By: Dr. Mridusmita Duara
International Women’s Day is celebrated globally on 8th March to recognize the social, economic, cultural, and political achievements of women. It also serves as a reminder of the ongoing fight for gender equality and women’s rights. The day is an opportunity to reflect on the progress made in advancing women’s rights and to raise awareness about the challenges and barriers that women still face around the world. The origins of International Women’s Day can be traced back to the early 20th century when women’s rights movements were gaining momentum around the world. The day has its roots in labor movements and socialist movements, with the first National Women’s Day being observed in the United States in 1909. It later evolved into International Women’s Day, as women’s rights activists from various countries came together to promote gender equality and women’s suffrage. Additionally, it is a time to honour the contributions of women to society and to advocate for further improvements in areas such as education, healthcare, employment, and representation in leadership roles.
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International Women’s Day deeply intertwined with feminism. As we know that Feminism, as an ideology, advocates for gender equality and the empowerment of women, making International Women’s Day an important occasion to reflect on the progress made towards these goals and to continue advocating for change. Feminism provides the ideological framework for understanding the significance of International Women’s Day. It highlights the ongoing struggle for women’s rights and the need to address issues such as gender-based discrimination, violence against women, unequal access to education and healthcare, and disparities in political and economic representation. Thus, it serves as a reminder of the work that still needs to be done to achieve full gender equality and as a call to action for individuals and societies to continue striving towards this goal. The United Nation’s Theme for International Women’s Day 2024 is “Invest in Women: Accelerate Progress”.
While we talk of women’s progress, we also need to acknowledge the fact that patriarchy and fake feminism are two significant phenomena that forms a blockage in achieving gender equality and rights. While patriarchy is a social system that privileges men and maintains male dominance in many aspects of society, including politics, economics, and culture. Fake feminism, on the other hand, refers to the superficial or insincere adoption of feminist ideas or language for personal gain or to uphold patriarchal structures. Patriarchy and fake feminism are intertwined in numerous intricate ways.
One way in which patriarchy and fake feminism intersect is through the usage of feminist symbols just to maintain the status quo. For example, individuals or institutions may claim to support gender equality while simultaneously perpetuating systems of exclusion and oppression. This can manifest in various forms, such as individuals and organizations using feminist lectures, slogans and campaigns their while showcasing women only as symbols while practicing exclusion and passing policies that harm women.
Additionally, fake feminism can serve to undermine genuine efforts towards gender equality by misrepresenting feminist or achieving gender justice goals. This can lead to confusion about what feminism truly entails and hinder progress towards breaking patriarchal structures. Moreover, patriarchy often encourages the promotion of certain types of feminism that are more acceptable to the status quo while marginalizing radical forms of feminism. Fake feminism may thus prioritize the interests of privileged groups within the feminist movement, such as white, heterosexual, middle-class women, while neglecting the concerns of marginalized women.
Thus, the term “Fake feminism” refers to describe actions or ideologies that claim to support feminism but actually undermine its core principles and in practice it is something that is just not aligned to gender justice, inclusion and rights. Some examples are those organizations a few women or promote superficial gender diversity without addressing underlying power imbalances. This can give the appearance of supporting feminism while maintaining the male dominance in decision-making roles.
While feminist language and metaphors are used in their marketing campaigns to sell products or improve their public image, without making meaningful changes to their workplace policies or addressing gender inequality within their organizations.
It is not always men that practice oppression and exclusion but also women who is seen to be involved in bringing down other women, be it at the personal or professional level. Sometimes women are the “torch bearers” of patriarchy too. We commonly see Selective Feminism when individuals or groups support feminist principles only when it benefits them personally or politically, while ignoring or actively opposing feminist issues that do not directly affect them. This can include supporting gender equality in some contexts while opposing it in others, such as reproductive rights or LGBTQ+ rights.
Similarly, White Feminism refers to a form of feminism that prioritizes the experiences and concerns of white, middle-class women while marginalizing the experiences of women of colour, LGBTQ+ women, and other marginalized groups; fake feminism fails to address intersectionality and often perpetuates racism and other forms of exclusion and discrimination.
Overall, fake feminism poses a significant obstacle to achieving gender equality and social justice. It is essential to recognize and challenge instances of fake feminism while augmenting the voices and initiatives of genuine feminist movements working towards inclusive, intersectional, and transformative change. Thus, we see that the relationship between patriarchy and fake feminism is of mutual reinforcement, with fake feminism serving to uphold patriarchal power structures by using feminist language and ideas for superficial, self-serving purposes and as per one’s convenience only. (The author is an Assistant Professor of Social Work, Krishna Kanta Handiqui State Open University, Guwahati. She can be reached at mridusmita123@gmail.com or 80112 23369)
