| International Women's Year
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| (1) What is feminism?
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| With IWY in the offing, a
writer who also happens to be a woman naturally turns her thoughts in that
direction, But the flow of thought, like the course of true love, does not run
smooth. Many questions waylay and confuse me whenever I think of the role of
women in this changing world.
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| Perhaps it is the shock
of being taken seriously for the first time in many decades. "It is important,"
said the UN Secretary-General "that every one gives serioous attention now to
International Women's Year 1975, and to how the role of women in society could
be subtantially improved all over the world. We are talking, after all, about
half of the world's population. The significance of the Year will be what we
make it. We could, with the help of all of you, make it a year which will leave
an imprint on history, not only the history of women's advancement but also
that of people all over the world."
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| Going over the literature
avialble-though not very much, I am afraid, - I think above all, right thinking
is important if all the activities of IWY is to be meaningful. There is much
confusion, because some of the articulations of the Women's Libbers and
feminists are often misleading.
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| For example, take the
term "feminist"; many intelligent women are wary of declaring themselves to be
feminists. Mrs. Indira Gandhi, at the triennial Congress of the Internatinal
Alliance of Women, held at New Delhi, November 1974 observed: "I do not
normally consider myself a feminid - But if "feminidt" means that there should
be no discrimi-nation against a woman using her ability and talent, if it means
equality of rights on the basis of merit, then I am a feminist. But it seems
that some women want to escape being a woman."
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| It is true some women
feminists talk and write as if women must try to escape being a woman. It is
very misleading. It confuses the women and gives some men the chance of talking
disparagingly of women's movements.
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| By being a feminist,
according to Mrs. Gandhi, it does not mean that women must imitate men; it
means that they should try to deepen and strengthen their own personality.
Women must first accept the difference, but there are basic human qualities
which are common to men and women which are no less important.
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| In trying to determine
the role of women in the changing times, the discussion is usually pivoted on
one point: Should women be given the role of housekeeper, child bearer, and
plaything or must they necessarily seek fulfilment outside the home, since
being just wife and mother is meaningless?
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| Women's movement has
always insisted that its objective is not a job for every woman, but freedom of
choice and opportunity for choice. This, of course, does not, in any way unduly
emphasize the importance of career as fulfilment to a woman.
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| In spite of all that, the
trend of popular opinion seems to be running on the two extremes. There are
some feminists who say: Every woman has to work or she is nothing.
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| On the other hand there
are vehement responses to Women's Lib, like for instance a book by Dr.
Goldberg, a sociologist, who defended the natural superiority of men in "The
Inveitability of Patriarchy."
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| Dr.Goldberg develops a
theory of his own after drawing on research on human biology and summaries of
anthropological field research. He claims that not only have men run the show
(and they have always been in charge of everything they thought worthwhile) but
also that they will always be, Patriarchy is inevitable.
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| Such extremes of opinion
do not help much towards constructive action. Hurling invectives across the sex
lines will not get us anywhere. If we are to build a future, a brave new world,
so to say, we must have an unbiased view of the past as well as the present.
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| This sends my thoughts
back to my own impression of growing up as a Myanmar woman during the last five
decades, how smug we have always been in the thought: Myanmar women are free:
they enjoy equal status with men. Then what should IWY mean to us? This, I will
discuss in my next article.
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