Editor in Chief: Moh. Reza Huwaida Friday, March 29th, 2024

Feministic Approach Towards Women

It is beyond doubt that violence against women is still a controversial topic across the country that mostly media go into feeding frenzy over such stories. Sexual harassment, domestic violence, forced and early marriages, social restrictions and traditional cultures are the common challenges targeting women. The reaction of women is usually self-immolation, committing suicide, getting divorce, etc.
Commonly, there will be nobody without knowing a story of violence against women. I remember vividly a moving story of rape victim when I was a teacher in Daikundi Province. Shakila, a teenage school girl, was always passing her neighbors’ houses when she was going to school. One morning, as usual, when she was about to pass one of her neighbors’ home on her way to school, she was waylaid and raped by an eighty-year-old man of her neighborhood. He did the action to avenge when his wife was raped by the father of the same girl many years ago. Even though, her father was imprisoned as punishment for many years in the country for his crime, the old man still kept his animosity. It was deeply moving when no one was listening to her father who was talking in profound frenzy of emotion and pain.
One will ask that what is the outcome of those millions of dollars and energies which were spent this way by feministic groups and organizations? Have they come with any efficacious results, effective solutions or pragmatic mechanism? It is not me to answer all these questions, however, to your chagrin; I can only say that reports show that the graph of violence against women is still high.
There are some feminist individuals and institutions which support Afghan women. There are mainly two types of feminism: liberal and radical feminism. Liberal feminism seeks gender inequality in social and cultural attitudes. In spite of radical feminists, liberal feminists do not consider the inferiority and obedience of women a part of larger system or structure. They study the bias against women in work-field, educational institutions and media. They support equal opportunities for women through legislation or other democratic methods. Liberal feminists support legislative development such as equal payment or abolishing sexual discrimination. Moreover, they perform their activities through existing systems so as to bring gradual amendments. Therefore, their method is far more moderate than radical feminists who want the collapse of the existing law. Even though, liberal feminists played vital role in the development of women within the last decade, nonetheless the critics believe that they were not able to discover the root cause of gender inequality and the essence of systemic cruelty which is going on in the society against women. Likewise, radical feminists accuse liberal feminists of encouraging women to accept unequal society with its competitive characters.
This belief is the essence of radical feminist that men are responsible for women’s exploitation. Analysis of patriarchy – systemic dominance of men over women – is the main tendency of this type of feminism. They believe that patriarchy is a nationwide phenomenon throughout the cultures and times. Radical feminists consider family as a basic source of atrocity and cruelty in the society. They state that men exploit women by making them work free of charge. Moreover, they believe that men are a setback for women to reach power in the society. Firestone, one of the first writers of radical feminist who used to live in 19th century, states that men have control over the role of women in reproduction and training of children. Furthermore, radical feminists believe that women cannot get rid of sexual cruelties and atrocities by gradual changes and amendment. According to them, patriarchy is a systemic phenomenon; gender equality is possible only by demolishing the system of patriarchy. They believe that those social and cultural norms which reiterate the slender figures and sympathetic attitudes of women, aim to extend their inferiority and obedience. According to this type of feminism, objectifying women through media, models and advertisements change women to sexual objects with the intention of amusing and pleasing men.
Walby, an analyst in patriarchal study, divides patriarchy into two types which are private patriarchy and public patriarchy. Private patriarchy is a dominance which is imposed on woman from patriarch side in a family. Private patriarchy is a strategy based on denying and ostracism, because women are ostracized and prevented from partaking in social life. On the other hand, public patriarchy has general form. Women are involved in public places such as policy and social work, however, stay away from wealth, power and position.
Black feminism, forms due to discontent with the existing feminisms, and concentrates on the challenges lying ahead of black women. Many black feminists and the feminists of developing countries allege that feminisms are not implemented equally between white and black women. The writings of American black feminists reiterate the effect of strong heritage of slavery, prejudice and seclusion and movement of civil law over the gender inequality in black community. Black women were exposed to prejudice based on their race and sex. Stratification was also a factor which played its role negatively about black women. According to black feminists, black women are involved in multiple deprivations which are based on color, sex, and stratification. Hence, when these three factors come together, they intensify one another.