Why Should We Study Global Women's Issues, and How?

As you can see from the Reading & Discussion Schedule in your syllabus (pp. 9-11), WMST2205 is divided up into four parts. During this first part of the course asks, “Why should we study issues for women globally, and how?”

Tips for reading and preparing for class
Before I get to a brief discussion of those questions, though, I want to give you some tips for reading our course materials. Let’s talk about Burn: You will be reading pretty much this whole book this semester, so it’s important to understand how she’s structured each chapter. First, pay attention to the title of the chapter, because that will give you a pretty clear indication of what the chapter is about. Also, pay attention to the titles of each subsection for the same reason. Each subsection is Burn's way of presenting evidence to support the argument/topic of the chapter, and each subsection presents evidence to support the argument/topic of the subsection. For example, in the first chapter, look for the major issues and concepts that are important to the study of women cross-culturally. Each subsection discusses one of these, so you need also to be aware of the nuances and complexities of each issue and concept.

Be sure, also, to download and use the Weekly Reading Worksheets to guide you as you read. Although you are not required to complete these Worksheets (although, you may choose to do so for extra credit), taking a look at the terms, concepts, and questions on the Worksheet will give you a good idea of what you should be paying attention to in the reading. Remember, I will never surprise you on an exam; exam questions in this class will come directly from my blog posts, our class discussions and activities, and our Weekly Reading Worksheets. So, knowing what’s on the Worksheets each week will help you not only to prepare for class each day, but also to study for your exams.

You might also choose to take advantage of MRU’s Student Learning Services, which offers campus-based resources to help you succeed in your courses. They offer one-to-one peer tutoring as well as workshops on Textbook Reading and other stuff, some of which you may choose to attend to earn extra credit in this course (see the “Extra Credit Info” link for more details).

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Why study issues for women globally?
From our location here in Calgary, a major urban center and world-class Canadian city, it may seem as if the global status of women is pretty good. There have been some remarkable improvements in some women’s lives in the past twenty years. For example:

• There have been drastic improvements in women and girls’ literacy and education.
• Women now have voting rights and the right to hold public office in all but a small handful of countries (see Seager, pp. 94-95).
• And most of the world’s governments have signed international treaties committed to ending discrimination against women and girls (see Seager, pp. 14-15).

However, as you’ll learn during this semester this list of “successes” is depressingly short compared to the long list that we could create of the significant (and often life-threatening) problems that women still face around the world. Despite the widespread belief that FEMINISM has achieved its goals and that the struggle for equality between women and men is over, the majority of women globally are actually worse off right now, in 2011, than they have ever been.

There are lots of reasons for this, and those reasons are, in large part, what we'll be reading and talking about all semester. However, it's important to understand from the outset that the equality that so many people see existing between men and women is an illusion. This is what British feminist activist Kat Banyard calls the EQUALITY ILLUSION, and it forms the basis for why we need to study issues for women globally.

So, far from being over or obsolete, FEMINISM (which is most basically defined as a movement to end sexist oppression, but has lots of other complementary definitions) is one of the most vital social justice movements of our age" (Banyard 2010, 2)

One of the most important things to understand as we get started this semester is that improvements in one place are not necessarily transferable to other places. The world as we know it is divided:

• ECONOMIC GLOBALIZATION, which we’ll read about and discuss in greater detail a bit later this semester, is based largely on exploiting unskilled workers who work long hours in hazardous working conditions. The large majority of these workers are women. But the entrance of women to the paid workforce in these sorts of jobs is not necessarily a sign of “progress.”
• The global gap between rich and poor has widened, and there are now significantly more women than men living in poverty; women remain the poorest of the poor everywhere. This is what is termed the FEMINIZATION OF POVERTY (see Seager, pp. 87-88).
• Wars and violent conflicts have been a staple of the last hundred years or so, and women bear a special burden, including the use of rape as a weapon of war, erosion of their legal, political, and social rights, and the demands of sustaining families and households in the midst of chaos (see Seager, pp. 100-101).
• In Eastern Europe, as those countries have transitioned from communism to capitalism, women have experienced skyrocketing rates of violence and sexual exploitation, increasing unemployment, an abrupt end to government support for healthcare, childcare, housing, and significantly less political representation than they enjoyed under communism.
• Resurgent conservatism, particularly in the form of religious fundamentalism, threatens women’s rights in a wide range of countries and in a variety of ways—and not only in the Middle East (see Seager, pp. 18-19).

So, given just this brief list of some of the problems affecting women globally, why does it seem that more people, especially women, aren’t outraged by this? It is not automatic that women will share in broad social advances; they have to fight to be included. One of the most important things that you need to understand to move forward in this course is that gains in women’s empowerment cannot be taken for granted; they are fragile and reversible and can be taken away. In fact, evidence suggests that a large number of countries globally seem committed to turning back any advances that women may have made.

Another crucial thing to understand before you can move forward in this course is that you cannot assume that the rights and privileges you may enjoy are available to everyone, everywhere -- even right down the street from you, on the next block, or in the next province. This is a difficult concept to accept, especially because most of us in this course have had the PRIVILEGE of living our lives without having to deal with lots of the issues that we’ll be talking about this semester—at least not obviously. So, although working at a global scale (as we will often do in this course) inevitably entails a degree of generalization, we will always be asking, “Which women?,” “Where?,” “When?” in an attempt to understand that we must recognize both commonality and difference in the lives of women. As you’ll learn from reading Burn, women around the world do tend to have a few things in common, but, despite these general commonalities, no two women have the same experiences, and those differences must be taken into account. There are significant inequalities in wealth and in access to opportunities from place to place, including from neighborhood to neighborhood right here in Calgary.


How should we be studying the lives and experiences of women around the world?
This is an important question, because, as you’ll learn from your reading this week and next, studying issues for women globally isn’t as straightforward as it may initially seem, and it can even be rather controversial -- especially when those of us who live in Canada, a wealthy, industrialized, “modern” country in the global North, and who are interested in learning about the lives and experiences of women elsewhere, start (often unintentionally) to think that our culture’s way of doing things is the right and only way.

For example, you’ll learn in the next few class meetings about the prevalence of DOWRY DEATH in India and may likely think to yourself, “Thank goodness I don’t live in a country where that happens. Canada is so much better that way.” But be careful, and think critically about the various forms of gender-based violence as described by Burn. DOWRY DEATH is only one of them. Are you really sure that men’s violence against women isn’t a cause for concern in Canada? In fact, the rate of DOWRY DEATH in India is roughly equivalent to the rate of men who kill their female partners in North America.

So, as you go through the course this semester, take care to avoid ETHNOCENTRISM, because it can lead us to reject outright the beliefs and values of other cultures while conceptualizing our own as superior. And think, too, about why ETHNOCENTRISM could lead to CULTURAL IMPERIALISM. Why might this be a problem as we’re trying to learn about the issues that affect women globally?

An avoidance of ENTHOCENTRISM is why Burn insists on a WOMEN’S RIGHTS AS HUMAN RIGHTS approach to learning about the lives and experiences of women globally. As you read, be sure to take the time to figure out what she means by this. What does this approach say about cultural diversity and women’s rights?

Another thing to think about and always keep in mind is that, although lots of the stuff we'll be reading and talking about this semester will likely make you angry, sad, frustrated and maybe even a little hopeless at times, the study of the lives and experiences of women around the world is a positive task rather than a negative one. As Burn points out, "[i]t is less about women as victims and more about women bringing about change for gender justice" (5).

Some administrative stuff
For those of you who missed our first day of class, be sure to click on the “What if You Miss Class?” link on our blog. Also, please download and complete this Questionnaire, put your name on it, and return it to me at our next class meeting. We didn’t have time to watch the documentary on the first day of class, so I’ll try to figure out a day a bit later in the semester to get that into the course.

Also, I want to remind you of a few things:
1. “Issues for Women Globally” is not an introductory course. It is intended for second-year students who have already completed at least one full year of University-level coursework. Additionally, this course is student-driven seminar that builds upon the issues and concepts learned in prior Women’s Studies classes. It is therefore recommended, although not required, that you take WMST1172 or its equivalent before taking this course. Staying in the course if you don't meet the recommended prerequisites may adversely affect your situation.
2. Although you are not required to complete them, you should use the Weekly Reading Worksheets to help you prepare for classes and exams.
3. Start thinking about when you’d like to do your presentation on Women’s Lives in the News (for details, see p. 3 of the syllabus). You’ll be asked to sign up for this starting on Thursday, 1/13.
4. Start thinking also about your Term Project: Which transnational feminist organization would you like to learn more about? Starting next week I’ll be asking you to come speak with me about your plans.

If you have any questions or concerns that you’d like to speak with me about, please drop by during my office hours. Happy reading, and I’ll see you all in class!