Feminism
Feminism can best be captured as a movement that seeks to redefine the thoughts of human beings worldwide as regards discrimination upon the grounds of gender particularly in reference to women. It seeks to free women from male dominated ideologies that oppress the womanhood and that restrain women from participating in all humanistic social endeavors. Feminism is a construct of social, cultural and thirdly political movements not forgetting the backing of feminist theories and moral based philosophies.
Feminism has a long history differentiated by what are called three waves. The first wave is postulated to have occurred in both the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The second wave took place between the 1960s and the 1970s and the third wave came ten years after in the 1990s, and it persists till today. From the feminist movement, there developed the feminist theory which is comprised of various literatures depicting feminist history, literary criticism and the likes. Feminism from its conception was the product of predominantly white women from mostly Europe and North America but as it caught on, other races of women joined in. The movement really took off particularly in the 1960s when civil rights movements were going on in the U.S. and afterward when colonialism started to collapse, other African countries, the Caribbean, Latin America and Asia also joined in the movement seeking gender equality.
The feminism movement has brought some changes, though more change can be in some parts of the world than others. In the Western world, the feminism movement has changed the way women are treated as regards culture, law, politics, reproductive rights, workplace rights, sexual rights e.g. rape, contractual rights and ownership rights among other kinds of discriminatory acts. In other parts of the world leave the Western world, there is still some catching up to do as the above mentioned privileges enjoyed by women counterparts in the Western world are not accrued by women in other parts of the world for example those in the Caribbean as is the focus of this research. The feminism movement has become more defined and thus, agencies both international and in local countries having feminist movements have mushroomed to help with the process. With the help of such agencies, the other parts of the world which do not accrue equal gender based rights have a fighting chance to do so. In the Caribbean for example, CAFRA (Caribbean Association for Feminist Research and Action) is very active in terms of relating the gender rights that should be accrued the Caribbean women.
History of Feminism in the Caribbean
Feminism in the Caribbean took root during colonialism age in resistance of the then present tyranny of enslavement and it has continued to present. The movement in the Caribbean was mostly fueled by the movement of other women internationally most especially the second wave movement of the 1960s and 1970s. The quest for equal women’s rights at that time was a catalyst for women in the Caribbean. Women were enlightened during this period, and they recognized that they had to organize themselves, stand up, and fight for their rights and the vision they had for Caribbean especially them being women from that region. In their movement, the women from the Caribbean recognized the need for cohesion in terms of regional co-operation and networking all across. This meant that the women knew that individually, they were inaudible but as many, they had a voice. As the women noted that geographically, they faced the same day to day problems, their co-operation with one another grew and out of that, women organizations in the Caribbean such as the aforementioned CAFRA emerged to help in the quest. In this paper, a number of issues as regards feminism in the Caribbean will be discussed. The issues center on: the current feminist movement in the Caribbean and the goals and strategies employed; the changes in which this movement has brought in the Caribbean as regards women rights; organizations that help in this movement and the relationships they have with other organizations in the same cause; the factors influencing the movement and the tools used to propel the movement and the constraints and opportunities facing the movement. At the end, a summary will be drawn and it will be centered upon the expectations on what the movement will have reaped in the years to come.
Caribbean Feminism
The current incarnation of the movement
There are a number of incarnations including goals, strengths as well as strategies that feminism movement is applying in its operation within the Caribbean. Studies have shown that by the year 1990s, movement of Caribbean feminism had reached its maturity as portrayed by its level of development. However, even with this particular advancement, Caribbean feminists engaging in literal as well as metaphorical studies are only in a position to communicate through conferences and exchanges of published works.
Over time, Caribbean societies have been found to encounter rapid as well as outstanding cultural, political, social as well as economic dynamism. This has led the Caribbean people to revisit and undertake a discussion on gender identities that are rather inherited and more so, question gender ideologies in existence.
The new theoretical constructs on feminism are directed to giving light and also scrutinizing these changes. This shows that Caribbean feminists are currently engaging in the development of an intellectual community through which to undertake a debate as well as theorization of the various advancements in this area. There are also additional developments within the region which indicate the great need for focusing on commitments of feminists with regard to justice as well as equity.
Current advancements within the region also indicate the necessity of maintaining commitment towards reflecting on women’s realities within Caribbean societies. It occurs that Commonwealth Caribbean has more than 44% of its households with women heads. This considerable women representation in leadership is expected to have great social, political as well as economic implications with regard to women.
State machineries that address development issues concerning women have continued to weaken by the day. The result has been a misunderstanding of a situation where gender represents men as well as women and not a framework revealing various injustices within social as well as economic associations encountered by women. It is from these set of misunderstandings that Caribbean feminists have come up with several goals as well as objectives in their actual operation of developing a better framework through which to undertake discussions of Caribbean society dynamism from feminist point of view.
The various goals and strategies currently being utilized by Caribbean feminists include provision of a medium through which to facilitate communication between distinct feminists’ generations within the Caribbean. This is being carried out through organizing several seminars, conferences as well as workshops whereby feminism issues are discussed. It is also during these discussions that an evaluation of the feminism movement achievements is undertaken in order to point out what has already been attained and what remains unaddressed.
Another goal of feminism movement is to address the racism issue which has persisted particularly in the political arena for quite sometime. The type of racism being encountered within the Caribbean is modern racism and the objective of feminist scholars is to undertake a deconstruction of the various constituent categories including nation, race as well as ethnicity. This way, the feminists are in a position to disclose the gendered characters of these racism categories.
The ultimate goal for feminism within the Caribbean is to achieve a situation whereby women are no longer designated as others. More so, feminism within the Caribbean is also focused of addressing and finally eliminating the situation whereby women are considered as indicators of national, racial as well as ethnic difference.
It is realized that there is a considerable achievement in a situation whereby women have been accorded a place particularly in the political arena. That is, total representation of women in leadership has considerably increased. However, women have now transformed the inequality formerly encountered where men as well as women genders were the main factors in question to a form of internal conflict with regard to inequality.
A good example of such a situation is whereby CAFRA is involved with its membership representation raising questions of whether ethnicity as well as nationalism has been adequately addressed. This is particularly because CAFRA association constitutes a great percentage of women of the Afro-Caribbean origin while those originating from Indo-Caribbean having a considerably small minority.
More so, it occurs that this feminists’ association have minimal of even no representation of Indigenous women who happen to be very poor. It is argued that this situation in CAFRA is no better compared to what was formerly opposed within Left movement hence the need to rectify it. This also forms yet another objective for feminist movement whereby it undertakes to bring a reformation in CAFRA in order to bring ethnic as well as nationality uniformity with regard to its members representation in the larger community.
Since CAFRA plays a great role in execution of feminism operations within the Caribbean, it has proceeded to undertake an update of its operational programs in order to be in line with the most recent issues that require addressing. More so, it is the intention of this Feminists Association to adopt advanced technique of addressing the issues which is achieved through updating their programs. Among the latest updates is one whereby CAFRA sought to reinforce the struggle of women regarding their rights and the vision they have for Caribbean region.
The actual program update involves an incorporation of an examination of professional history for the previous twenty years followed by a critical evaluation of work it has been undertaking. The manner in which to undertake the processes of examination as well as that of evaluation is through recording all the previous projects and then carrying out an assessment with regard to the presently operational strategic plan. The main goal of CAFRA is to undertake a research and then make a publication of its critical history in order to be of help to feminists’ activists as well as the entire public.
The collection of the various objectives for CAFRA’s project involving program update include coming up with a strategic plan to be undertaken by the organization in future. This will be achieved after analyzing the various means through which feminists have operated and then making suggestions of better ones that would give more productive results. The Association also aims to point out operational factors as well as approaches that support mission achievement.
More so, those operational approaches and factors constraining mission achievement are also to be pointed out. The Association also aims at examining management structures as well as the manner in which CAFRA programs function at national level. More so, the program update aims at identification of ways in which CAFRA has influenced its membership. This will lead to another objective involving an assessment of the extent to which members as well as leaders have a uniform understanding regarding organizational principles. The program update will also culminate in the evaluation of reasons behind the Associations failure to generate required financial support and to formulate recommendations through which to advance organization’s current condition.
The tools it uses to affect change
There are a number of tools that are utilized by Caribbean feminists in their efforts to accomplish objectives and attain priory set goals. These include preparation of workshops whereby feminists gather and exchange ideas regarding the manner in which to handle difficulties being encountered by feminism with the Caribbean. Another tool applied in effecting the change if through organizing conferences whereby activists are invited in order to assist feminists in comprehending their rights and also offering reinforcement to from distinct races within women’s movement.
Feminists’ activists have also proceeded to form coalitions as well as alliances in order to gain reinforcement and be better placed in addressing the persistent issues regarding racism and finally manage to challenge racialized divisions present in social, cultural, political as well as economic arena.
The Association of CAFRA has come up with a rather definite methodology through which to undertake its program update. This is particular based on its past experiences whereby it has managed to maintain creativity in the manner in which it expresses itself through its programs. This includes undertaking sponsorship of trainings as well as offering support to general attendance to its various workshops. CAFRA also endeavors to sponsor Caribbean women involvement in an International Writing Guild’s conference taking place annually.
The Caribbean Association for Feminist Research and Action has come up with way in which they can bridge the gap between women of racial and ethnic groups. This association has analyzed some of the small women organizations which have been formed to cater for the poor and discriminated women in the Carribean since 1930s. These women form such groups so as to deal with ethnic and racial issues at the lower class level where most women in Caribbean are found to be under slavery. These women faced a lot of discrimination especially at work places whereby women with dark skin color faced a lot of discrimination. Lewis a working class female activist was a member of the small movements that were formed to succumb to the ethnicity and the racial problems called Butler Movement. She attempted to form a Domestic Union which catered for the women who faced racial discrimination and later on established a Carribean Women’s National Assembly in 1950s.She had influenced lots of women both in and out her ethnicity she was involved in politics and was able to prove that color wasn’t an issues. She joined the West Indian Independence Party and gained power to investigate and protect the rights of the Caribbean women.
In the 1960s and 1970s, liberations were taking place internationally. New movements were formed in Africa, social movements were established in Asia and Latin America and as for the Britain and the USA, and anti-slavery movements were being formed. As a result of these movements, women emerged as leaders taking control of the new movements rising. Conflicts between classes, gender or race was one of the main factors which led to the establishment of the CAFRA .This association were involved so much with many politic parties and other organizations. The members were concerned with the gender discrimination in politics and wanted to fight for the rights of women in the whole of the Carribean.
The association had a vision in which they wanted to expound their territory and develop a regional co-operation and networking. They wanted to promote and support the growth and development of women in the whole of the Caribbean unfortunately these female activists were located in the urban areas yet m9ost of the women were located in the rural areas. Some organizations noticed this and intervened and concentrated in the rural areas. As a result to that many rural areas become fertile and regarded as the main producers but were not paid.CAFRA intervened and formed a Rural Women’s Association in the Central Trinidad which was part of the rural area and took care of the women’s needs at that level(rural).
Caribbean Association for Feminist Research and Action established a relationship with women of Caribbean by engaging themselves with campaigns. They came up with campaigns that such as anti-racism and political. They also worked hand in hand with Christian organizations such as Indo Trinidad Presbyterian organization, Church Women United were they were involved in workshops that enabled the women to know how to handle racism issues search as healing from the discrimination. They were involved with other workshops which involved other countries which women faced a lot of discrimination either gender based, race or ethnic. Some of these country included Spain, French, Africans, East Indian who women were subjected to slavery regardless even after India independence among others.
From these workshops they were able to interact, share ideas and formulate way in which they could help their own country women to defend themselves against such issues.CAFRA continued to use campaigns so as to network with other fellow women so as to increase awareness in matters pertaining race and ethnicity. However these methods sounded fruitful, they faced a number of threats, major being financial and human assistance. They needed funding as most of the members were working class and hence had the means to support them but not as much as when the association became to externally being involved. There no longer able to finance things like campaigns and hence there effort to reach the national populations was cut short. They decided to develop and implement training programs in which attracted most of the membership. Many international organizations became interested and decided to fund their projects and training programes.Other women in the Association became politicians and these created a smooth running of the its campaigns’ in the Caribbean regionS
Constraints that influence the movement of the Caribbean women
Though the feminist politics has presented itself as being inclusive of the women regardless of their racial or ethnic backgrounds, this has not been ascertained as the CAFRA has been predominantly made up of the Afro-Caribbean women and had only few Indo-Caribbean women which had almost negligible interconnection with the indigenous women. This aspect nullifies the notion and perception that the women in the Caribbean have inclusive aspect in their movements. Apart from the variation in form of the racial and ethnic backgrounds, the Caribbean politics or movements are also based on the exclusions of other women basing on the power that the women have and therefore dominate over others thus limiting the effectiveness of account or assertion made by the women groups in the Caribbean as being inclusive (Momsen 1993).
The race by itself or interconnected with the religious practices may be viewed as the spring board in the identification of the social being of the individuals in a given society. Basing on this assertion it can therefore be led to a summation that the aspect of race can be used in the demarcation or exclusion of the different categories of women in the Caribbean society. These differences basing on the ethnic and racial aspects among the women in the Caribbean fraternity is what leads to the emergency of the hindrances of the inclusiveness in the movements or political groups and organizations in the Caribbean. These constraints limit the balance in the social classes as the variations like the superiority and inferiority of the people basing on the cultural and inequitable social and economic practices. This will thus also facilitate the limitation in the union of the various political movements or other gender related organizations or women’s groups.
The constructs of race and colour in the Caribbean life among the feminist groups are what lead to the substantial disparities in the social and economic prospects; this led to the formation of new groups that were formed distinctively on the basis of the social and economic status, as deemed or outlined by their colour and ideologies of race which are also the key factors on the forefront of hindering or inhibiting the integration of the women groups and even their eventual or final relation to the state.
In spite of the continued disintegration of the groups of the women among the Caribbean society, the influence of these constraints has not been enormous as it is mainly dominant in selected parts of the state. The notion about the feminist scholars aim to reduce the instances of social and economic stratification disparities and the differences in the categories of race and colour which in essence results in the discrimination of the different groups of women thus acting as a constraint in the movements among the Caribbean women in relation to the state (Elis 2003).
The way of perception of the ethnically based groups especially the formation of the Indo-Caribbean and other different types of the indigenous or natural identity movements accompanied by the personal and political experiences of the activists in the fight against the discourses of race, ethnicity and gender and this has also significantly led to the hindrances in the facilitation of the integration in the movements and other groups within the society (Momsen 1993).
The variations of the women in their movements or political and economic organizations were also divided basing on the social class or the working classes of the people. This had an implication that the women wanted to maintain the status quo and therefore the postulations of improving the wages of the women and improving their working conditions. This sort of lack of liberalized feminism was denounced by the working-class feminists and therefore led to the hindrance in the movement integration formed by the Caribbean women.
Reference:
Elis, P (2003). Women, gender and development in the Caribbean: reflections and projections. Zed Books.
Momsen, J (1993). Women & change in the Caribbean: a Pan-Caribbean perspective. Ian Randle.
