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在世界民主国家身居高位的女性

Jul 24, 2019 Nina L. Khrushcheva

莫斯科—美国总统特朗普最近宣称四位民主党有色国会女议员—阿雅娜·佩雷斯利（Ayanna Pressley）、亚历山德里亚·奥卡西奥-克尔特兹（Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez）、伊尔汗·奥马尔（Ilhan Omar）和拉西达·塔莱布（Rashida Tlaib）应该“滚回”她们的国家，这再次证明了他赤裸裸的种族主义和性别歧视。（其中三人出生于美国，另一位十几岁时成为美国公民。）但这也突显出妇女政治地位的日益显赫—这一趋势将继续保持下去，不论特朗普之流如何噤若寒蝉。

一个世纪前，在欧洲，妇女参政先锋——如伊涅萨·埃尔曼德（Inessa Armand）、罗莎·卢森堡（Rosa Luxemburg）和克拉拉·泽钦（Clara Zetkin）等——别无选择，只能求助权势男性认可自己的雄心。其中一位男性是苏联领导人列宁，他号召消灭“将妇女置于与男性不对等地位的就法律。”埃尔曼德（据说）与列宁有一段罗曼史，而泽钦在1920年就“妇女问题”访问了列宁。在此之前的1919年，列宁发表了关于“苏维埃共和国的职业妇女运动的任务”的讲话。

这一策略不难理解，但收效甚微。列宁认定只有社会主义——及其人人平等的承诺——能够解放妇女。“只要资本的力量存在，”他在1919年的讲话中说，“男性就将保持特权。”

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j. von Hettlingen Jul 28, 2019

Nina L. Khrushcheva says men are still holding “disportionate power, although half of the world’s population is made up of women. They are also using their power to prevent women from gaining more clout. As the number of women in politics is growing – “and given that they include fascists, liberals, greens, and socialists – the days of “male supremacy are numbered.” Nevertheless, it still takes time to close the gender gap in interest in politics.
The author names a long list of powerful and influential women in the private sector and in public life across the globe, who do not necessarily need “men’s validation. But that does not mean that they would not welcome men’s support, whether political, personal, or even artistic.” In some countries, women ascended to their political position through a dynastic channel. Female political leaders are often sisters, wives, widows or daughters of important politicians.
History shows that women would not have gained their right to vote without the support of their male counterparts, because many powerful men had sought to impede them, worrying about the threat empowered women could pose.
The author says Vladimir Lenin was supportive of women’s suffrage and gender equality a century ago, as part of socialism’s appeal. In the Soviet Union, most women had jobs, yet only few had careers. Her own grandmother “was forced to give up her position as an educator” after her grandfather, Nikita Khrushchev, was appointed the head of Ukraine’s Communist Party in 1937. “She was supposed to serve as an example for other working wives of political functionaries.”
In today’s Russia, there are very few women in Putin’s government. Last year, controversial amendments to Russian law were passed to decriminalise some forms of domestic violence, leading to a dramatic decline in reported incidents.
Although women in many European countries gained their voting rights mainly after World War II, in general, they have come quite far in their pursuit of careers. A few – Margaret Thatcher, Angela Merkel and others in many European countries – have gone down in history as their first female leaders, despite facing many more obstacles than men. Many have been as good as their male counterparts, if not even better. But they are the exception rather than the rule.
According to a survey, girls are significantly less interested in politics than boys by the age of 15. This phenomenon has been observed in more than a dozen rich countries, and could have a negative impact on their future development. If women are less interested in politics, they may be less likely to take part in it, including voting or running for office. And their views - particularly on social issues like workplace equality, parental leave and child care, which they care about on average more than men do - may not be adequately represented in government.
The author mentions Philipp Stölzl, a German director who is staging a contemporary adaptation of Giuseppe Verdi’s Rigoletto in Austria. “In his view, Rigoletto – in which a court jester attempts to end the licentious activities of his powerful employer – is the ideal opera for the #MeToo era. Perhaps that is why a woman, Australian opera director Lindy Hume, is bringing her own adaptation of Rigoletto to Seattle next month.”
There is another classical play which has not captured as much attention: “Assembleywomen” by Aristophanes, the comic playwright of ancient Athens. Written in 391 BC, it is a wonderfully fun play, a comic fantasy about war, power, and gender, with women being in charge of government and men reduced to feeble, pitiable creatures in drag.
The women of Athens, led by Praxagora, decide to take over the city’s parliament, the Assembly, arguing for a number of radical reforms. Women should have all the power in Athens, all property should be held communally, and there should be complete sexual liberation, with people free to go to bed with whomever they choose. (The old and ugly are to get first dibs on sexual partners, so as to ensure that they’re not left out.)
As a play, “Assembleywomen” is really ahead of its time in terms of its presentation of female power. True, Aristophanes seemed to be implying that women could do a better job of running things than men. Yet it would have been seen as a joke poking fun at the incompetence and mismanagement of the - men-only - Assembly rather than as a genuine call for parliamentary reform.The joke at the heart of the play is actually a rather conservative one – It is in fact sexist deep down – because it turns on the idea that even a load of women could make a better job of it than a bunch of clowns.
In this respect, Assemblywomen is not only fun, but truly radical and progressive, because it anticipates so many of the political ideas that people do take seriously nowadays - gender equality, and the idea of a fair society, where people are not discriminated against on the grounds of appearance or age, and, if not complete sexual freedom, then at least a less puritanical approach to sex and marriage.
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Elizabeth Pula Jul 25, 2019

This comment was removed by a moderator. Replies to this comment may also be deleted. Please note that we moderate comments to ensure the conversation remains topically relevant. We appreciate well-informed comments and welcome your criticism and insight. Please be civil and avoid name-calling and ad hominem remarks.
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P. Kamath Jul 24, 2019

Um....”..Democratic congresswomen of color – Ayanna Pressley, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Ilhan Omar, and Rashida Tlaib...”. Once ,in USA, If one is of African ancestry, they were called , people of colour! Now it seems the definition has become broader! Among the group AOC and Tlaib are of Latino and Middle Eastern ancestry! So how can any one call them people of Colour?
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