Feminism still necessary?

*NOTE: This post will contain very sexist stuff against women. Being a total MCP myself, if you are those who cannot take morons like me, hit the back button. Bye*
March 6, 2005
Is feminism still relevant?
The women's movement has made much progress in the last century. But in a world where some women are still not allowed to vote or even drive a car, Ong Soh Chin urges women (and men) not to give up on feminism

IN A speech he made in 1963, the controversial American civil rights leader Malcolm X said: 'It's just like when you've got some coffee that's too black, which means it's too strong. What do you do? You integrate it with cream, you make it weak.

'But if you pour too much cream in it, you won't know you ever had coffee. It used to wake you up, now it puts you to sleep.'

While he was referring to the rights of the African-American in the 1960s, his words could very well sum up the feminist cause today.

It has become an eclectic yard sale of assumptions, misconceptions and philosophies, all cheapening the original value of the movement - to empower women and bring forth equality of the sexes.

Tuesday is International Women's Day, an event that is marked every year on March 8.

However, apart from a few female academics or social workers, it is likely that most women in Singapore do not even know of its existence or even the reason it exists.

Even fewer perhaps know that at this very moment, government representatives from more than 130 countries are in New York City as part of the United Nations' Commission on the Status of Women.

They are there to review a women's rights agreement - the Beijing Platform For Action - laid out in 1995 at the United Nations' Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing.

That platform saw 189 countries pledging to advance universal education for girls, end violence against women, and ensure access to life-saving reproductive health care, among other critical issues.

In fact, I daresay, few women even care.

For many, feminism remains an antiquated, embarrassing description. It is associated with strident, bra-burning alpha-females who sing I Am Woman and wear comfortable shoes - and not with a movement that has given women the many freedoms they take for granted today.

These include the right to vote, to own property and even to work - rights that were not available even 100 years ago and which are still not available to women in many societies.

Are women today suffering from collective amnesia? Have we become defanged apologists for our own gender? Or have we simply given up the fight because we mistakenly think there is nothing left to fight for?

All of the above.

The real meaning

LOOK up 'feminism' on Wikipedia on the Internet and you will get 32 subgenres of the term, including bizarre mutations like ecofeminism, fluffy feminism and transfeminism.

It is no wonder then that nobody today really knows what feminism entails or even what a feminist looks like.

Does she look like Condoleezza Rice? Britney Spears? Eleanor Wong? Ms Ho Ching? Kumar?

Ask a woman the simple question: 'Are you a feminist?' and you will get a lot of hems and haws.

A random and admittedly unscientific straw poll of 10 female friends and colleagues drew hesitant responses, with the majority of them eventually saying, 'No, I am not feminist.'

Their reasons? They do not believe in bra-burning and militancy (the pervasiveness of these virulent stereotypes!).

Or they think being stay-at-home mothers and expecting their husbands to bring home the bacon excludes them immediately from being feminists.

Interestingly enough, the same question, when posed to male friends and colleagues, drew an almost unanimous response. Yes, if feminism includes men, they would consider themselves to be feminists, simply because they believe in a woman's right to equality.

For the record, this is how dictionary.com defines feminism: 'Belief in the social, political, and economic equality of the sexes. The movement organised around this belief.'

Nowhere in the definition are the following excluded: Housewives, tai-tais, prostitutes, women who wear pink, karaoke lounge hostesses, Vietnamese brides or even men.

Dead cause?

BUT even with the business of semantics sorted out, there are many today who still feel feminism is an anachronistic cause.

While women have made much progress in the workplace, there is still a long way to go before real equality is achieved.

In 2003, just over 6 per cent of all company directors in Singapore were women. In comparison, in the United States, 60 per cent of the largest 1,000 companies, and nine in 10 Fortune 500 corporations, had at least one woman director.

Ms Cecilia Pang, Hewlett-Packard Asia Pacific's vice-president of corporate marketing, acknowledged that while many women have made advances in the business world, 'the numbers are still small in comparison'.

She said in an interview: 'When we choose to strive in a traditionally male-dominated environment, what we're asking for is to be evaluated fairly and equitably along with the guys and be given the same social and economic benefits and support. It is not about women wanting to behave like men.'

She was one of some 195 people - mainly women - who registered to attend a Women's Forum on Women And Power organised by Insead Asia on Thursday night.

The business school's dean, Professor Hellmut Schutte, admitted in his opening address: 'The business world is a male world. We do not have sufficient numbers of women in our programmes and not enough female professors.'

Keynote speaker, Dr Proserpina Domingo-Tapales, who is the deputy director of the Center For Women's Studies at the University of the Philippines, noted that while women in Asia had made inroads in the 'private' sphere of civil society, notably in the home and at grassroots organisations; they are still under-represented in the 'public' realm of politics.

Worldwide, women make up more than half the population, but only 12.7 per cent of all parliamentary seats.

Dr Suzaina Kadir, assistant professor of political science at the National University of Singapore (NUS), who also spoke at the forum, agreed, adding that this was also the case with women in Latin America.

'They don't stand within the radar screen of the state, and manage in societies where the state doesn't do what it's supposed to do,' she said.

Dr Domingo-Tapales added: 'It is important to get women into positions of power, because they are then in a position to make decisions which will lead to changes,' she said.

She noted that in the Philippines, as in most of Asia, the women who enter politics tend to come from political families, what she called 'kinship politics'.

Singapore perhaps deviates from this family model. But while it has 10 women PAP Members of Parliament and two women ministers of state, it has no full female minister.

In an interview with The Straits Times on Friday, Dr Amy Khor, MP and mayor of Southwest Community Development Council, said she would not be surprised if a female minister is named after the next election.

She added: 'Let's be candid about this. I'm not being self-serving, but I see no harm in celebrating the achievements of women, even in politics. There are so few of us to begin with.'

She also noted that in her four years as MP, a lot of her feedback was taken into account and made into policy. For example, the two-day childcare leave for both mothers and fathers and the merging of the EM1 and EM2 streams in primary schools.

Income disparity

WOMEN also have some way to go in terms of income equality. We work two-thirds of the world's working hours and produce half of the world's food. Yet, we earn only 10 per cent of the world's income and own less than 1 per cent of the world's property, according to a 1997 World Development Indicators report.

According to findings by the United Nations Development Programme's Human Development Resource Centre, the estimated earned income by women in Singapore in 2002 was US$15,822 (S$25,916). In comparison, Singapore men earned US$31,927.

The following figures, from The World Revolution, a global grassroots social movement; and the Women's Environment & Development Organisation, are just as sobering and should serve as a wake-up call to those who still feel that feminism is irrelevant:

# Of the 150 million children aged six to 11 who do not attend school, over 90 million are girls.

# Of the world's 876 million illiterate people over 15 years of age, two-thirds are women.

# One-third of all women have been violently abused.

# HIV/Aids infection among women is increasing. Globally, 48 per cent of adults with HIV/Aids are women.

# Women make up 70 per cent of the 1.3 billion people worldwide who live in absolute poverty.

Different concerns

NO MATTER whether one lives in New York or Nairobi, equality of the sexes has still not been achieved.

We are now well into the 21st century and there are still places in the world where women cannot vote or drive a car, where they are still subject to honour killings as well as brutal and primitive circumcision rituals aimed at limiting their enjoyment of sex.

While the women's movement has made much progress in the last century, what is the future prognosis if women (and men) choose to give up the feminist cause because they keep identifying it with bra-burning harridans?

Said Dr Suzaina in an interview: 'The continued association of feminism with bra-burning is problematic. It has created a lot of negative connotations and pushed many women and men away from being associated with feminists.

'It paints feminists as angry, militant bitches and has become part and parcel of a feminist backlash. As a consequence, it takes away attention from the struggles of feminism and the evolutions within feminism and what it wants to achieve.'

Of course, one could equally argue that while the militancy of the women's movement in the 1970s may have turned off a lot of people today, it also did a lot of good.

Bra-burning symbolised a shaking off of old values and hypocritical morals. Also, if not for the bra-burning, would people have sat up and taken notice of the cause in the first place?

As with many other social movements in the West, the feminist movement was at its most powerful and visible in the 1970s, so much so that 1975 was designated International Women's Year and 1976 to 1985 the UN Decade For Women.

Of course, in hindsight, feminism has made mistakes - frowning on women who decided to opt out of the workforce to become full-time wives and mothers, for example - but it is a movement that is constantly evolving with the times. At the time, it was important for women to realise that they did not have to be locked up in the kitchen.

Today, the concerns are different.

But it would be equally wrong for women now to take a step back and proudly proclaim that they want to exercise the right to be stay-at-home mothers without first realising that women have always had that right.

We never had to fight for it. It was handed to us on a silver platter from the beginning of time, with pink ribbons attached.

But have we forgotten that we had to fight for the right to work or to go to school?

To turn our backs now on the pioneers who fought for those luxuries, whether they went bra-less or not, would be tantamount to treason.

Feminists may not always agree. But this should not prevent us from talking to each other. And yes, men can be feminists, too. Indeed, if feminists do not engage men in their fight, it would be like doing battle with one arm tied behind our backs.

Dr Kenneth Paul Tan, assistant head of the NUS' political science department, said in an e-mail response: 'Just because a single feminist agenda cannot be agreed upon, it does not mean that feminism is dead.

'It could mean that being a woman is so much more complex than any one feminist might be able to understand.

'So here is a great reason for open and equal dialogue among feminists themselves and the women they wish they could represent but often cannot.'
--Sunday Times

Being a total sexist towards men at times myself, I feel that sometimes...are women given a little too much? All these talk about women being similar as men and stuff, all these allowances so that women can be equal to men...is it really necessary?

I mean, c'mon, think about it. An international Women's day this tuesday? What happened to "men's day"? A woman going into places which man have been all their life is considered "revolutionary"?

Give me a break.

Seriously, both genders to me are equal. Yet, the world does not see it so. Why? Simple, women just arn't standing up for themselves. Go to Orchard road, ask someone whether they know that this tuesday is Women's day, and they will probably look at you with a bizzare look on their faces before walking off. A day allocated to themselves, and they don't care. In the article, they noted that the women earned a lot less. Well, how about some more people working instead of being house-wifes? Must man be the housewife?

Or is it something else?

Like..they arn't working hard enough?

Don't get me wrong, I'm sure they work hard, but are they playing their cards correctly? Office politics isn't something like a dai-dee game, where you need quite a bit of luck. It's more like poker. You must know when to fold, when to call.

One good example was the former head of Hewlett-Packard (it's amusing to note that they dare show this company's name with such an article), a female, who screwed her company over because of a mistake in buying over Compaq. Heck, the day she resigned, the HP stocks rose.

She(Ms Cecilia Pang) said in an interview: 'When we choose to strive in a traditionally male-dominated environment, what we're asking for is to be evaluated fairly and equitably along with the guys and be given the same social and economic benefits and support. It is not about women wanting to behave like men.'

You want fair? Sure. Try being a construction worker. How come that is a male dominated industry? Too heavy/too sunny for you? Well, too bad.

C'mon, think of most job positions that the world has, and you can easily come up with female names. Isn't that already fairly treating you females?

Singapore perhaps deviates from this family model. But while it has 10 women PAP Members of Parliament and two women ministers of state, it has no full female minister.

In an interview with The Straits Times on Friday, Dr Amy Khor, MP and mayor of Southwest Community Development Council, said she would not be surprised if a female minister is named after the next election.

She added: 'Let's be candid about this. I'm not being self-serving, but I see no harm in celebrating the achievements of women, even in politics. There are so few of us to begin with.'

She also noted that in her four years as MP, a lot of her feedback was taken into account and made into policy. For example, the two-day childcare leave for both mothers and fathers and the merging of the EM1 and EM2 streams in primary schools.

Yeah, I won't be surprised too. And about time you females decided to enter the politics. A lot of feedback was taken into account and made into policy? Congrats. I'm sure you worked them out.

# Of the 150 million children aged six to 11 who do not attend school, over 90 million are girls.

Perhaps it's their village doesn't have a school? I can easily name you some people who arn't allowed into schools, but have made the effort to keep trying. All you need, is the desire.

# Of the world's 876 million illiterate people over 15 years of age, two-thirds are women.

See above.

# One-third of all women have been violently abused.
Right, and somehow, women don't abuse men. It's just recently, that a few female teachers have been charged with having sexual relationships with their students below the age of 12

# HIV/Aids infection among women is increasing. Globally, 48 per cent of adults with HIV/Aids are women.
Maybe if they stop messing around so much....It's sex, not rape. And, I see more female prostitutes then male prostitutes in many many figures (and areas as well. LoL)

# Women make up 70 per cent of the 1.3 billion people worldwide who live in absolute poverty.
How do you define poverty? Family income, or personal income? What happened to "What he has is yours. What you have is yours" rule/belief? If the women is poor, does it mean that the male is poor as well?

Seriously, if women has such concerns over such issues, should they not stand up and protest as one? Look at the anti-slavery protests. Those worked, because everyone worked together.

With the kind of attitute of women, I fear that by the next century, nothing will be achieved. Women need to work together, learn their rights, and stand up as one.
--

Gamer girls...

Ah...

My favourite type of girls. Few and far in-between, usually. Met a few in forums, but they are still pretty rare.

But I gotta love Straits Times in the way they report rubbish. I thought I've seen some bad ones (including the story of the nerds who got hacked. Like real...)

Walk into any game arcade or LAN gaming shop and you'll find girls thrashing guys at their own game. For the uninitiated, LAN, or local area network, is a system that connects multiple computers, usually to play games.

Er...

Probably, but on the WCG (even the singapore leg), you don't see women winning. Stop trashing 5 year old n00bs and play with the big boys.



The girls don't just squeal in excitement over cute characters from adventure games like Maple Story. More are now seen hitting their keyboards in frustration when their characters are 'killed' in shoot-outs in macho games like Counter-Strike and Quake.

OMFG!!!!
QUAKE?

God, that brings back memories.

Dude. We are in Cs:S now. Heard of Half life 2? Halo 2? PlayStation 2? And, if they are so worked up just by the games, it pretty much shows their attitutes in real life. Unable to handle stress.

'With knowledge, information and contacts available via the Internet, the competitive edge is in the mind, which means sex matters far less,' he says.

In fact, since women have better mind-eye coordination and as their fingers are often slimmer, they tend to handle gadgets with greater dexterity, he notes.

Right. So why is most of the girls I've met online tell the world they are girls the second they enter a game? Hopes of "OMG! PICS NOW." replies? Heck, some of these "girls" are fakes. Better mind-eye coordination? Right, your mind and your eyes work well. Now, how about training that Hand-eye coordination? Better dexterity? Tell me, how many ways are there to press a PS2 controller? Fast fingers isn't everything (How fast can your fingers move using a keyboard and a mouse anyway..>_>), skill matters most. If it is, then why isn't the world's fastest typer a champion gamer?

Online chatting is another draw. Many new games have online chat capabilities which allow players from around the world to swop gaming tips and personal details.

Er..no. Most of the chats are filled with sex and people requesting/giving blowjobs. Gaming tips...don't make me laugh. Your skills are known only to yourself.

All in all, females can make good gamers. Heck, anyone can make good gamers. What's with this sudden craze that females have entered the gaming areas? Can't they play games like guys? What's all these hoo-ha all about? Yeah, they are good. I respect them for that.

After all, I am also a gamer. If you are good, I respect you. If you are not, I still respect you. Simple. Woman, man...like there's any crap difference.
--

Ah...yes...

Sunday Times also has these part about a bunch of losers who write in for help. Perhaps what they should do is to go out, hang out with their friends more instead.

Q I have a 12-year-old sister who's been going online very often.
I checked her phone and found that she's been text-messaging and talking with a few guys and using the words 'I love you' most of the time.

I've asked her to get home straight after school and I'm giving her access to her mobile phone only on weekends and when she's out. On weekdays, she'll have a curfew and will be allowed to log onto the Internet for a limited time each day.

Are all these restricting her too much? Can I stop her from contacting these online friends?

-- Worried sibling

Give her freedom, damnit. If she wants to get a boyfriend/girlfriend, LET HER BE? Who are you to restrict her? Once her grades are suffering, then tell her the mistakes. This also shows you that you need to be closer to your sister. How about talking to each other during dinner instead of bringing your food into your room to watch some videos or something and eat at the same time?

No self-esteem, no self-discipline

Q I lack self-control. I just can't stick to my to-do list.

Last year, I turned in almost every piece of homework late or not at all. How am I going to be ready for the O-level exams this year?

My social skills are also terrible. I either talk too fast or say stupid things.

I'm also convinced that people stare at me everywhere I go. This has been a problem since primary school, where I just didn't fit in and people teased me all the time.

I wish my parents would understand me more. We always snap at one another. I know they're tired after work and have money problems. -- Worrywart

Suicide is your only option.

Anyway, STOP PLAYING YOUR GAMES. Stop hanging out with your friends (if any) till 12midnight or watching CNN till late at night everyday!

For your second point, use a mirror. Go to some courses, and...well..use a mirror again.

Third, go for plastic surgery. Look in the mirror every morning. If you feel like vomiting, then you seriously need plastic surgery.

Forth, shut up. Let them rant all they want. You sit down quietly, and do your damned homework. Use music. That helps a lot too.