Anecdotal evidence: why we still need feminism

A column from a couple weeks ago, Lucy Mangan's The feminist fight is not over yet, and especially the criticism in some of the comments that it is all anecdotal and therefore meaningless, has clearly been percolating in the back of my mind since. I've heard more instances than I can count of similar, purely anecdotal, stories—on Twitter, overheard on commuter trains, from friends, in the news—that support my original reaction that the power of these anecdotal stories is precisely their representativeness, that we don't find them surprising. They're anecdotal, but they're not one-offs. This makes anecdotes powerful tools of argument in a way that an anomaly isn't; a two headed-lamb isn't an argument for anything, since it's unique or vanishingly rare—something that surprises no one is a powerful anecdote because it isn't rare. It's not a statistic, but it's a digestible instance of a bigger truth.

Arbitrarily I'll take Mangan's five examples and argue why I think they're representative, anecdotal or not.

1. 15 year-old wolf-whistled: if this were a one-off, it would be upsetting and obnoxious, but it wouldn't be an argument for awareness-raising or the need for social change. But it isn't. I've heard so many stories recently (and forever) of women saying how unsurprised they are by street harassment (physical as well as verbal), that it's a daily occurrence, that the first time it happened to them they were 12; and seen people harass others online, on the train, in the workplace, that's it's hard to believe some people are still surprised when they learn things like this happen. Objectification and harassment, and the fear of it, is a daily fact of many people's lives, and it. Shouldn't. Be.
2. Berlusconi: this might look dangerously like a two-headed lamb, but do you really not know anybody who has said, "So he slept with a teen call-girl, so he's a red-blooded male..."?
3. Funny porn: this is already not really anecdotal, since the argument relies on large numbers of instances to start with, but there is a point here about (a) the nature of pornography (women inserting ridiculous objects in various orifices is not in any meaningful way an erotic display), (b) the lack of judgement of men in sharing such images and (by extension) their own interest in the source of such images, without wondering whom it might offend, or disgust, or trigger a traumatic memory, and (c) the casual and socially acceptable objectification of the female body in popular culture.
4. Top Gear: again, everyone knows that the two-headed lambs that are the presenters of this repugnant show are pathetic, popularizing throwbacks, so why quote them and pretend to be shocked? I'd be a lot less shocked by their puerile nonsense if it weren't spouted on network television to a huge popular audience that admires their iconoclastic "outspokenness" and laddish "naughtiness".
5. Casual domestic violence: the sad thing about this story is not that one man somewhere was physically cruel and disrespectful to his partner one time (and that she accepted it as unpleasant but apparently unremarkable), but that (i) he did this in a public place, with apparently no expectation that anybody would object to his treating his partner like chattel, in a way it's no longer acceptable to treat a child or an employee; (ii) that more than one woman present on the train had the same thought, that this was horrific treatment, that they recognised the pattern of abuse it foreshadowed, and were clearly personally touched by it; (iii) that nobody present felt able to say or do anything about it (and even a commenter on the Guardian blog felt the need to protest, "how dare you presume to know what this means in the context of their relationship?"), as if public violence suddenly becomes acceptable so long as it's performed by a man upon a woman of his house.

The fact that these five classes of sexist behaviour and attitude exist in our society are all arguments—not the only arguments, and not the strongest arguments, but arguments nevertheless—that feminism's work is not done, that we all, women and men alike, need to work for a more respectful and egalitarian society.

(Sadly comments on Mangan's column are now closed, but I've used rev="comment" microformat attributes in my links above to make this response discoverable.)

Trans inclusion at "women-only" events

For a powerful discussion of the important issue which is the need to make explicit the inclusion of trans-women in feminist events, especially those events that are designated women-only, see this post at The F-Word. Especially where women-only events or demonstrations are safe spaces for protests about violence against women or children, it is important that trans-women know they are welcome and safe there too, since this is neither a given nor always obvious.

Action Aid and IWD

International Women's Day (IWD) connects women around the world and aims to inspire them to achieve their full potential. It is an opportunity to highlight the abuse of women’s rights across the world, while celebrating the central role that women play in creating a fairer and more just world.
ActionAid celebrated International Women's Day on 8 March with comedy, campaigns and film.

International Women's Day 2009

Well, this year there are lots of initiatives and articles etc. I've posted up just a few.

IWD: Past and Present

Just a few links I didn't get chance to post yesterday:

You can find a brief history of the origins of IWD in an (unfortunately unnamed)article from 'Womankind' (March, 1972) which also tells the tale of courageous women in America, campaigning for "Bread and Roses":

The story of American working women is often tokenly recognized by referring to great heroines of the movement Mother Jones, Ella Reeve Bloor, Kate Mullaney, Sojourner Truth, and Elizabeth Gurley Flynn. These were remarkable women and so were their stories. A good cure for depression is to read a chapter of Flynn's autobiography or reread the account of Mother Jones terrorizing scabs and participating in the 1919 steel strike at the age of 90. But it should not be forgotten that these were individual women, and that the bulk of the' organizing, struggling, as well as succeeding and failing, was done by ordinary women whom we willnever know. These were women who, realized the tactical necessity of standing and working together lest they be destroyed individually, women who put to shame the ridiculous theories of "woman's place'," women who in the famous Lawrence textile strike carried picket signs reading "We want Bread and Roses, too", symbolizing their demands for not only a living wage but a decent and human life.

The BBC have some great pictures of women from around the world, taken on International Women's Day, this year (2008.)

Joyce Stevens has put together a History of International Women's Day in Words and Images.

The UN and International Women's Day:

"Increasingly, International Women's Day is a time to reflect on progress made, to call for change and to celebrate acts of courage and determination by ordinary women who have played an extraordinary role in the history of women's rights."

And this is exactly why I feel it's so important to talk about IWD ... wouldn't it be great if every woman in the world was able to celebrate International Women's Day!

IWD: Origins, Supporters, Stats and Local Events

The Origins

A conference of over 100 women, from more than 17 countries, met in Copenhagen in 1910. A decision was made to establish an international women's day, to honour the movement for women's rights. The first International Women's Day was celebrated on the 19th of March the following year, when more than one million women and men attended rallies in Austria, Germany, Denmark and Switzerland.

Russian women celebrated the day for the first time in 1914 as part of the growing Peace Movement on the eve of the first World War. They were joined the following year by women all over Europe, in rallies to protest against the war and to show solidarity to the sisterhood.


Some Supporting Organisations and Scary Stats

International Women's Day is supported by a number of organisations today, including:

Action Aid

Women count for 70% of those living in poverty around the world.

Amnesty International

At least one out of every three women has been beaten, coerced into sex, or otherwise abused in her lifetime.

Every year, close to 500,000 women are trafficked to Western Europe. It is also estimated that approximately 50,000 women are trafficked to the U.S. every year. This problem also exists in India where almost 200,000 Nepalese women are trafficked into brothels.

Unison

Every week at least two women are killed by violent partners or ex-partners.

Women's Aid

Although domestic violence is traditionally an under-reported crime, the Police in the UK receive one call every minute about this issue.

The GCAP

The eradication of poverty cannot succeed without equality and justice for women.

... current international policies rob women of livelihoods, healthcare and other economic rights, while feeding fundamentalist backlash and militarism that deprive women of personal autonomy and choices.

This GCAP Feminist Taskforce webpage has some great ideas for celebrating IWD, by the way, if you fancy organising something yourself next year!


UK Events in 2008

Although aliqot and I found it hard to dig up much information at the time, it seems IWD is indeed celebrated around the world and there were even many events in the UK. So, why do so few women seem to know much (if anything) about it?

Perhaps it's just the women I know who don't know! Because IWD was celebrated this year in various ways in towns, cities and boroughs across the country, including:

Barking and Dagenham - held a day filled with speakers, workshops and presentations, with the theme of 'Shaping Progress.'

Brighton and Hove - have been celebrating IWD for almost 20 years and held a week of events from the 6th to the 12th of March.

Cambridge - celebrated IWD throughout March.

There were plenty of other examples, but none in Scarborough ... I'm working on that for next year, though!

Did you know of (or were you involved in) any International Women's Day celebrations this year?

:o)

International Women's Day 2008 ? I blinked and missed it.

On March 9th, the day after the big one, I could find very little about this in the news online.
AOL had its usual front page of celeb bad boob jobs, fit celebs with gorgeous bodies, weather 'babes'.
Two other mentions of women or girls - Margaret Thatcher's 'hospitalization', and a murder victim. Oh well, I guess it was a bad day.The Guardian had three films about key issues that affect women in the developing world titled Why International Women's Day matters.

The Independent had an article about intellectual women ending with the words 'Women beware women.' I only found this by searching for an article about women in the opinion section.

The Telegraph had an interesting article about male and female sexuality in France.
Maybe I was looking in the wrong places, but IWD did not hit me in the face.

International Women's Day

My attempt to explain and publicise this Day.

We women have it all ways. All jobs are open to us. No-one judges us on our looks any more. We have sex with anyone, male or female, who attracts us. We have nurseries, nannies or au pairs to look after our children. We have supportive partners who share housework, cooking and childcare.Isn’t this true? So, why do we need a special Day? Surely this battle has been won.

This year's theme is ‘Shaping Progress’ and events all over the world are being held today and throughout March. These events celebrate the centuries of struggle for equality and justice, and the real achievements of women. They also encourage women to continue to fight any remaining obstacles. And many do remain.

Some shocking facts.
According to The Independent, last year Thursday March 8th 2007, in the world as a whole:

• Women produce half the world's food, but own less than 2 per cent of the land.
• Of the more than 1 billion people living in extreme poverty, 70% are women.
• Half of all murdered women are killed by their current or former husbands or partners.
• Two thirds of the world's 800 million illiterate adults are women.
• 2 million girls aged from 5 to 15 join the commercial sex market every year.
• Violence against women causes more deaths and disabilities amongst women aged from 15 to 44 than cancer, malaria, traffic accidents or war.

From the Guardian (6.3.08)
In Britain women fill only 14.5% of non-executive board positions. One in four of the FTSE 100 boards has no women at all. The number of women holding executive directorships in FTSE 100 companies fell last year to the lowest level for nine years.And of course, most women still work in the notoriously underpaid fields of health, caring, catering, shop-work and education.

I’m not a feminist but…
Feminism has become a dirty word. Many women arguing a feminist case, will begin by saying, ‘I’m not a feminist, but…’ Most feminists don’t hate men, but simply want men and women to have equal opportunities and equal responsibilities. Feminism is about women (and men) going beyond the traditional limitations of their gender.
Men and women are not the same.There are differences between the sexes, but these differences are not so great as the differences between individuals. Gender differences are often exaggerated by the way we dress boys and girls, and treat them differently . Children are encouraged to conform to the stereotypical view of a girl or a boy. This is constantly reinforced by scientific articles about gender differences, and children’s needs, backed up by often misleading headlines.Why can we not raise children to act as human beings first, who happen to be male or female?