Anarchism & Womens Liberation

These are some select highlights from Anarchism & Womens Liberation. From the Struggle site which is an Anarchist web site worth checking out.

An important principle of anarchism and one that more than any other differentiates it from other types of socialism is its emphasis on freedom and non-hierarchical social relations. Central to anarchism is the rejection of any power hierarchy between men and women. Anarchists believe that the liberty of one is based on the liberty of all and so there can be no true anarchist society without an end to all existing structures of domination and exploitation, including naturally the oppression of women.

As anarchists we believe that the means determines the end. This means that we do not wait for some future revolution to tackle the problems of sexism but instead see that it is important to struggle against it in the here and now. As anarchists we strive to ensure that both our own organisations and also those campaigns we are involved in are free from sexism and power-hierarchies and that all members have equal decision-making power.

- via Anarcha-Feminism Thinking about Anarchism

GOD’S CHOSEN RULERS

Rulers have always been good at rationalising unfair practices, take for example the idea of the ‘divine right of kings’. Popular for centuries, the church and state argued that kings and queens were appointed by God. The status quo was natural and good, any opposition to it was evil and doomed to eternal hell. These days kings don’t have much power, which is why not many people rush to describe Charles and Di as God’s chosen rulers.

In much the same way, it was necessary to have women inferior to men to ensure inheritance rights. In order to keep women in this position a whole mythology of women as second class humans was developed. It was the accumulation of a surplus and the desire of a minority to monopolise it that lead to the class division of society and to the oppression of women.

- via The not very ‘natural’ oppression of women

WHO MINDS THE CHILDREN

It found that the provision of childcare was one of the impediments preventing women from working. Their conclusion was that “in the absence of changes in mens’ attitudes, or working hours outside the home or in their contribution within the family it seems unlikely that even a greater availability of childcare outside the home would alter domestic arrangements greatly. Without these changes, it is conceivable that many useful forms of work flexibility – that might be offered to women such as job sharing, career breaks, special sick leave or term-time working – might reinforce rather than mitigate the formidable level of occupational segregation based on gender, to women’s longer-term disadvantage.”

The authors of the survey note that as long as responsibility for childcare rests with the women they will remain trapped in the family. They also point out that concessions to women in the world of work often result in women being pidgeon-holed into less well paid job. This already happens in regard to part-time workers who are paid a lower hourly wage than full-time workers. They point out that men have to square up to their responsibility as fathers. The key they emphasise is a change in mens’ attitudes.

- via The not very ‘natural’ oppression of women

CONTROL OF OUR BODIES

Women will remain as second class citizens as long as they are relegated to an inferior position in the work force. They are now in that position because to the bosses they are an unstable workforce, likely to want pregnancy leave, likely to come in late if a child is sick, likely to require a creche or want to work part time. It is because men in society are seen as the breadwinners that they have slightly more secure, slightly more dependable jobs.

It’s a vicious circle, because men are in reality better paid, it makes more sense within the family to assign the role of main earner to the male and the role of carer to the female. The only way to permanently get out out of this circle is to change the system.

- via The not very ‘natural’ oppression of women

Women – still carrying the baby at work and home!!

Over the last 100 years, there is no doubt that women’s situation in most first world countries has improved dramatically. Now that we’ve reached the 21st century, many would say that sexist inequality no longer really exists. However, if we take a brief look at just one aspect of our lives – work – it is clear that there is still a lot left to fight for. Over the last ten to fifteen years there has been a particularly large increase in the number of women working outside the home. The jobs women are filling, however, tend to be low-paid and part-time work. Despite changing attitudes, the ultimate responsibility for childcare and housework generally lies with women which is the main reason why women are much more likely than men to be part-time workers. 30% of female employees work part-time compared with 6% for men.

- via Women – still carrying the baby at work and home!!

Mujeres Libres (Free Women) were a group of women anarchists who organised and fought both for women’s liberation and an anarchist revolution during the Spanish Civil War. The work they did is truly inspirational. Their example shows how the struggle against women’s oppression and against capitalism can be combined in one fight for freedom.

As anarchists they rejected any relegation of women to a secondary position within the libertarian movement. In the 1930′s feminism had a narrower meaning than it does now, and they rejected it as a theory which fought for ‘equality of women within an existing system of privileges’. They argued “We are not, and were not then feminists. We were not fighting against men. We did not want to substitute a feminist hierarchy for a masculine one. It’s necessary to work, to struggle, together because if we don’t we’ll never have a social revolution. But we needed our own organisation to struggle for ourselves”.

-via Mujeres Libres