KINGSTON, R.I. \u2013 Feb. 17, 2023 \u2013 When Taitu Heron was an undergraduate student, before she went on to become an international development specialist focusing on women’s issues, she had an experience that continues to shape her view of feminist activism today. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
As a volunteer for a nongovernmental organization called Women\u2019s Media Watch, Heron attended a training session on domestic violence issues, aimed at helping women in an underserved community in her home country of Jamaica. In the back of the room, where food was being served, Heron struck up a conversation with an attendee. As Heron drew on feminist theory to lament the rigid gender roles and constructs that made things difficult for women, the woman she spoke with seemed exasperated. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cShe paused and said \u2026 \u2018You can\u2019t carry feminism to the supermarket,\u2019\u201d Heron recalled the woman saying as she packed food into containers for her children. \u201cNeither I nor feminism was of any concern to her. She came for the food.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
For Heron, the conversation was a reminder that while the theoretical foundations of feminism are useful in analyzing gender-related issues, they don\u2019t always resonate in the everyday lives of women around the world. During a lecture and roundtable discussion held Wednesday, Feb. 15, on äçÐÄvlogÃâ·ÑBÕ¾\u2019s Kingston Campus, Heron suggested that it may be time to expand feminism\u2019s traditional framework. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe have a lot to think through,\u201d Heron said. \u201cWe\u2019re in a new juncture \u2026 as activists, academics, and so on where feminism is concerned. The epistemological foundation [of feminism] is still problematic and I think there\u2019s a need for us to move beyond that.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A Caribbean scholar, activist, and poet, Heron is currently head of the Women and Development Unit at the University of the West Indies, Open Campus. She spoke as part of the College of Arts and Sciences\u2019 annual lecture series on African Americans, Black Diaspora and Global Black Lives. The talk was also part of the African-Caribbean Intersectional Engagement Series, a collaboration between the University\u2019s departments of Africana Studies and Gender and Women\u2019s Studies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In her talk, \u201cWhat Are We Fighting For? Feminist Challenges and the Search for Dignity In Gender Equality Work in the Caribbean,\u201d Heron warned of a self-serving form of feminism she\u2019s seen in her time working in development, academia and nongovernmental organizations. She terms it \u201cfe\u2019me\u2019nism.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cAs feminism has gone mainstream, the imperative of feminist discontent seems to have been displaced by the lure of respectability, status, and the rewards of inclusion,\u201d she said. This type of feminism, she added, has elsewhere been referred to as \u201cfeminism for the 1%.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Too often, Heron said, this type of feminism focuses on women as victims of their circumstances rather than victors over them. She cited the example of a young woman she had worked with who had been abused as a child, but had written a self-published book about her healing process afterward. The woman was given a chance to tell her story at a conference hosted by a large nongovernmental organization. But the organization was particular about how they wanted the woman to tell her story. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThey wanted her to speak,\u201d Heron said. \u201cBut they did not want her to spend time on the victory path of her life. They wanted her to focus on the part of her life when she was raped and what happened after that. They didn\u2019t want her to focus on what tools she managed to find to become a victor.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The woman ultimately chose not to speak. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
This attitude toward victimhood is reflected in the structure of aid programs around the world, Heron said. Funding from nongovernmental organizations often doesn\u2019t provide for things like legal support for women who want to go to court, jobs and skills training, and trauma therapy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThese are the things that would move women from victim to victor,\u201d Heron said. Yet they\u2019re often left out of funding packages. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt got me to think, if there were no more victims, and rather women moving from victimhood to thriving and surviving, what would feminists be doing?\u201d Heron asked. \u201cIs it that feminism needs victims in the same way that the International Monetary Fund needs countries to be indebted?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
However, Heron said, now is the time to think about expanding the traditional foundations of feminism in a way that can transform more people\u2019s lives. The path forward to doing that, Heron suggested, is by looking beyond Western constructions of feminism. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe need to spend more time and energy on building our own lives and on empowering ourselves,\u201d she concluded. \u201cWe need to spend more time lifting up patterns in our history that have been repressed because of patriarchy\u2014the ancient wisdom of women, the ancient wisdom of indigenous cultures, the ancient wisdom of civilizations of India and countries in Africa.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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