If you planned to go abroad to enlighten the oppressed women in the patriarchal country

Question

What types of strategies would you build to cope with the extreme male-supremacist and the radical anti-feminism in the country where the sexism has been extensively accepted as a righteous ideology among both men and women and the feminists/women are not as protected and secured as the U.S.?

Answer 1

I would let them know all about how egregious the Patriarchy is and that by failing to espouse modern Feminism they are not behaving properly.  The key to advancing society is only through acceptance of modern Feminism.

Answer 2

Women aren't being oppressed in the first place, so it's pretty pointless to do such thing.

Answer 3

The first thing would do would be drop the attitude I was going anywhere to 'enlighten' anybody. Then I'd try to make contact with one of the numerous feminist and women's organisations in that country, with a view to seeing what they have going on.

One thing I have learned over the years is that you never have to tell oppressed people they are being oppressed. They know better than anyone.

They also usually have a pretty good idea what they want to do about it, and their strategies are relevant to their own culture and situation, which something an 'outsider' developed might not be.

The last thing would be to learn just what it is I, or the organisation I represent, can do to help achieve the goals and aims of the locals.

This is not just true of working with women in 'other' countries, but of working with people in our own countries as well. We have to work WITH people, not for them or instead of them, to effect long term, meaningful change.

Cheers :-)

Answer 4

I would tie Western foreign aid to enforcing equality and protection of the rights of women.

You have your hands out for Western food, money, military support or loans? You start prosecuting rapists, jailing abusers, executing so-called "honor" killers, abolishing dowries, building girls' schools, protecting women's rights to education and holding professional jobs.

Answer 5

I would hire a bodyguard. Many women have been killed when they try to rock the boat in countries like that.

Answer 6

First of all, you shouldn't go personally.  Only women of that country will have any clout.  The only thing you can try to do is inspire them through writing or some other artistic endeavor.  Second, trying to force anything on the men of these countries as suggested by Tracey will be inneffective along with stupid.  Do you think the people on top suffer from sanctions or the people on the bottom?  Also, women of the country have to want the change look up the Shah of Iran and what he did to get kicked out of his own country.  Let me give you a hint: he gave women the right to vote.  The women repaid him by marching in a mass protest which lead to his removal as Shah.  

Answer 7

i think the best way is you send funds or support to the countries so that they make the orgranizations and some women's right groups. i think thats the most effective way  

Answer 8

Sure, why not come on over to Saudi Arabia where I live.  Before I continue I am not Arab.

Now you will either need a visa to visit Mecca or a work visa; however, if you are not Muslim you cannot enter Mecca, but you can come and work. Once you get here you will be corralled into a compound so fast it will make your head spin. So, you're living on the compound and you approach a woman who is covered; at times don't be surprised when she can tell you 250 more reasons as to why she likes things the way they are, and that it's you who are oppressed not the opposite way around. Suppose, she's Arab. What she can tell you is that for generations women like her have been keeping their maiden names, even after marriage; whereas in the Western world they have started doing so.  Suppose she tells you that for generations Arab women have owned their own businesses, and the western women have just started doing so.  The real problem in this country is not all women know all of their rights; however, when they do and it comes to fighting, they'll literally run circles around you and your kind.  Arab women are not helpless and they hate being called helpless.

Answer 9

It all starts with education. Education gives people a different perspective on things. Sexual education is needed, too. Women need to know about those things. And "real" education, not "abstinence."They need to be informed about birth control, abortion, everything. All of their options. Too many women are forced to do nothing but have babies in some countries.

Telling them what their human rights are would be good, too. Just letting them know how other women in non-oppressed countries live, to give them the idea that they don't have to be oppressed. Maybe you could give them a book ( or read a book to them, depending on where you're going, since in some countries literacy is poor) about a strong, confidant woman. Maybe something about a woman facing oppression, and eventually overthrows it. IDK what book, though. But it's an idea.

But again, education is very important. In many countries, women aren't educated, which creates the cycle of patriarchy. If women were given an education, which would give them the means to support themselves and not rely on men, then that might start to break the cycle of patriarchy.

Answer 10

You cannot go.  Nothing seems to offend more in developing nations than rich (usually white) people swanning in and telling them how to do things.  You need advocates from the local population.

Tying foreign aid to poilitical or civil cultural change is really rather base. I don't send aid money overseas expecting the poeple who receive it adopt my values and beliefs.  

You also need to consider the culture.  Many of the "anti-female" beliefs and practices are practiced by women and for women, and western ideas of feminism are alien to them.  It is a bit like trying to spread "stars and stripes" US-style democracy to places like Iraq and Afganhistan: difficult at best becaue it is not something they mostly understand or aspire to.

Remember also, you can only change those who want to be changed.

Laela:  Another quality answer, and a perspective that we in the west rarely consider.  Excellent!

Answer 11

The governments in those countries are the one's that have to be approached.  It's very dangerous to go and campaign without any security and permission, which obviously they won't give women, particularly foreign women.  Some of those countries women have become rebels but have faced an impossible road to freedom in doing so but some have made small dents in the laws protecting women.  Cultures that go way back in history are like a steel door.  Educating men about women's rights is the obvious but the leaders would still have to approve of it.