Few men in power have addressed gender equality on the main stage of the United Nations this month, but those who have have gone there boldly: claiming feminist credibility, selling “positive masculinity and resolutely demand an end to patriarchy.
On the first day of the General Assembly meeting of world leaders, Bolivian President Luis Arce touted 2022 as “the year of cultural revolution for depatriarchy” for his country and urged the United Nations to embrace a global effort to a decade to do the same. .
Arce said his country wants to promote policies aimed at “transforming this unfortunate reality caused by patriarchy as the oldest system of oppression, and which is also linked to colonialism and capitalism”.
Gender equality, one of the main goals of the United Nations, has long been a safe topic of discussion for world leaders, and there have been many brief and polite mentions of the progress made towards the empowerment of women, including promoting women in leading roles, ensuring equal educational opportunities for girls and supporting women’s autonomy over their own bodies.
There were also leaders who didn’t say the words “women” or “girls” at all during their appearance on stage – the King of Jordan, the President of Cyprus, the Prime Minister of Japan.
At other times, “feminism” – considered an f-word by many for generations – was used with pride.
Liberian President George Weah has declared himself “the chief feminist”. Andorran Prime Minister Xavier Espot Zamora acknowledged that “feminism is one of the great challenges of the present moment”. Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez trumpeted “the feminist agenda and the fight for gender equality”.
“We live in a time when demanding basic rights is always a revolutionary act,” Sanchez said in his speech to the UN. “The global threats to women’s sexual and reproductive freedom are another example of how painfully slow the world is moving towards securing full equality. Worse still is the fragility of our past social gains, which have been victims of the backsliding of some advanced democracies – – something quite inexplicable at this point in the 21st century.”
It was an impassioned blow, apparently directed at the event’s host country, where a recent Supreme Court ruling ended the constitutional right to abortion. In contrast, US President Joe Biden made only passing mention of abortion rights – even as the court ruling continues to spread across the country.
“The future will be won by countries that unlock the full potential of their people, where women and girls can exercise equal rights, including basic reproductive rights,” Biden said in his speech.
The contrast was a stark reminder that words matter, said Sylvia Maier, professor of global gender studies at New York University, who said the unabashed use of progressive language by some world leaders on this important stage was new, unusual and surprising. The largest gathering of world leaders remains a male-dominated forum.
“It’s time we stopped using euphemisms and beating around the bush,” Maier said. “It’s time we started talking about what we’re up against in clear terms. We can’t solve these issues – which are all interrelated – without really calling it what it is.”
Congolese President Félix Tshisekedi said in his speech that he was a “champion of positive masculinity”, affirming the need for “radical change” while highlighting the holding of an African Union men’s conference to combat the resurgence of violence against women. “Because equality is not a gift given to women,” Tshisekedi said.
The United Nations has defined positive masculinity as “an innovative approach to engaging and involving men, and making them allies in gender equality and peacebuilding efforts in conflict and post-conflict settings. “.
Maier said it’s important to model the so-called idea of ”what a good and honorable man should do” – to resist violence and speak out as a bystander, to understand consent, to believe survivors of gender-based violence and create services to help those in crisis.
“It’s hard work to change social norms, which are really gender stereotypes,” Maier said. “Positive masculinity really means reinforcing positive traits, but all of those traits, they shouldn’t even have gender.”
The problem is particularly acute for the Congo. One of the poorest and least developed countries in the world, the country has long struggled with high rates of sexual violence, domestic violence and child marriage.
“The issue is not masculinity,” said Ousseina Alidou, a professor who directs the Center for Women’s Global Leadership at Rutgers University and is president of the African Studies Association. “Who we are is not the issue, but what we adopt as our ideology.”
Alidou said it was commendable that Africa is taking the issue seriously as part of healing the continent from its painful history of colonization.
“Patriarchy was the framework in which colonialism manifested itself, in the most inhuman way on the African continent,” Alidou said. “Patriarchy is not the monopoly of one region of the world. It is a global phenomenon.”