March 1, 2005
Feminism is Dead and Women in Bosnia live it
By Danica Anderson
Gypsy woman begging at the mosque in Bosnia
Conservative female voices claim that women are doing well and so much better then ever, a constantly repeated glowing diatribe which infers that feminism is unnecessary. Stunned by the lack of female consciousness and the ever spiraling erasure of the female sex that has heightened emotional battering to an art form; I went on to search for feminism in Bosnia despite the massive amounts of rhetoric along the way.
It is emotionally battering to hear women perpetuate the entrenched patriarchal dogma in the guise of conservative feminism which seeks women to remain as victims for the androcratic system. Simply put when I travel to Bosnia and work with the war survivors and war crimes survivors who are mostly women or children I realize a totally different perspective that is completely eclipsed by the rhetoric rendering the battered women's plight invisible.
What's puzzling is how the conservative rhetoric can support itself in saying that women are just fine. Isn't the rhetoric emotional torture? This is blame and humiliation for the inescapable reality that many women are in stupefying poverty, under the reign of domestic violence and victims of violent acts such as rape, assault, homicide and wars.
Women's realities do not match the glowing testimonies and litanies pronounced by what seems to be the delusional marketing attempts of conservative female voices.
Since these first person stories of women in Bosnia, Kosovo, Afghanistan and now Iraq (as in so many other places throughout the world, America not excepted) would render the conservative feminisms rank null and void what has resulted is the need to erase these women's memories with gynocidal pogroms in the forms of economic social policies or the lack of the economical social actions. In Bosnia, the economic situation is often quoted by the people as being worse then the war itself. Often, an elderly woman comments on how better life was during the war rather then in the aftermath of the war.
In 2001, the Bosnian women I work with ran into Alexandra Stiglmayer, author of "Mass Rape: The War against Women in Bosnia-Herzegovina" at the Sarajevo airport. As ambassadress for the UN, Stiglmayer asked for help for another group of Bosnian Muslim women who were in rape camps, citing how the women have not organized into a non-profit or even know how to ask for help.
After numerous calls and emails, the Bosnian women stopped their outreach to the UN ambassadress. Sana Koric, president of Sumejja Kolo heard Stiglmayer's secretary carefully inform her of how busy Stiglmayer was. I asked Sana what that meant to her and she stated: "I and our women are not considered of value and I understood that she is a busy woman." Sana Koric spoke of the rhetoric during and after the war from humanitarian concerns which for only meant her reality and life experience were totally absent from the rhetoric.
The gynocidal pogrom continues as feminists who stand in their truth are often significantly alone.
My recent trip to Europe/Bosnia supports the evidence of a raging war against females for their feminist identities. Their version of feminism does not exclude the women, includes men by holding each accountable and always remembers the children.
My response to this lethal Tsunami wave towards women required the excavation of the rubble of a once fine foundation for female gender issues. To do this, I interviewed Zivica Abadic General Secretary for the Helsinki Human Rights Sarajevo, at the annual conference hosted by The Kolo: Women's Cross Cultural Collaborations and the Novi Travnik Kolo Sumejja women.
Ms. Abadic holds feminist values and lives them, despite the hurdles and constant onslaught to her feminine sensibilities. White hair cut short to accent her stunning beauty, her constantly high energy level belies her 60 years.
Dangling a cigarette from her mouth, Zivica facilitates her presentation/meeting for the Peaceful Dimensions against Gender Violence conference with me and the women from Novi Travnik in a basement meeting room of the Helsinki Human Rights offices encased in a stately old Villa downtown Sarajevo. The small 10 by 18 basement room was slapped together as a meeting room with 4 small windows at ground level. The smoke soon fills the basement meeting room to choking levels adding more yellow veneer to the age old stone walls and the four small windows appear to be etched instead of a clear paned window.
Before the meeting began, Zivica spotted me from the stairs leading down to the basement meeting room and simply pronounced her good surprise that I was still with these women. She has joked with me before about how other Westerners who can hitch hike to Bosnia easily to do their condescending pats on bereaved shoulders saying "there, there" with honest tears and rhetoric as they disappear into the sunset.
Four years ago, Zivica contacted me after she learned about Novi Travnik's "Peaceful Dimensions against Gender Violence," conference. When I told her of the work with frontline women who were not graduates or university students, she eagerly came to speak to the women in Novi Travnik about her experiences during the Balkan war.
Stunned at having a woman middle-aged Bosnian Muslim female (and a strong feminist at that) in their very midst, the women in Novi Travnik remarked how she sounded just like me in their kolo training meetings.
Four years later, a bit thinner and more fully empowered, Zivica speaks clearly of the status of Bosnian women today in the aftermath of war. She pointed out that 23% of women between 14 and 25 are illiterate, in actuality indicating the fresh and new victims of a war that never ends.
Patriarchs often go to jail and pay the fine rather then send their daughters to school, reports Zivica. It is cheaper to be in jail and pay the one time fine then to pay for her books, her clothes and any other associated costs.
Females cost too much.
55% is the current domestic violence figure for Bosnia but as Zivica and the women knew, it is much higher than that. It is a cultural prerogative for the ruling Bosnian patriarchs to batter their wives, children, sisters, aunts and mothers. Domestic Violence was not legislated nor was child abuse before the war.
80% of the women work in housekeeping which means unreported female labor with no healthcare whatsoever. Zivica gracefully lights another cigarette and remarks on the soaring level of national poverty. Not applying a gender perspective in times of war results in a lack of education, police support, healthcare and qualified social care workers&emdash;to devastating effect. "Gender sensitivity is one of the several resulting causalities," writes Julie Mertus in her book "War's Offensive against Women".
There are clearly identified links between gender factors and humanitarian assistance. "Policy changes to improve and apply international, regional and national policies concerning gender problems in wartime; spur advocacy efforts by human rights groups employing a gender perspective to mainstream gender equality by recognizing the different needs, interests, and responsibilities of women and men and building more equitable gender relations" are clearly needed and indicated, reports Julie Mertus.
Of course, none of this was applied in Bosnia in the aftermath of war. The aid and the dollars followed the fresh bullets and bombs rather then lingering in the economy to heal the targets of yesterday's weapons. Being yesterday's news and not today's, new bombing target relegates the Bosnian women to be the least of anyone's concerns. Their plight is shared with that of African women and children, Afghan women and Iraqi women and so many others who have been erased and rendered invisible to degrees that are unfathomable to Western sisters and men earthwide.
Zivica predicted it will get worse and it will not get better for generations and that is if there are generations ahead in the future. The women from Novi Travnik bowed their heads just like we do at funerals. None were surprised as they have been feeling the unemployment for themselves and their children. The women felt validation in Zivica's prediction; they felt validation in hearing the truth.
Zivica pronounced at the end of the meeting, "Feminism is dead." Already, a whole generation does not care to know about female human rights or feminism. "
Surviving in the aftermath of war in an economy that satiates its male appetites on patriarchal values means many young women and older women are capitulating to the unwavering demands placed on their sex. According to conservative female rhetoric their realities are erased as are their first person stories about the snipers, bombs, rapes or torture. The collusion with the patriarchy comes in providing the ultimate rationale to discontinue the funding of humanitarian aid efforts especially for trauma and rape issues for females.
For instance, on this last trip to Bosnia, I was greeted with a hail of bullets each day. And it was not a celebratory nature or for me. The SFOR peacekeeping troops had pulled out that very week stating that peace has finally come to Bosnia and there is no need for their presence.
The Muslims justifiably wary of the Croatians in the middle canton of Bosnia were showing off their arsenal of weapons immediately after the withdrawal. The Muslim police in Novi Travnik trained daily at the shooting range during my visit in Bosnia. Each shot retraumatized a population already saturated with trauma. A few times I reached for the earth as the bullets sung over our heads at a local café swearing about the rhetoric which claimed peace.
During the 'Peaceful Dimensions against Gender Violence' conference Zivica shared with us that her mother had died a few days earlier. The eighty-four year old grandmother was first in her village to go to study and go to college. She was assaulted and beaten by Chetniks during WWII (former Yugoslavs with King Peter). Zivica pointed out how regardless of her trauma, she never betrayed her community. I pointed out to Zivica how women do not seem to betray the community but that the community is not 'hers' but his community.
After much discussion Zivica's story of her mother, and her acknowledgement of my involvement with the invisible Bosnian women for five years sharply screamed the message of constancy and consistency. Constancy is a fidelity and fealty, with a devotion heaped with a tenacity and diligence. Consistency is coherence and maintains form with harmony. Yet, women in war torn countries and even in Western countries desperately require the life skill to channel and funnel consistency and constancy to female concerns and communities since women always include their children and families regardless of gender.
I started to realize Zivica's message of consistency and constancy and why she felt feminism is dead. She turned and looked at me and left the room without a word. Perhaps she was wondering if I would still be with these women four years from now. Perhaps she was wondering if these women would survive the economic holocaust. Perhaps, the death of her mother was a searing message about the death of female solidarity.
By scapegoating and erasing feminists along with understanding feminism the ignorance that excludes females is perpetuated by women themselves. Along with the strong backlash against anything remotely attached to strong empowered females, the pogroms against women are continued.
I do not want Zivica's profound pronouncement that feminism is dead to be the truth or the reality. I suddenly have an insight that conservative female rhetoric is denial and avoidance of the harsh reality. However, I know Zivica speaks from her heart and I do not want her to stand alone in her truth.
Zivica is right. Feminism is dead and women have killed it.
I decided to make a choice and not conform; I stand counted with Zivica in my truth and I taste the beginning of female solidarity.
Danica Anderson is a forensic psychotherapist who goes to Bosnia regularly to bear witness to the women's first person stories in the setting of the Women's Kolo. She writes frequently for Awakened Woman. Visit her web site at www.kolocollaboration.org