Feminised flavours of our times

Glenda Simms, Contributor

In many societies, the human rights of women and girls have been historically ignored or trivialised. Power-hungry leaders of the so-called democracies and the dictators on the other side have all patronised the women of their nations and, at convenient times, thrown the crumbs from their patriarchal dinner tables to the women who represent the feminine flavour of the day, month, year or political season.

Egypt is a good example of a society where the zeal for change welcomed the partnership of women and men in an uprising that brought down Hosni Mubarak, the best-loved patriarchal dictator of the Western democracies.

CNN and the other Western global media houses bombarded the people of all the worlds [first, second, third and fourth] with the images of the crowds that chanted and demanded that Mubarak must "pack his bags and go".

The observer of this historical moment, in what has been dubbed the Arab Spring, would have seen Egyptian women in the now-famous Tahrir Square in Cairo. Some of these women wore hajibs, some showed off their traditional headscarves, some wore long skirts, and others came out in Western-inspired garbs which exposed their cleavages. Others wore gold or silver crosses to denote their Christian affiliation.

The variations in their dress code did not deter their courageous women from camping out on the concrete pathways beside their menfolk as they took strength and inspiration from the stars above them during the nights.

Many of these women were Western-educated daughters of the upper crust, some were housewives operating in the traditional sphere and many others were the poor and marginalised, who for generations raised their families in the tombs of the famous City of The Dead in the heart of Cairo.

All of these women took to the streets and valiantly stood side by side with the men who participated in the rebellion. In a real sense, the average Egyptian man had no problem struggling for freedom from dictatorship and oppression side by side with ordinary and not-so-ordinary Egyptian women.

Male expectations

Such a man would expect that when the victory comes, the girls would gladly return to the feminine flavour of the month, while the military patriarchs and the ruling elite would just proceed in their usual mode of creaming off the best part of the Egyptian pie.

This was not allowed to happen. The women of Egypt, the young and the oppressed knew that they were equal partners in the struggle and they are not about to return to the kitchen. So the struggle continues in Egypt!

The same stream will flow through Tunisia, Yemen, Syria, Libya and all the nations whose rulers think that women can be fooled by their opportunistic approach to women's equality rights.

Turning the spotlight from the Muslim-dominated dictatorial societies to a society such as the Westernised and Christianised 50-year-old nation state of Jamaica might be quite instructive in the debate on the global status of women.

At the 103rd session of the Human Rights Committee which was held in Geneva from October 17 to November 4, the third periodic report on the status of human rights submitted by Jamaica was carefully examined and responded to.

Even though the report was 10 years overdue, the committee welcomed the many legislative and institutional steps Jamaica has taken in its effort to protect a variety of rights holders in the society.

In spite of these positive steps, the committee raised many concerns, including the following general ones:

• The absence of an independent, adequately funded and resourced human-rights institution.
  
• The restriction of the avenues by which individuals can lodge complaints to the committee. This problem arises from the fact that the state party has not acceded to the Optional Protocol of the Human Rights Covenant.

On the specific issue of the human rights of Jamaican women, the committee recommends that:

• Jamaica should strengthen its efforts to increase the participation of women in decision-making positions in both the public and private sectors through the implementation of new practical initiatives, including, if necessary, temporary special measures to give effect in the provisions of the covenant.

This means that the Human Rights Committee is calling on the Jamaican Government to honour all its commitments under the Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW).

In the same vein, the women of Jamaica need to demand that the Government of Jamaica ratify the Optional Protocol to CEDAW, so that the individual woman (rich or poor) can have access to her full rights as a human being.

Gender discrimination

The Human Rights Committee also addressed the issue of the lack of specific laws to prohibit discrimination on the basis of sex, sexual orientation and gender identity.

Additionally, the committee raised concerns about measures that need to be put in place to ensure that women can avoid unwanted pregnancies and not resort to illegal abortions that could put their lives at risk.

These are but a few of the strong recommendations that were directed to the Jamaican State in an effort to ensure that every citizen experiences his or her full human rights. Of course, like all other independent state parties, Jamaica will continue to ratify United Nations conventions, ignore the requirements of these treaty bodies, and write periodic reports that are articulate and almost convincing.

Fortunately for the Jamaican democracy, a coalition of eight civil-society groups prepared a list of responses to the many and varied issues raised by the Human Rights Committee at its 103rd session.

In their effort, the leaders of these groups gave a well-researched, coherent and incisive evaluation of the steps that Jamaica must take to assure that every citizen has the freedom to achieve and enjoy his or her full human rights.

In this exhaustive review of all the legal, social, economic and political barriers to the achievement of our full human rights, the Jamaica Civil Society Coalition has ensured that on the issue of equality between man and women, the feminine flavour of the month will not be tolerated.

In short, every Jamaican woman and girl must be empowered to demand her human rights. The time of begging and curtsying to massa is over.

At this point in the history of the modern world, women who enter the political arena and the boardrooms of nations must not be conned into believing that the patriarch is being benevolent and caring because he has let them in.

On the contrary, every woman who dares to desire to participate at the highest levels of decision-making needs to be reminded that generations of other women championed the cause of our liberation. These are the women who showed strength and tenacity in the struggle to create the sturdy bridges over which many of us have crossed and are trying to cross. The women of Jamaica have a right to demand their human rights to be equally represented at every level of the society. Every woman must, therefore, realise that she is entitled to the full range of her human rights.

She must, therefore, ensure that she is not the feminine flavour of our times.

Glenda P. Simms, PhD, is a gender expert and consultant. Email feedback to columns@gleanerjm.com and glendasimms@gmail.com.