Free Speech and Women's Rights

With the recent attacks against free speech in France, it is even more important to express ourselves freely. We cannot give in to any censorship. Freedom of expression is a fundamental right. I am particularly worried about is the rights of women, because I have two daughters and wish that they can grow up freely and safely. As long as people believe that feminism is a bad word, there is no chance of gender equality. Feminism just means that women should have the equal rights as men do.

Women have been fighting (more or less fiercely) for equal rights since the 18th century, but we really haven’t come all that far yet. Okay, we do have access to education and many have professional jobs in the West as well as in other nations, but there are not many countries where women earn the same pay for the same work as men. Sweden and other Nordik nations set a great example in changing gender roles where fathers are almost equally involved in the raising of their children and doing a good share, if not half of the domestic work, so that women can also keep pursuing their professional careers. But in other countries, it is socially still not accepted that mothers go back to work after the initial few months after childbirth spent with their kids. Of course this is a tricky issue: mother’s are guilt-ridden, if they go back to work. There is a social stigma attached to those who do. Social stigma usually confronts women who would like to be more active, more in the public, or more outspoken than culturally acceptable in their specific cultural, religious, or geographic contexts. Sometimes, even here in the West there is a social stigma if a woman wants to go for a walk alone or if she wants to go running alone. In the back of the minds, a few people may condemn the actions of the women thinking that “they may have asked for bad things to happen” simply because they differed from the norm. That is such a weird logic. As if any woman wants to be assaulted or raped. Unfortunately, this logic is still repeated these days, e.g. the recent comment by Phyllis Shlaftly.

Women should be able to go about their lives without constantly second-guessing themselves in terms of their clothes and their behavior. Even being intelligent was not considered appropriate for women in the West until really recently and writers had to adopt male pseudonyms to get their books published. Even the most essential rights are currently not secured for women. In many countries women still cannot walk the streets alone feeling safe. Women are still considered prey. The recent incident in India, where a Japanese researcher of ancient Buddhism was lured to a secluded place by her tour guide, gang-raped by him and his friends and then held for a month when the raping continued, is just one example of this. The recent Uber scandal also in India highlights this point further.  

I am so glad that the UN is stepping up and initiated a few campaigns (e.g. #HeforShe) this month that highlight the need for gender equality. Of course men play a significant role in this campaign as they openly proclaim that they are for gender equality and that is to persuade/convince others of the same. Another of the arguments that is gaining a lot of traction and is more likely to win around conservatives is that the national GDP or most countries will rise significantly, if more women are educated and have professional jobs. Similar to the old argument at the time of abolition that slavery was obsolete, because it wasn’t economically viable any more. Now the economic argument is used to empower women. Fine with me, but I do prefer the basic philosophical argument that women are equal human beings and thus deserve the same rights as men!  

So, as women, what can we do in this political climate? Express ourselves. Speak up. Be brave. Be smart. Be strong. We cannot let traditional behavior patterns decide our lives for us. We have to keep up opening new doors for the next generation of women, so  that they have safer lives, experiences fewer or hopefully no incidences of domestic violence. We have to keep working on making sure that more and more women actually gain the basic human right to decide freely over their bodies and minds. We have to raise our girls to become brave and smart and strong with a knowledge that they should have the same opportunities as boys and we have to raise our boys in such a way that they respect girls on all possible levels.