Contemporary U.S. feminist activism

Human Rights

Equal rights have begun to play an increasingly important role in the globalized and information-rich world of today. No longer can communities isolate themselves or make their own rules for existence. The globe has become an integrated whole, forming what is known as the "global village." As such, no person or group within this "village" can perpetrate a human rights violation without being widely condemned according to the rules and laws of the human rights paradigm. Unfortunately, there are still those societies that operate from the patriarchal rather than the human rights paradigm. As such, women are degraded and disempowered to be little more than subordinates in service to the male sector of their societies. It is these violations against which organization such as Equality Now are taking up arms. Equality Now1 is a multinational, multilingual organization that calls upon all women in all countries to take a stand against human rights violations and particularly against the abuse of women. As such, the organization is representative of the current Western thinking in terms of progressive human and women's rights. In this view, women have a valuable contribution to make to their respective societies, regardless of what form such societies take.

A. Feminism Activism

Equality Now operates under the premise of the third wave social justice and feminism movements. The organization recognizes that, although women have basic rights such as the right to work outside of the home and the right to vote, these fall far short of actualizing true equality between the genders. Indeed, there are still many

1. Equality Now. http://www.equalitynow.org/english/index.html inequalities, such as salaries and the way in which women in the workplace are treated. According to an Australian study by Professor Chilla Bulbeck2 (2008), for example, equality issues extend not only to the workplace, but also to the home: Women on average receive 16% less than men per hour of work, while female executives receive as much as 42% less than their male counterparts in the country. On the domestic front, while childcare statistics for men have increased, they still do very little to participate in domestic duties around the house.

This is however only one of the focus points of Equality Now. The organization is part of a highly active network of women who strive towards mitigating the effects of women's rights violations from the above-mentioned salary discrimination to slavery and torture. As such, Equality Now operates the women's action network (WAN), which focuses on women's issues and oppression in more than 160 countries. This network reports and campaigns against practices such as female genital mutilation, sex trafficking, and archaic patriarchal violations such as stoning women to death for prostitution.

Political and Social Structural Discrimination

1. Domestic Violence

Equality Now also works with domestic women's rights violations such as abuse, helping battered women to face the problems in their relationships, and to take steps to improve these. One of the problems associated with battered women is the lack of public

2. Equality - Do today's young women and men want it? University of Adelaide. http://www.equalopportunity.wa.gov.au/pdf/speech_iwd08.pdf education surrounding the issue. According to Karen Kendrick3 (1998), herself a battered woman, the current discourse surrounding the issue advocates the view that battered women fall into a certain category of helplessness. This view is then used to explain why these women remain in such relationships, and also to some extent as a public excuse for not taking steps to mitigate the problem. Specifically, Kendrick notes that battered women are seen as either low-income women without the means to support themselves, middle-class women without any job training, or women with psychological problems such as learned helplessness or dependence issues (Kendrick 1998:151). In Kendrick's case, none of these viewpoints were true, and like Equality now, she is striving towards better public education regarding the issue.

In addition to the general abuse issue as manifest within the borders of Western countries such as the United States and the UK, the domestic violence issue can also be more severe. Indeed, it can even be fatal as a result of not only the public, but also the unwillingness of the authorities to provide victims with the help that they need. The Equality Now Web site for example cites several examples, such as a 51-year-old woman who was stabbed by a former boyfriend, and female victims abducted from a Mexican town and subsequently killed. In both cases, the authorities failed to take seriously the cases before it was too late to do anything for the victims involved. In this way, women still experience both political and social structural discrimination.

3. In Community Activism and Feminist Politics edited by Nancy a Naples. Routledge.

2. Reproductive Rights

Equality Now also strives towards public education regarding the reproductive rights of women. In the past, women's enslavement by their male partners included the use of their reproductive powers to keep them in the home, occupied with children and domestic duties. This is no longer an accepted practice, although in many countries it is still the norm. This is one of the biggest platforms that abusive men use in order to subordinate their wives and the women in their countries. In patriarchal societies, women's duties are viewed as centered in the home and around domestic duties, while men have the right to work outside of the home and earn a salary. This issue integrates with all the other issues of human rights abuses surrounding women. At the center of the issue is the focus of power. Women are disempowered by abusive men who abuse them both physically and mentally. Women without reproductive rights are likely to have multiple children, and most likely not by choice. These women are then bound to the home and the children, deprived of the opportunity to work outside of the home should she choose to do so. This furthers the view of the battered woman as home bound and powerless to make the decision to leave the relationship.

Providing women with the knowledge of their reproductive rights is then one of the ways in which Equality Now strives to empower women for the better lives that are their right. In addition to equal access to medical care for low-income and ethnic communities, Equality Now also supports public education campaigns for sexual education workshops, providing contraception to all women, and the morning-after pill.

Sexual education classes tend to meet with resistance from parents, particularly in more conservative communities. According to Cynthia Daillard4(2001), sex education is generally seen in a positive light by Western parents, particularly in the light of HIV / AIDS and other related illnesses. This is one of the ways in which women and young girls are empowered to make their own decisions regarding their bodies. In more conservative, patriarchal societies, on the other hand, sex is used as a tool of oppression, closely connected to the issue of children, the home, and professional development.

3. Gender discrimination

As mentioned above, gender discrimination is still very much an issue, even in the Western world today. It is a characteristic of third-wave feminism that such discrimination has however taken a much subtler form than had been the case in the past. Discrimination in most Western societies today take place by means of salary discrimination, and by issues such as discriminating against female applicants with children or who are pregnant. While there are laws against blatant discrimination, the view that women are somehow less competent than men in leadership positions still prevails.

Nevertheless, organizations such as Equality Now provides some hope by placing pressure upon governments to change oppressive laws. In countries where human rights are for example not prevalent, the organization strives to change the issues at the governmental level. On the other hand, political and social necessity have also provided

4. Sex Education: Politicians, Parents, Teachers and Teens. The Guttmacher Report on Public Policy, Vol. 4, No. 1. http://www.guttmacher.org/pubs/tgr/04/1/gr040109.html women with a sense of necessity in terms of community leadership.

According to Celene Krauss5(1998:129), for example, white, middle-class women have traditionally derived their sense of identity and satisfaction from their domestic environment. The issue of toxic waste disposal have however encouraged these women to take action against the dangers posed by this issue. While the grassroots movement against toxic waste is interracial, and stretches across all communities and income levels, white, middle-class women have taken the lead on the issue.

This is interesting in the light of feminist and women's rights issues, as this group of women have mobilized themselves, rather than being seduced by a movement outside of their own social circles and movements. Instead, they are motivated by an intrinsic sense of danger to their families to take leadership, although this is traditionally uncharacteristic for them. This is the type of motivation also encouraged by Equality Now.

A further interesting group of women when investigating the issue of women's rights is young people. Bulbeck (2008) appears to suggest that today's young generation in the West no longer find gender equality as necessary as the blatantly oppressed women of decades ago. Gabrielle Jamela Hosein6(2002), on the other hand, holds that this is mainly a question of perspective.

5. In Community Activism and Feminist Politics edited by Nancy a Naples. Routledge.

6. What Does Feminism Mean to Young Women? CAFRA. http://www.cafra.org/article353.html

For some young women, according to this author, feminism means survival and a fundamental recognition of themselves as women with rights that are equal to those of men. This group of young women understand the need to struggle for their right to exist on their own terms. These women strive for equality under patriarchal and oppressive regimes, or even in Western societies where supposedly subtle forms of oppression are all too apparent.

On the other hand, there are the group of young women who see feminism itself as a mode of oppression or indeed a type of violent anti-oppression movement and therefore to be avoided. This demonstrates a fundamental misconception of feminism among a group of women who see themselves as equal and therefore not in need of striving for their rights. The educational task of organizations such as Equality Now is to educate the public not only on issues of domestic violence and reproductive rights, but also on the inherent traits of movements such as feminism.

Specifically, Education Now strives for educating the public on third-wave feminism, and how each person can make a difference in the lives of women who still suffer from both subtle and less subtle abuses of their rights. Both the abused and the uninvolved public need to be encouraged via education and knowledge to take power to help both themselves and others. In addition, the size and power of the organization allow it to also make changes on the legislative and governmental level, to truly make a difference in the lives of women. Equality Now provides both the oppressed and the liberated with the opportunity to become aware and help others by becoming involved. This is also the case with the issues surrounding abortion.

Abortion

1. Rape

Once again, the lack of police interest and caring, as well as legislative shortcomings, have resulted in a lack of justice as far as rape is concerned. Women are both subtly and openly oppressed by public and legal discrimination. Rapists are set free, for example, due to a lack of sufficient evidence to convict them, while many more women are in danger from them. If a woman falls pregnant as a result of rape, having an abortion is not illegal, but it is nonetheless frowned upon by the "pro-life," fundamentalist religious public. In this way the woman is made to feel guilty and ashamed, while the rapist is free to continue his actions.

Legally, women are also discriminated against. They are treated as if they are not being entirely truthful about the rape, and continue to be demonized particularly when the perpetrator is not convicted.

This is one of the issues against which Equality Now positions itself. In this way, it strives to help victims by educating them in such a way as to empower them. The public is educated towards a greater understanding of the issue, and the organization also strives to change the legal system towards a better and more humane system for the victims of this crime.

2. Sexual enslavement

Sexual enslavement is a global issue. Women are abducted from their home countries and sold into this kind of slavery throughout the world, including in the United States. While it is true that many governments throughout the world turn a blind eye on this multi-million dollar industry, it is also true that awareness raises action.

According to the San Francisco Examiner7(1997), for example, the government and related groups see this as a priority issue. It is problematic that the issue is global, with sex trades booming throughout countries such as Thailand, Russia and the United States, and throughout the world. Because this prevailing issue is so difficult to police, the role of organizations such as Equality Now is vital in curbing the problem. Indeed, visitors to the Web site are provided with a platform from which they can be involved at various levels, from donations to actions. More can however be done by for example implementing governmental policies that provide political asylum for those victimized in this way. Sex tourism is another aspect of sexual slavery