What would a Feminist Governent Look Like?

In 2014, Sweden became the first government to use the word “feminist” to describe a policy approach. Iceland has seven laws and standard practices that support women’s rights, and penalize gender discrimination. The U.S. Constitution has no guarantees of equal rights for women. Since 1923, activists here have been trying to pass the ERA for women to the US Constitution.  The US ratings not only on women’s rights but their rating on all human rights has deteriorated over the past several decades.  US law makers should look around to get out of their rut to make more inclusive laws.

Swedish feminist policy objectives include women's and girls’ freedom from physical, psychological and sexual violence; political participation and influence in all areas of society; economic rights and empowerment; and sexual and reproductive health and rights. All of which is something the US should strive for.  Let’s face it women getting the vote in the US did little to get women equal rights Emily;s list has worked for years to get women into politics both nationally and locally.  Today, 20% of Democratic Attorneys General are women this is not acceptable and a good example of things that need to be done.  Emily's list has worked for years to get women into politics and today we see of their work make a difference.

Iceland starts gender equality lessons before first grade The country has not just one, but three, laws protecting women at work. Treating women as sex objects in the media is against the law. Plus, the country banded strip clubs for feminist reasons. For eight years, the Global Gender Gap Index ranked Iceland No. 1, Sweden number 3 and the United States number 51 on its list of countries in their efforts to close the gender gap. In 2009, Iceland became the first country to completely close the gender gap in education and health. And in 2016, Iceland was 87% of the way to closing the gender gap in all sectors. 

One of Sweden’s main focus under their gender equity policies is a mandate to reduce sexual violence.  This is where Sweden is ahead of Iceland, and the US lags far behind. In 1998 Sweden passed their “Act on violence Against Women.”  The law gives Sweden two decades of reform that Iceland and the US don’t have. The University of Iceland published a study that found 30 percent of Icelandic women aged 18 to 80 reported being physically attacked and 13 percent reported suffering rape or attempted rape. This gender violence in Iceland dispels the “myth” that gender equality alone gives women safety from violence.  Making the steps to fight systematic abuse against women is a critical part of the gender equality agenda.

In contrast here at home women are fighting for a place at the table.  On our way or when we get there the media, finds ways to ridicule us or bully us into silence.  This ridicule or shaming starts at the highest level.   Senator Martha McSally, Republican of Arizona and the first woman in the Air Force to fly in combat, told a hushed Senate hearing room on Wednesday that she had been raped by a superior officer, one of multiple times she was sexually assaulted while she served her country. “I thought I was strong, but felt powerless,” Ms. McSally said during a Senate Armed Services subcommittee hearing on sexual assault in the military. Ms. McSally’s testimony is both refreshing and disturbing.  McSally is high ranking elected official and a decorated military pilot and yet the men around her have shamed her, putting her in her place.  We are lucky that even at those times McSally felt powerless she kept going for a place at the table.

These are hard times for women not in the US but around the world, the backlash of women’s rights is felt globally.  This is not a time to coward, this is a time to speak up to move those lawmakers that are stuck in a rut.  I am thankful for Hilary Clinton running for the presidency, for the #metoo movement, for Emily’s list, for the newly elected diverse women who entered congress this year, and Stormy Daniels who has spoken up. The fight might not be over but the actions of late sure has struck a nerve with the powers that be.