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Ten Key Values

Feminism

By Jasmine Minbashian

Mention the word "feminism" in some circles and you're bound to get a variety of passionate responses. Too often, what gets conjured up by this volatile word is the radical bra-burning images of the sixties and seventies. In light of the advances of the feminist movement since then, many women who consider themselves "radical feminists" today find themselves frustrated that this outdated stereotype still surfaces so quickly. They may be the same women who have the "feminism is the crazy idea that women are people" bumperstickers on their cars.

It is unfortunate that feminism has been defined and promoted as simply equal rights for women (who are not a minority, by the way). Feminist values mean much more; feminism is a philosophy that addresses the need to move from a society that relies on "might makes right" and "winner-takes-all" to that of cooperation and partnership.

Feminism is an important aspect of the Green platform as it ties in with the concept of liberation from domination, whether that domination is racial, class-based, gender-based, political, or environmental.

Clearly, one can observe a connection between domination and destruction of nature and the oppression of women. Carolyn Merchant, in her book the Death of Nature, does an outstanding job of revealing the roots of this connection. In her analysis, Dr. Merchant found that the image of nature as female to be controlled and dissected through experiment legitimated the exploitation of natural resources. She quotes Francis Bacon (1561-1626), a celebrated "father of modern science": "The technological discoveries of printing, gunpowder, and the magnet in the fields of learning, warfare, and navigation help us to think about the secrets still locked in nature's bosom. They do not, like the old, merely exert a gentle guidance over nature's course; they have the power to conquer and subdue her, to shake her foundations. Under the mechanical arts, nature betrays her secrets more fully than when in enjoyment of her natural liberty."

Although the image of the nurturing Earth popular in the Renaissance did not completely vanish, it was superseded by this new controlling imagery. This imagery is still with us today, although it is more subtly referred to as "natural resource management." This theme, however, is not just prevalent in science. We have also inherited a social system based on male domination of politics and economics.

Fortunately, the conjunction of the womens movement and the Green movement again brings the issue of liberation into focus. We cannot expect to free ourselves from the ills of our society, whether we are addressing the environment, poverty, or corporate welfare, until we have all embraced feminism and the end of domination as inseparable components of all these issues. We can begin by pondering the following difficult but vital questions (from Charlene Spretnak, and the Platform Working Group of the Green Party of California):

How can we replace the cultural ethics of dominance and control with more cooperative ways of interacting? How can we encourage people to care about persons outside their own group? How can we promote the building of respectful, positive, and responsible relationships across the lines of gender and other divisions? How can we encourage a rich, diverse political culture that respects feelings as well as rationalist approaches? How can we proceed with as much respect for the means as the end (the process as much as the product of our efforts)? How can we learn to respect the contemplative, inner part of life as much as the outer activities?