegal, in some countries abortion is permitted only for medical reasons. In Russia, abortion is allowed, but in recent times it is much more blamed by the state and society.
The struggle of pro-choice and pro-life supporters is truly bloody, and first of all people with low incomes, teenagers and rape victims suffer in it. Therefore, a separate mention should be made of the precedent for accusing the country of refusing a citizen of privacy and measures of abortion for several years. In 2001, a 17-year-old Peruvian K.L. was diagnosed with fetal anencephaly, a disease in which the fetus is almost doomed to death, and its development is dangerous to the health of the parent. At that time, abortions had already been legalized in Peru, but the director of the clinic refused to perform the operation, the girl was forced to endure the pregnancy, and the child died on the fourth day after birth. She filed a complaint with the UN, and in 2005 the organization recognized her as a victim, and ten years later Peru agreed to pay K.L. compensation.
Removal of the wording "Swede" in the working form
The jokes about the “oldest profession” are not particularly funny if you think about how recently women gained the right to work and the real opportunity to become professionals in the type of activity they are interested in. Until recently, in many countries around the world, working in government positions for women was impossible even formally, but in reality it is still difficult to achieve. At the same time, in Sweden, the first steps towards the realization of the right of women to pay were already undertaken in the 18th century, when women had the opportunity to engage in legal street trading and maintain hotels.
In addition to the historically more winning role of women in Scandinavian society, the powerful gender equality movement in Sweden in the 19th century and the Swedish suffragistic movement in the early twentieth made the country one of the global platforms of feminism: institutions and withdrawals from the employment questionnaire of the wording "Swede" (that is, only a male citizen), thus gaining access to positions in many areas of public service. Before that, a woman with proper education and qualifications could not teach at a state university or work as a doctor at a state hospital.
However, all over the world, women still receive on average less than men, including in the same positions. As before, not all posts that are formally accessible to women turn out to be such in reality, so the struggle for equal rights in the labor sphere is still not over yet.
Photo: cover image via Shutterstock, 1, 2 via Wikipedia Commons