March For Women.

International Women's Day was a few weeks ago, but here's the thing: I think that one day to reflect on the status of women in particular and gender dynamics in general is laughably brief. So I do a month of it, if I can. Here are four articles that have challenged and inspired me this month:

1. Are women people? Oh dear.
2. Do women make better leaders? The old debate gets quantified. Properly.
3. What does development know about gender issues? Not much, apparently.
4. Oh, for God' sake! #obvious.

Got these from links from friends who have the interest- hey Mavis, Steve!- and other wanderings about the web. Trying to build up an article about feminism, in the hopes of opening up a discussion again or at least thrusting the topic in the face of as many East Africans as I can before the month is out.

The article about women's leadership qualities in particular is interesting, as this is an age-old question which tends to change answers based on current assumptions about gendered character traits. I treated myself to a viewing of the Iron Lady last week, because how could I possibly resist Meryl Streep playing Margaret Thatcher? Seriously. It was as toothsome as promised, and has given me a temporary fetish for blue suits, but what really made the movie interesting was that it didn't pull punches in its portrayal of Thatcher's character. I have never subscribed to the notion that women necessarily make better leaders than men, and it's nice to see a study that more or less confirms this. The point is simply to get more kitten heels clacking down the corridors of power, for the benefit of us all.

International Women's Day, 2012.

There is still a lot of work to be done. I recently attended a women-only event, something that I do very rarely outside of kitchen parties and bridal showers, organized by TANZICT. The idea was to bring together female social media practitioners to talk about their work and give their sistren an idea of what social media can do for them. Dunia Duara, Chick About Town and myself were recruited to speak- the event is covered here by Pernille.

The reasons for making it a single-gender event were explained by our convenor Catherinerose Barretto quite succinctly: when men are in the room, women's participation decreases. Even those of us who are lucky enough to be employed and otherwise 'empowered' women can attest to the fact that living in a patriarchal society comes with its inescapable daily challenges. Watching the morning news today, listening to the various gender activists talking about the particular problems of Tanzanian women, I wondered to myself if we are giving this issue the kind of emphasis that it needs.

I don't think that we are. Not as a society, not as self-identified feminists, not as gender activists.

In the past couple of months I have been embroiled in more discussions about gender than in the past two or more years put together. And to my dismay, the topic still meets with more male suspicion and hostility than it warrants. Clearly, the dialogue needs to be opened up and men need to be recruited to the cause.

So: Happy Women's Day, whatever your gender. There is work to be done. *rolling up sleeves*.

The Weekly Sneak: Cooking Men

Here is the theory: four weeks in a month, four columns. Makes it ideal for a rotation across three or four focus areas: one political piece a month, one social commentary, one feminist and one for whatever burning issue has been hitting the headlines that month. The reality goes more like this: staring at the screen, sifting through half-finished word documents hoping for inspiration, and a lot of hand-wringing. Last night in the wee hours I was staring at a document that had the word "tanesco" on it only to realize that writing that piece would rob me of the will to live. So I gave myself permission to have fun. Coming soon to an East African near you:

... on the opposite end of the spectrum the forces of African conservative fundamentalism are horrified by this creeping trend: a man, a self-respecting African man, in the kitchen? Good grief. What will these insufferable liberals ask for next! Equal opportunities and basic human rights for all? The world is going straight to hell in a kikapu. They are right to be scared, I am afraid. The world as we have known it for generations is going to hell in a finely handcrafted vessel made of sustainable organic local materials. And I, for one, am happily waving it on its journey to oblivion.

I have been neglecting the feminist discussion on the blog, as someone pointed out recently. Time to go back to my roots. Also, I might have been listening to James Brown's "This Is a Man's World" on high rotation for a couple of hours. It is a man's world, yes it is. But it wouldn't be nothing, nothing, without...

So, That's How It's Done!

I have just seen about seven hours of my life go skipping merrily past while I find out the most incredibly fascinating things about Japanese society and culture. Why? Oh, that's a long story for another rainy day.

But on the feminist/gender studies tip I found this nugget and I thought that it is too good not to share:

[In ancient times, Japanese women wielded considerable authority. Until the eleventh century, it was common for Japanese girls to inherit their parent’s house. The rise of Confucianism and a conservative moral movement that preached the inferiority of women in the early eighteenth century significantly reduced women’s role. In some respects, Japanese women today have less power in society than they did a thousand years ago. Fewer than one in ten Japanese managers is female; women in less-industrialized nations, like Mexico and Zimbawe, are twice as likely to be managers. Only 2.3 percent of Japan’s key legislative body are women, compared with 10.9 percent in the U.S. House of Representatives. In this regard, Japan ranks 145 in a list of 161 countries, according to the Inter-Parliamentary Union.

[The public gender roles, however, are reversed when one steps inside the Japanese home. Typically, the wife handles and completely controls the household finances. She gives her husband a monthly allowance and has total control over the rest of the family income. Half of the husbands in one survey reported they were dissatisfied with the size of their allowance, but could do little if anything about it. While the husband and wife may have a joint bank account and automatic teller machines are available, wives often do not share access to these with their husbands (Kristoff 1996b). (Editor)].

Fascinating isn't it to actually have a record of how gender roles ebb and flow with time, the intrusions of religion and other cultures and economic reorganization? Sometimes it is hard to get out of my own Western bias when thinking about feminism and gender, even though I don't necessarily think this is the best model when looking at, say, Tanzania. But looking eastward (especially skipping right past India's caste system and anywhere that falls under the thrall of the Torah/Bible/Koran) often gives me more "aha!" moments than reading stuff from the West. Go figure.

And how about that bit about the iron-handed housewives, wasn't that a little unexpected? I love the contrast. Nothing is ever as it appears at first glance...

The rest of the article can be found here if you have a spare fifteen minutes to go culture-tripping.