Hard-won Freedoms

Posted by Barbara on February 17, 2025 in Blog, feminism, Human rights, Women's equality issues | 2 comments

The photographs say it all; there is the US Vice-President in Munich, a bland-looking white man, seated around a large wooden table with an indeterminate number of bland-looking white men, rudely, noisily and commandingly dismantling the rule-based order I grew up with.  If the proverbial visiting Martian had just landed and entered the room, it would have been forgiven for assuming that this was representative of earthlings.  No doubt if a woman had appeared at that point our Martian visitor would have scratched its head – if it had one – and wondered how this new creature fitted into the hierarchy.

Damesnet wishes to inform the Martian that the people around the table are doing their level best to keep this other creature in an inferior position.  In 2016 I went to an exhibition at the V&A entitled: You Say You Want a Revolution? Records and Rebels 1966-1970. As a child of that era I found it fascinating, but there was one exhibit that stamped itself onto my consciousness. It was one of those neat little bits of tech where as you get close to it the person starts talking or an image starts moving.  The person featured was Caroline Coon, the artist known for her paintings, her feminist political activism, her writing and photography and who has campaigned for women’s rights since the 1960s.  In the exhibition she was a ‘talking head’ and one thing she ‘said’ made a huge impact: ‘These hard-won freedoms could be taken away from us at a moment’s notice’.

These words have been ringing in my head recently; I’ve just read a report published by ODI Global entitled: How women’s movements lead demands for democracy in the face of backlash and politicised religion. You can read the full report here: but if you don’t have time you might find some of the key findings of interest:

Democracy and civic space

• Feminists continue to advocate for meaningful democratic reforms with the implicit understanding that these are essential to advancing their claims, even if not all activists are at the forefront of political reform movements. Open civic space, as a key feature of democratic reform, emerges as critical for women’s activism to survive and succeed. The risks to activists are heightened where civic space is almost completely closed.

• Transnational civic space and support from diaspora activists enables women’s voices to be heard despite domestic constraints.

Politicised religion

• Feminists rely heavily on secular institutions, such as secular legal and constitutional frameworks, to advance their claims and resist the rising influence of politicised religion.

• Political secularism has faded from the forefront of feminist activism in many countries due to heightened risks.

• Religious forces opposed to gender equality in laws and policies are not new, but strategizing to counter them is proving more challenging than ever before, due to new influences (such as Evangelical Christianity and Hindutva), the hardening of politicised religious authority, the long legacy of Islamisation and deepening risks of open deliberation in civic spaces.

• To enable feminists to challenge backlash to gender equality, it is essential to maintain open civic spaces with reduced influence of politicised religion inhibiting women’s claims.

The challenges to women’s rights are mounting. I’m trying to stay alert.