The Backlash Against African Women by Sisonke Msimang
Photo courtesy of: Ping Zhu
Sisonke Msimang's op-ed, The Backlash Against African Women, from news publication the New York Times presents a harsh and crippling truth. Despite the fact that Africa has been home to some of the most widespread and progressive movements for women's rights, the conetinent has also gave birth to some of the most vicious anti-feminist proponents. In countries like South Africa, where over 40% of government positions are held by women or Rwanda, where women make up over 64% of Parliament, the opposition to the women's movement is steadily growing. While this astoninishing progress can be attributed to the growing investment of funding in education for girls and "small enterprise projects" the opposition can be seen as being rooted in the resulting challenge to "traditional" beliefs and gender roles.
The rapid advancements being made in women's status has led anti-feminsts to unleash their resistance to the movement by staging vicious public verbal and physical attacks against both women in government positions and average civilian women. As women have become more comfortable in their skin and have been seen wearing what the "men's movement" refers to as "inappropriate" these men have gunned for the development of "decency bills" that would ban this type of clothing on women.
This brand of hostility has also prompted organizations of men to attack women in public and strip them naked or in less extreme cases verbally abuse women in the streets which in one instance sent one pregnant woman to the hospital due to stress. Yet, even in light of all of this, African women have met this conflict with grace. They have continued to back the progression and advancement of women in Africa. Their courage and perservance has only proven that as Msimang contends: "The walk from the streets to the halls of power may be long, but the goal is well within reach."
This op-ed is a useful resource for research on international progressions and advancements in the feminist movement. The resistance brought up throughout the article closely mirrors the struggle endured by those in the Civl Rights Movement in the U.S. and brings up the importance of perserverance and support for social change especially in the face of adversity and brutal opposition.
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