Terminologies are socially constructed. The binary division of the world between first-world and third-world is primarily a reflection of colonial discourses. And such discourses and terminologies have given birth to the narrative that feminism is primarily a third world issue. But reality is quite the opposite. If feminism was born in the “first world”, it does not mean that the first-world is free from gender-based issues. These issues; such as gender-based inequalities and discrimination are not exclusive to the third-world, they are a global problem. Feminism and womens rights are global issues.
It is generally believed that only the women of the third world are discriminated against in social, political and economic contexts. But women in the first-world are also susceptible to these problems. If third-world countries have a fewer women at high posts, the case is the same in the first-world. It is the same for other gender based issues such as sexual harassment and representation in politics. So, when we say that feminism is only a third world issue, we are completely ignoring the gender discriminations in different spheres faced by the women of the first world.
Historically, what is now considered the third-world has been more receptive to women in positions of authority
Women all over the world are hindered in their aspirations by a strong glass ceiling. Why it is so that the US has never had a female President? A democracy that is much stronger to the extent of providing leadership to the whole world has never elected a woman as their President. It shows that the society generally believes that men are better able to lead than women. And if we analyse election debates between both 2016 US presidential candidates – Hillary and Trump, we see that gender was an often touched topic. So much so that to damage Trump’s appeal, the democrats used Melania, Trump’s wife. Her old pictures, when she was in fashion industry, were shared online to discredit Trump. In contrast, third-world countries have elected women as their premiers many times. Pakistan has elected Benazir Bhutto twice as the Chief Executive of the country. In India, Indira Gandhi has been a successful Prime Minister. In Myanmar, the struggle of Aung Sang SuuKyi has been recognised by its citizens who elected her party in the last elections. In Rwanda, the ratio of women holding parliamentary offices has been improving. These facts show that feminism is very much, a global issue.
Even if we observe the ratio of women holding top positions in big corporations, we see that men are present in disproportionately higher numbers. Name any top company of the first world and we see the men hold all the executive slots. It is true that some big corporations are headed by the women, but that is also true for the third-world. There are many examples of women holding top positions in developing countries such as Nita Ambani, Arundhati Bhattacharya and Chiyono Terada.
Historically, what is now considered the third world has been more receptive to women in positions of authority. The Subcontinent has seen Razia Sultana, a queen of the Delhi Sultanate who ruled for more than 3 years. Then, this region experienced the successful reign of NurJehan, wife of Jehangir. She ruled as de-facto head of the Mughal Empire. If this part of the world had accepted women as their leaders back then, it has no reason to not accept women as their leaders today. Gender-based issues are as present in the first-world as they are in the third-world. In some cases, there are more gender discrimination in the first-world than the third-world.
The writer is a political analyst based in Islamabad. He tweets @hassanshahjehan
Published in Daily Times, October 14th 2017.