The duality of feminism and liberation: There can be no freedom until there is gender equality

There is little that has more consistently undermined idealistic movements than inequality. The United States faced this in the sixties, when it was forced to see that it couldn't claim to be the purveyor of freedom when it disenfranchised people at home on the basis of skin colour.

One issue that is often sidelined, and yet continues to plague progressive movements, is gender inequality. The persistent failure of many civilisations to treat women fairly has often been excused on the grounds that other issues have priority. But such arguments miss the point: if anyone remains subject to oppression, no one else can truly be free. As Oscar Wilde's points out in The Soul of Man, they continue to carry the burden of that suppression and to feel its negative effects (1891).

Gender equality is absolutely essential if we are to move forward. Our most pressing task is finding a way to overcome the prejudice against, and subjugation of, women around the world. That prejudice is at its most dangerous when it becomes mundane and accepted as part of the routine of normality. It is also the hardest form to tackle and overcome.

One group, which was active during the Spanish Civil War, called 'Mujeres Libres' or Free Women, considered the emancipation of the people and the emancipation of women a dual struggle. Mujeres Libres campaigned for the liberation of women as an intrinsic part of the general spirit of revolution and so sought ways to break through the toughest forms of sexism (O'Carroll, 1998). Their campaign made two particularly important points:

• The first point is that women are subjugated by something deeper than open oppression. That they are trapped by a socially conservative imposition of traditional roles, rituals and expectations. That this subjugation distorts society so much, that even those who benefit from it would find it impossible to liberate themselves from the most corrupt and corrupting parts of our society, without ending this inequality.


• The second important point is that people must first be made aware of the subjugation. The response of Mujeres Libres was to organise a network of groups that gathered information on sexism in order to study it and understand how to respond. They also developed a platform, in the form of a magazine of their own and columns in other magazines, from which to expose the sexism and promote their responses.

These points are, sadly, still relevant today. The most pressing foe of equality remains, as ever, everyday sexism. Following the same course adopted by Mujeres Libres over eighty years ago, the blog Everyday Sexism works to lay bare the affect that sexism has on the lives of everyone. Its work is essential to challenging a dangerous and illiberal status quo that still holds us back.

We see how essential that work is when those who claim a place on the political left struggle to overcome these dangerous sexisms. Progressive political parties still largely fail to achieve equal representation of gender in electoral candidates (Ferguson, 2013; Mason, 2013) and horrendous stories of hypocrisy and male chauvinist exploitation (Muir, 2013) show that there is still a long way to go.

If we are to break free of oppression we must be vigilant for sexism in all its forms. We must educate ourselves about it, share what we find with others and use our awareness to challenge this dangerous orthodoxy. We must acknowledge the reality that we cannot break the stranglehold of corruption and inequality until the basic standards to which people are held are fair for all, and equal for all.

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References:
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+ Oscar Wilde's 'The Soul of Man under Socialism'; London, 1891.

+ Aileen O'Carroll's 'Mujeres Libres'; from 'Workers Solidarity' No 54; June 1998.

+ Mark Ferguson's 'Why aren’t more women winning “open” Labour Party selections?'; on labourlist.org; 15 March 2013.

+ Rowenna Mason's 'Liberal Democrat minister rues party's record on female MPs'; in The Guardian; 18 September 2013.

+ Hugh Muir's 'Diary: Adieu, Comrade Delta. The SWP leader at the centre of sex abuse allegations departs'; in The Guardian; 29 July 2013.