Feminist writing and women’s movement

By PRATIVA SUBEDI

At the end of the 18th century women’s issues were becoming a subject of discussion. During the French Revolution, the 1789 "Declaration of the Rights of Women" was published by Olympe de Gouges to protest the revolutionists’ failure to mention women in their Declaration of the Rights of Man.

Mary Wollstonecraft calling for enlightenment of the female mind, published her book "A Vindication of the rights of women" in 1792. She wrote it when the social and economic position of European women was in decline. She refuted the socially constructed perception that women are, by nature, more pleasure seeking and pleasure giving than men. Throughout her writings she urged women to become autonomous decision makers and rejected the idea of a woman being only a slave to her family. She wanted women to develop their own personhood, to not just do the wifely and motherly duties commonly expected of women of the time.

John Stuart Mills and Harriet Taylor co-authored Early Essay on Marriage and Divorce in 1832. In this book, they made a statement about overpopulation by cautioning women to have fewer children. John Stuart Mills also wrote a book on the subjection of women in 1869 which mentions that men and women’s intellectual abilities are of equal status. Both of these writers were also in favour of voting rights for women.

Margaret Fuller, one of the earliest female reporters, expressed the view in her Women in the Nineteenth Century published in 1845, that individuals had unlimited capacities and that when they are confined according to their sex, human development is severely limited. Harriet Taylor wrote the Enfranchisement of Women in 1851.

Elizabeth Cady Stanton was a leading theoretician of the women’s rights movement. Her book, "Woman’s Bible", published in two parts in 1895 and 1898, raised questions about the male bias of the Christian Bible. Stanton printed both parts on the creation of man from the Book of Genesis. She raised a question about the statement, "Eve was an outgrowth of Adam’s rib." She was accused of being too radical for pointing out the subordination of womanhood within religion. Women’s status in the Biblical text began to be analysed at this time.

Charlotte Perkins Gilman described the home as inefficient compared with the mass-production techniques of the modern factory. She contended, in her book "Women and Economics" (1898), that women should share the tasks of homemaking, with the women best suited to cook, to clean, and to care for young children. Politically, many feminists believed that a cooperative society, based on socialist economic principles, would respect the rights of women.

"The Second Sex" (1953) by Simone de Beauvior is a very famous book used widely in the beginnings of the feminist movement in the west and it is still used today. She writes of the perpetuation of female oppression: "The enslavement of the female of the species and the limitations on her various powers are extremely important facts; the body of a woman is one of the essential elements in her situation in the world."

The book, "Feminist Thought" written by Rosemarie Putnam Tong (1998) is an important book in the discussion on the varieties of feminist theories on conceptual thought. "Feminist Methods in Social Research" (1992) by Shulamit Reinharz, is also a useful tool for feminist research. Barbara Rogers’s book, "The Domestication of Women, Discrimination in Developing Societies," is a well-known book about woman’s work and economic importance. Maria Mise is also famous for her feminist writing. Robin Morgan is the current publisher of Ms Magazine in the USA , the leading feminist magazine that provides a forum for women’s issues.

"Open Boundaries," a book by Canadian writers Barbara A Crow and Lise Gotell, raises issue concerning the feminist movement in Canada and the gendered division of labour.

"If Woman Counted", a book by Marilyn Warring discussing the visibility of women’s work, is well-known within the feminist movement of New Zealand.

In India, Kamala Bhasin’s booklets on feminism, patriarchy and gender are excellent. Bandana Shiva of India, and Beena Agrawal of Sri Lanka are also contributing through their books. Bandana Shiva’s book, "Staying Alive", is known for its treatment of environment and the women’s movement.

There are also many voices to be heard within our own country. Shashikala Sharma was a magazine publisher for "Swasnimanchhe" (1958). Parijat is a famous literary name with a feminist prospective. Modnath Prashrit wrote "Nari Bandhan ra Mukti" (1981) and many booklets calling for women’s liberation. Vishnu Pravat has also produced booklets. Dev Kumari Thapa, Toya Gurung, Banira Giri, Manju Kanchuli, Benju Sharma, Kunta Sharma are other well known names in the area of women’s liberation. Meena Acharya, Beena Pradhan and Indira Shrestha are all involved in research relating to women and development. During the Women’s Decade (1975-1985), these three women have been able to attract people’s concern through their studies.

In 1975, Shanta Pokhrel wrote a book highlighting the contribution of the late Queen Aishwarya Rajya Laxmi Devi Shah, other women royals as well as public women. Shanta Laxmi Shrestha wrote a book entitled "Gender Sensitive Planning" (1994). Dr Durga Pokhrel (with Anthony Willet) wrote the book, "Shadow Over Shangri-La" (1996), discussing her struggle as a female political activist. Durga Ghimire wrote a book about her experience while being imprisoned for political activism. Dr Shanta Thapaliya wrote a book entitled "Nepalko Pariwarik Kanun" about family law.

The late Mangala Devi Singh’s "Nari Sangharsa ka Pailaharu" talks about her political struggles. Anju Chhetri, Susan Maskey, Manju Thapa , and their team are currently publishing "Asmita" a woman’s magazine. Jyoti Pyakuryal and other writers are publishing magazines like "Richa" and "Bidushi". Sita Pandey in her book, "Youn ra Anubhuti", discusses sex issues within society. Dr Sangeeta Rayamajhi is a writer and publisher of the magazine "Across". Shobha Gautam, Amrita Banskota, Aruna Upreti, Sulochana Manandhar, Bhadra Kumari Ghale, Bindia Pradhan, Mr Gauri Pradhan, and the Dr Renu Rajbhandari are also contributing feature articles and many are conducting their own programmes through radio and television. Babita Basnyat is editor of Ghatana Ra Bichar.

These are just a few examples of the many voices of women in Nepal. These feminists are supporting the woman’s movement through their writings and research, helping woman studies and the public by providing their opinions through their writings. Writing and research are a very strong part of the women’s movement at local, national and global level to bring out women’s voices. These are only a few writers with feminist ideas; there are many more that we must salute today.

The writer of this article, Prativa Subedi, has written "Bibidha Pakchyama Nepali Nari" (1992) and "Nepali Women Rising" (1993 and 1997). In these, she talks about the situation and contribution of Nepali women from a feminist perspective.

Take positive stand

By AYUSHMA PANDEY

Life is full of ups and downs. This is the universal truth which makes life what it is and worth living too. Yet, many a times we tend to forget or overlook this fact and plunge ourselves into the depths of despair whenever things do not go our way or any misfortune befalls upon us. We forget that failure, tragedy, loss or any mishap are just life’s way of flinging the gauntlet on us. And instead of taking on this challenge, we sometimes make the grave mistake of withering ourselves in helplessness and utter disappointment. We fail to see the positive side of life and the opportunities it offers us to grow and strengthen ourselves.

Such a feeling of helplessness and disappointment are sometimes enough to drive us to insanity and even on the brink of suicide.

But is life so cruel that we should avoid living? No, certainly not. What makes life cruel or kind is our perception. Circumstances alone do not make us happy or unhappy. It is the way we react to events that determines our feelings. This reminds me of the great poet, John Milton, who said," It is not miserable to be blind, it is only miserable not to be able to endure blindness."

Indeed. The reason that most of us fail to overcome our problems is that we are so blinded by our preconceived ideas or feelings that we lack the strength to confront those problems. In fact, if we try to explore ourselves, we can discover abundant resources within ourselves to combat any kind of stressful situations. These resources need only to be tapped.

Obviously, it does rend your heart when say, for example, someone whom you trusted immensely suddenly deceives you. But if we try to be rational rather than be driven by our emotions, and analyse the facts, the situation will be less likely to be strenuous. And indeed, by the law of averages we are not the only ones suffering from such tragedies. Millions and millions of people share almost similar problems in this world. If we only realise this fact, no problem under the Milky Way, whatever its magnitude, can let us down. Life always offers you another chance (you can count on that).

In some other cases, what I have found is that most of us tend to magnify even the minutest of our problems. Be it a simple pain in our neck or a slight twist of the ankle, some of us tend to take it as the gravest problem on earth. To be frank enough, I must admit I, too, am no exception to it. I used to fret and worry about problems that should better have been forgotten and which I should have never bothered to give two hoots to. Until one day my Aama gave me a sure-fire recipe that helped me keep my worries at bay. She told me, "No matter how much you worry it is not going to change the situation, it will make you lose your looks instead. God is there to ensure that everybody gets his share of bread - some get more and some less but everyone does get it. Be content with what you have. "Yes, we must always take a positive stand and accept the dynamics of life likewise. Disraeli once said," Life is too short to be little." We have but one life, why not live it to the fullest with utmost vigour and optimism.

A straight, bent stick

By Padma Devkota

Like a noble thief, a straight, bent stick incorporates an oxymoron, which is a literary figure of speech in which opposite or contradictory ideas are combined. I little understood how close a reflection of social reality an oxymoron can be until I sought help to pay my house tax in February of 2002.

A straight, bent stick is an optical illusion that is produced when the density of substances such as water and air causes a phenomenon called refraction of light that travels through the two mediums at different angles. Immerse a straight stick into a bucket of water and you will see that the portion that is submerged in it is bent. Now, the stick itself is, of course, not bent. To Descartes, the father of modern philosophy, this was proof of the deception of the senses. Do not trust a second time that which deceives you once, he said.

The Cartesian advice is well-taken. However, once has to also question the rationalist’s hasty conclusion. Is the straight, bent stick in your bucket enough proof of the deception of the senses? You see the straight stick really crooked inside the water. Call your friends and show it to them too. They will also say that it is crooked. This is universally verifiable. We perceive exactly what is in front of us. What is really wrong is only our expectation that it should look straight even when it is perceived as one continuous whole in two mediums with different densities. This, I think, is a serious error of the rational mind, which fails in its interpretive act because of prejudice in its most literal sense — the passing of judgment before all the necessary details and facets have been presented. This is not a failure of the optical sensory response to an external luminary stimulus. We begun with the notion that "straight" and "bent" cannot occupy the same spatio-temporal dimension simultaneously. Yet, we have also conceded that, given certain conditions which are fulfilled, this is possible too. This is very scientific in approach because the scientist is not capable of making categorical statements without placing conditions.

Now, what has all this got to do with my paying the house tax? Little, really. One of the reasons why I prefer to pay the fines rather than pay taxes on time is the ordeal I have to go through to pay anything at all. I remember the days when I used to stand in line to pay the electricity bill and the counter windows would close because, irrespective of how long we had waited in line, it was time to close the windows. I remember standing in line for four hours to pay the tax for my Bazaj a couple of years ago and, when I was through, I had spent almost five hours in the precinct of the office. All that "straight" people like me want is speed and facility to pay bills and taxes.

One reason I do not like to present myself in government and other offices where important things have to be done — things like paying taxes, getting permission to build houses, etc.— is that I flare up easily when someone there suggests ways of speeding things up. This is why I sent another person recently to pay my house tax. He registered the file in the office on January 10, 2002 and was told to come back thirty-six days later on February 15. The same person went to pay the house tax on the appointed day and, later on, rang me up to say that the amount I had given him was not enough, that they demanded Rs 9000. If this were what I was supposed to pay, I would certainly pay the sum. However, my man told me that a guy at the office had secretly told him that things could be arranged so that we would pay only Rs 7000. I guess this amount must already contain probably another extra thousand or so above what the actual bill should be. This is a common inspiration for many Nepalis to anger and frustration.

I now have two choices. First, I can raise a hullabaloo about the whole affair, seek legal advice, go to courts, etc and spend a lot of time and money quarrelling with people I don’t know and have really no ill-will against in order to pay the correct sum for my house-tax. (I have already dreamt of smashing all the teeth of this guy in front of all the other taxpayers.) The other choice I have is to close my eyes to my own integrity and comply with the request so that I can continue with my normal daily life of meagre scholarly pursuit and domestic bliss and get the taxpaying ordeal over as soon as possible. It has become for me a matter of survival inside a corrupt system. If I choose to be "straight," I will lose my peace and destroy that of others too. If I "bend" to such facilitators of tax-payments, I will both preserve my peace and promote national corruption. The government is absent where I need it the most.

Many people in my position are not corrupt or bad. We detest the corruption around us. Yet, like the straight, bent stick, we too appear crooked to legal eyes because of the "medium" that creates the perspectival illusion. In the case of many honest Nepali taxpayers, this "medium" is the bureaucratic system that distorts the "straight" and honest face of the taxpayer who then appears "crooked" to legal eyes as soon as s/he enters a situation like this in an office where s/he has to get important things done. No single individual is powerful enough to counteract this bending force that only organised institutions can straighten out if they so desire to do so.

However, it is doubtful that any institution will do anything about this in the near future because making transparent the rates per square feet of concrete or other building material to the public is against the interest of corrupt collection counters. Similarly, providing facilities to bill and taxpayers is financially unproductive to the same mafia. The more ignorant the public, the easier the loot. When a rationalist like Descartes does not believe his own eyes and calls it a deceiver, I as a taxpayer feel happy in finding such philosophers stand by my integrity despite the fact that the tax-collection system in this country makes me look crooked. The honest, crooked taxpayer that I am rejoice that I have friends in great philosophers and others who commiserate with my oxymoronic existence.