tag:theconversation.com,2011:/us/topics/female-voice-34819/articles
Female voice – The Conversation
2021-05-11T02:46:50Z
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/158772
2021-05-11T02:46:50Z
2021-05-11T02:46:50Z
‘Boys and their toys’: how overt masculinity dominates Australia’s relationship with water
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/399399/original/file-20210507-23-h4b7nb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C24%2C5472%2C3604&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>In Australia over recent months, the fury of women has been hard to ignore. The anger, much of it directed at the toxic masculine culture <a href="https://theconversation.com/cultural-misogyny-and-why-mens-aggression-to-women-is-so-often-expressed-through-sex-157680">of Parliament House</a>, has sparked a national conversation about how these attitudes harm women.</p>
<p>The movement has led me to think about how masculine cultures pervade our relationship with water. I worked as a civil engineer in the water industry for nine years, managing projects from planning through to construction. I’m now a water policy researcher, and in a <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/02508060.2021.1886832">recent paper</a> I explored how dominant masculinity is limiting our response to dire water problems.</p>
<p>Overly masculine environments affect the way decisions are made. In particular, a reliance on technological and infrastructure “fixes” to solve problems is linked to masculine ideas of power.</p>
<p>Under this way of thinking, water is to be controlled, re-purposed and rerouted as needed. I believe we must reassess these old methods. Does it really need to be all about control and power? Managing water in tandem with nature may be more prudent. </p>
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<img alt="two male engineers look at dam" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/399401/original/file-20210507-25-vore35.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/399401/original/file-20210507-25-vore35.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/399401/original/file-20210507-25-vore35.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/399401/original/file-20210507-25-vore35.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/399401/original/file-20210507-25-vore35.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/399401/original/file-20210507-25-vore35.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/399401/original/file-20210507-25-vore35.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Dams and other major water infrastructure are a mainstay of male-dominated water management.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
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<h2>Hiring women is not enough</h2>
<p>In the case of federal parliament, the toxic masculinity problem has partly been blamed on a lack of women in senior roles. Similarly, in the area of water supply, sewerage and drainage services, <a href="https://data.wgea.gov.au/">only 19.8% of the workforce</a> comprises people who identify as women (compared to 50.5% across all industries). The sector include state government departments, water authorities and consultancies. </p>
<p>Globally, the lack of women in water engineering has primarily been addressed by <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/19378629.2017.1361427">increasing</a> the representation of women in the field, <a href="https://www.wsaa.asn.au/sites/default/files/publication/download/Tapping%20the%20Power%20of%20Diversity.pdf">on boards</a> and in management. </p>
<p>However creating a more diverse workforce does not automatically lead to a diversity of thinking. In the case of water management, hiring women, or others such as LGBTI and Indigenous employees, does <a href="https://www.wsaa.asn.au/sites/default/files/publication/download/Tapping%20the%20Power%20of%20Diversity.pdf">not necessarily mean</a> their contributions are valued. Very often, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/19378629.2017.1361427">a masculine culture</a> prevails. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/our-national-water-policy-is-outdated-unfair-and-not-fit-for-climate-challenges-major-new-report-155116">Our national water policy is outdated, unfair and not fit for climate challenges: major new report</a>
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<img alt="male engineer points as female look on" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/399405/original/file-20210507-21-19htqh5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/399405/original/file-20210507-21-19htqh5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/399405/original/file-20210507-21-19htqh5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/399405/original/file-20210507-21-19htqh5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/399405/original/file-20210507-21-19htqh5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/399405/original/file-20210507-21-19htqh5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/399405/original/file-20210507-21-19htqh5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Hiring women is not enough - their contribution should be valued.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
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<h2>Pipelines and gadgets aren’t always the answer</h2>
<p>Toxic masculinity doesn’t just refer to overtly sexist cultures or allegations of sexual assault. It can also refer to male-dominated decision making where other ideas are undervalued.</p>
<p>Take, for example, the dominant “technocracy” approach to water management, in which infrastructure and technology is relied on to solve problems.</p>
<p>In Australia as elsewhere, this can perhaps be seen in the emergence of “smart water management” which uses gadgets such as smart meters and other technology to gather and communicate real-time data to help address water management challenges. </p>
<p>As other researchers <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/343748198_The_moral_hazards_of_smart_water_management">have argued</a>, this “<a href="https://www.routledge.com/Boys-and-their-Toys-Masculinity-Class-and-Technology-in-America/Horowitz/p/book/9780415929332">boys and their toys</a>” approach perpetuates a mindset that sustainability problems - often caused by deep-seated structural and behaviour faults such as over-consumption - can be solved with engineering and technology.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/we-cant-drought-proof-australia-and-trying-is-a-fools-errand-124504">We can’t drought-proof Australia, and trying is a fool's errand</a>
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<p>The idea that technology is a symbol of masculinity has been explored by <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/1097184X03260956">many</a> <a href="https://doi.org/10.2307/3178066">feminist</a> <a href="http://www.jstor.org/stable/42968827">theorists</a>. </p>
<p>Technical prowess, being “in control” and rationality have <a href="https://www.water-alternatives.org/index.php/allabs/19-a-1-1-7/file">historically been seen</a> as typically male characteristics. And senior technological roles are <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/1097184X03260956">usually occupied</a> by men. </p>
<p>There’s nothing inherently wrong with using technology to solve water issues. But when technocratic thinking is “monolithic” and ignores wider societal issues, it can become a problem. </p>
<p>Take, for example, Victoria’s North-South pipeline built during the Millennium Drought. This A$750 million piece of infrastructure connected to Melbourne in 2010 but has <a href="https://www.3aw.com.au/the-750m-pipe-weve-never-used-and-never-will-but-still-pay-for/">lain idle</a> ever since – largely due to fears from farmers that taking water from rural areas will hurt agricultural output.</p>
<p>Similarly, desalination plants in many parts of Australia are an expensive technological approach that solve one problem, yet can create <a href="https://e360.yale.edu/features/as-water-scarcity-increases-desalination-plants-are-on-the-rise">many others</a>. They use a lot of energy, which contributes to climate change if drawn from fossil fuels, and can damage marine life.</p>
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<img alt="Two men look at laptop" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/399413/original/file-20210507-17-jsscc2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/399413/original/file-20210507-17-jsscc2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/399413/original/file-20210507-17-jsscc2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/399413/original/file-20210507-17-jsscc2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/399413/original/file-20210507-17-jsscc2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/399413/original/file-20210507-17-jsscc2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/399413/original/file-20210507-17-jsscc2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Most technology jobs in water management are occupied by men.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
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<h2>Finding another way</h2>
<p>Global water scarcity is inescapable. Water use is growing at a <a href="https://worldwater.io/">rate faster</a> than population growth while climate change is <a href="https://theconversation.com/seriously-ugly-heres-how-australia-will-look-if-the-world-heats-by-3-c-this-century-157875">diminishing</a> clean water suppies in many areas.</p>
<p>We need look no further than Australia’s trouble-plagued Murray Darling Basin to know it’s time to reassess the old methods and explore new ways in our relationship with water. </p>
<p>Exerting control over water – say, building an extensive sewer network and water supply system – may have been needed when Australia was modernising. But now it’s time to take a more humble approach that works in tandem with the environment. </p>
<p>A different approach would incorporate valuable knowledge in the social sciences, such as recognising the politics and social issues at play in how we manage water. </p>
<p>For example, in 2006 residents in the Queensland town of Toowoomba rejected the prospect of drinking <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/national/toowoomba-says-no-to-recycled-water-20060731-gdo2hm.html">recycled wastewater</a> after a highly politicised referendum campaign. Residents had <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/oct/06/can-recycled-water-be-the-next-frontier-for-towns-running-out-of-drinking-water">just three months</a> to consider the proposal, which divided the community. A non-masculine approach might involve better public consultation and an effort by authorities to understand community attitudes prior to planning.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/water-injustice-runs-deep-in-australia-fixing-it-means-handing-control-to-first-nations-155286">Water injustice runs deep in Australia. Fixing it means handing control to First Nations</a>
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<p>Australians are the world’s <a href="https://www.yourhome.gov.au/water">greatest per capita consumers</a> of water. A new approach might also involve questioning this consumptive <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/02508060.2020.1805579">behaviour</a> and reducing our water use, rather than relying on technological fixes.</p>
<p>Such approaches are likely to require giving up some control. And it may require working closely with traditional owners to incorporate Indigenous understandings of water.</p>
<p>In 2017 for example, the New Zealand government <a href="https://theconversation.com/three-rivers-are-now-legally-people-but-thats-just-the-start-of-looking-after-them-74983">passed legislation</a> that recognised the Whanganui River catchment as a legal person. The reform formally acknowledged the special relationship local Māori have with the river.</p>
<p>This different approach may also mean moving to community decision making models or even programs to increase youth involvement in water management. </p>
<p>An over-reliance on technology and infrastructure papers over the need to understand the behaviours that lead to water problems. We must seek new, sustainable approaches that recognise the role of water in our social, political and cultural lives.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/158772/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Anna Kosovac does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
Pipelines, dams, gadgets: does water management really need to be all about control and power? Adopting less masculine ideas and working with nature may be more prudent.
Anna Kosovac, Research Fellow in Water Policy, The University of Melbourne
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/128579
2019-12-30T05:13:06Z
2019-12-30T05:13:06Z
Why very few women go into politics in Mauritius
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/306816/original/file-20191213-85376-1xvyx7y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The first female president of Mauritius, Ameenah Gurib-Fakim, at the Budapest Water Summit in 2016. She left office in 2018.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Szilard Koszticsak/EPA</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Mauritius is an island that is famed for its beautiful beaches and for its reputation as an “<a href="https://dash.harvard.edu/bitstream/handle/1/4450110/Frankel_MauritiusAfrican.pdf?sequence=1">African success story</a>”. Since its independence from the UK in 1968, it has had tremendous <a href="https://www.ft.com/reports/mauritius-at-50">economic progress, consolidated its democracy and maintained political stability</a>. </p>
<p>Mauritius has held <a href="http://electoral.govmu.org/English/electionresult/nasselec/Pages/default.aspx">11 general elections</a> since independence. But the recent general elections highlighted one serious political failure that the country continues to grapple with: poor female representation. </p>
<p>While Mauritius has excelled in most democratic indicators, it has been slow to improve gender equality in politics. <a href="https://www.eisa.org.za/wep/mauwomen.htm">Women’s representation</a> in the Mauritian parliament was 5.7% in 1983 and 1987, 17% in 2005 and 11.6% in 2014. In the latest elections, the <a href="https://data.ipu.org/content/mauritius?chamber_id=13462">figure rose</a> to 20%. </p>
<p>The Mauritian political system is a parliamentary democracy based on the Westminster model. It has a legislature consisting of 62 elected members, a prime minister, who is the head of government, and a ceremonial president. There is no quota for gendered representation in parliament. Mauritius had a <a href="https://qz.com/africa/1226739/mauritius-president-ameenah-gurib-fakim-may-be-forced-to-step-down-over-credit-card-scandal/">woman president</a> between 2015 and 2018, and a <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/africa/2012/03/20123309833263960.html">woman vice-president</a> between 2010 and 2016. </p>
<p>All prime ministers of the country have so far been men. </p>
<p>Mauritius’ constitution guarantees the equality of all citizens and ensures that women have the same legal rights as men. But as I argue in <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/328346250_Mauritius_Still_a_Long_Journey_Ahead">my paper</a>, which examines the participation and presence of women in politics, cultural and societal barriers still prevent women from fully exercising their rights. The country’s political parties and electoral system are not gender sensitive. Little space is made for women in the political field.</p>
<p>Symbolically, it is important to have equal representation of women in parliament since women represent <a href="http://statsmauritius.govmu.org/English/Publications/Documents/2019/EI1471/Pop_Vital_Jan-Jun19.pdf">slightly over 50%</a> of the population of the country. Moreover, women form a distinct political group with specific interests that concern them. Women parliamentarians can also serve as role models to encourage more women to get involved in politics.</p>
<h2>Low representation</h2>
<p>Over the past 50 years women’s lives have improved on a number of fronts. In education, both girls and boys have access to free education from primary level to university and <a href="http://statsmauritius.govmu.org/English/Publications/Documents/2019/EI1474/Edu_Yr19.pdf">pass rates are higher for girls</a>. Women have better access to employment opportunities, especially in the manufacturing and services sectors. And they are <a href="http://gender.govmu.org/English/Documents/2018/AGDI%20report%20-%20Final%20(1)_30032018.pdf">more financially independent</a>. </p>
<p>But political representation has consistently remained low despite Mauritius having <a href="http://gender.govmu.org/English/Documents/2018/AGDI%20report%20-%20Final%20(1)_30032018.pdf">ratified several international treaties</a>. These cover women’s rights and gender equality. They include the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, Optional Protocol on Violence against Women, and the Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights on the Rights of Women in Africa. </p>
<p>But unlike many other African countries, Mauritius has not adopted any policy of affirmative action to increase women’s presence in Parliament. In the last elections <a href="https://defimedia.info/alliance-nationale-12-femmes-sur-la-liste-des-candidats">12 women candidates</a> out of a total of 60 were fielded by each of the three of the main political groups that were competing to win. </p>
<p>Of the <a href="https://www.lemauricien.com/article/reduit-les-24-ministres-de-lalliance-morisien-ont-prete-serment/">24 ministers appointed</a>, only three were women. There were three women ministers in the previous government as well. </p>
<h2>Patriarchal society</h2>
<p>For my research, I interviewed women politicians and leaders of women’s organisations to examine the factors that affected women’s political participation.</p>
<p>A major impediment to women’s political participation is that Mauritius is a <a href="https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1057/978-1-137-59074-9_37">conservative, patriarchal society</a>. These values govern notions of respectable femininity where women are discouraged from adopting what is considered to be masculine behaviour and roles. This becomes problematic in the political sphere where aspiring politicians are required to be in the field a lot and to lead public meetings where the crowds are mainly men. As such, politics is viewed as inappropriate for women, and therefore, bad for the reputation of a family.</p>
<p>Mauritian society is also <a href="https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1057/978-1-137-59074-9_37">highly family orientated</a> and women are expected to shoulder the bulk of domestic responsibilities. This leaves them with less time than men for political activities. Those that do end up in politics usually have strong family support and financial security. </p>
<p>The prevailing patriarchal culture also leads to discrimination against women politicians both overtly and covertly. A recent example was when Joanna Bérenger, a new politician, was <a href="https://www.facebook.com/parti.MMM/photos/a.10152701002855831/10157341094450831/?type=3&theater">described in a headline</a> of one of the country’s most read newspapers as coming to parliament with “ek zak dan tant”. This Creole expression literally means “jackfruit in the basket”. Bérenger is pregnant.</p>
<p>Many Mauritians, especially women, found the headline offensive and it led to a <a href="https://moti.news/news/zak-dan-tant-de-lexpress-a-propos-de-joanna-berenger-souleve-une-vague-dindignation-128945">wave of protest</a> on social media and elsewhere on the internet. The main issue highlighted was the fact that Mauritian society still makes reference to women’s reproductive roles despite their success as political leaders. </p>
<h2>Going forward</h2>
<p>Many of the women candidates in the most recent election were young, indicating an emerging interest of young women in political careers. This is encouraging.</p>
<p>One way to challenge male dominance is through coordinated action among women’s movements. Unfortunately women’s organisations have not been able to forge a national consensus on the significance of women’s representation in the Mauritian parliament. As such, the <a href="https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1057/978-1-137-59074-9_37">women’s lobby has remained weak</a>.</p>
<p>On top of this, Mauritius has failed to set up and implement mechanisms to increase the participation of women in politics. It needs a new electoral system to ensure a more equitable representation across the board. The country also needs a gender quota.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/128579/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Ramola Ramtohul does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
In Mauritius there’s been little change in cultural norms and values to genuinely support gender egalitarianism.
Ramola Ramtohul, Senior Lecturer in Sociology and Gender Studies, University of Mauritius
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/89663
2018-01-12T10:38:31Z
2018-01-12T10:38:31Z
Women jazz musicians are using #metoo and taking a stand against sexism
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/201642/original/file-20180111-101486-76tqwj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Joelle Léandre in 2016.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/charliefree13/33878698520/in/photolist-TBKbKJ-TBJTbA-21A4WEE-9aoMpr-9aoMXa-csJHay-iXGsX-r9V1BA-9arYFo-rpctzA-9arZ4m-21A4VL5-7NLaX9-9aoPiX-bqEPFX-8kD1iy-8RSBYR-8kzMke-8RVFco-8kCXa5-gfe3Sj-9KLfY9-7NLaVq-8kzMMM-gfdr6M-8kzLNr-gfeprc-21A4Wbo-gfd8dq-9KHrGV-8kCZVY-8RSeGv-gfd6Cm-bqEQhg-U17WEp-SY6s9a-TXMpT5-UcEiqD-SY5QAM-U971H3-TBKtkY-UcDECv-8RVGVC-21A4VWA-21A4WoN-8RSDhc-8RVPhs-8RSFJZ-8RVjsq-8RUTSq">Charlie Free/Flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Every year since 1986, the <a href="https://www.facebook.com/pg/LesVictoiresduJazz/about/?ref=page_internal">Les Victoires du Jazz Awards</a> selects France’s best jazz musicians. In 2017 all the nominees in all categories <a href="http://evenements.francetv.fr/emissions/les-victoires-de-la-musique/les-victoires-du-jazz_571377">were men</a>. Two decades ago this would not have been a story, but today it stands out and shows that there is something off and obsolete about this old boys’ club. It may have also been the case that, 20 years ago, female jazz musicians may have been reluctant to kick up a fuss. Fortunately, not anymore.</p>
<p>The 66-year-old veteran French bass player, Joelle Léandre, wrote an <a href="http://www.freejazzblog.org/2017/12/open-letter-by-joelle-leandre-to-accuse.html">open letter</a> to Les Victoires, where she criticised the awards and asked the obvious question: “How is it possible that in the 21st-century, again and again, not a single woman is nominated?” </p>
<p>Jazz has always been about taking risks and spearheading aesthetic and social revolutions. It served as a fundamental voice against <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-an-afro-jewish-band-rocked-nazi-occupied-denmark-22456">racial and social discrimination</a> and as a crucial vehicle for promoting democracy and <a href="http://www.firstpost.com/living/watch-rajeev-raja-talks-about-his-indo-jazz-band-and-how-the-genre-is-all-inclusive-4259975.html">intercultural dialogue</a>. </p>
<p>However women in jazz – and in music generally – have been traditionally relegated to very specific roles or, in some cases, disregarded altogether. In the past they would be naturally accepted as singers or pianists. But taking the saxophone, the bass or – God forbid – the drums was clearly off limits and not suitable for them.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/3344880">The Gender-stereotyping of Musical Instruments</a>, a study conducted by Ables and Porter in 1978, showed that respondents perceived some instruments such as the drums, trombone and trumpet more often regarded in jazz bands as “masculine”. Whereas the flute and violin were seen as “feminine”.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/o6XDjh8gRGg?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
</figure>
<p>The profusion of inner circle <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jazz/comments/jof41/hey_rjazz_got_any_good_jazz_jokes_ill_start_how/">misogynistic jokes</a> within the music world, as well as the tokenistic way all-female bands in the 1930s and 1940s were <a href="http://bust.com/music/15677-no-man-s-band.html">publicised</a> only helped feed the notion that a woman playing the saxophone was something exotic and entertaining. Judy Chaikin’s 2011 documentary The Girls In The Band exposes the struggle women had to endure against objectification in jazz. </p>
<p>Pianists <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/22/arts/music/marian-mcpartland-jazz-pianist-and-npr-radio-staple-dies-at-95.html">Marian McPartland</a> and <a href="https://www.alicecoltrane.com/">Alice Coltrane</a>, saxophonist <a href="http://www.janeirabloom.com/bio.html">Jane Ira Bloom</a>, trombonist <a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/obituary-melba-liston-1089881.html">Melba Liston</a>, and bandleader <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/music/artists/3b2234ea-2169-41dc-9524-0b896fa69c4c">Carla Bley</a> are just some examples of how female musicians have come to be respected for their music, particularly since the late-1970s. </p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/201650/original/file-20180111-101495-169lisp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/201650/original/file-20180111-101495-169lisp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=859&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/201650/original/file-20180111-101495-169lisp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=859&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/201650/original/file-20180111-101495-169lisp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=859&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/201650/original/file-20180111-101495-169lisp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1079&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/201650/original/file-20180111-101495-169lisp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1079&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/201650/original/file-20180111-101495-169lisp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1079&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Jane Ira Bloom.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.janeirabloom.com/photos.html">Johnny Moreno/http://www.janeirabloom.com</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Today women take leading positions in jazz education, research and promotion. Monika Herzig, chair for the Jazz Education Network Research Interest Group (<a href="http://jazzednet.org/advancing-education/research/">JENRing</a>), or Ros Rigby, the president of the intra-European jazz promoters’ network <a href="http://www.europejazz.net/ejn-board-and-staff">Europe Jazz Network</a>, are perfect examples. And, to be fair, even Les Victoires has given awards to female artists in the past – Anne Paceo (drums) and Airelle Besson (trumpet) are among the very few. </p>
<p>But try to think of a movie (apart from the comedy Some Like it Hot) where you can find a woman playing an instrument in a jazz band. I’ll spare you from looking into 2016 (La La Land) or 2014 (Whiplash) – they’re not in there either. And that is only the visible side of a still rather male-dominated world. </p>
<p>Gender discrimination is not exclusive to the jazz world. Every year in January Revolver magazine issues their “<a href="https://www.revolvermag.com/tags/hottest-chicks-hard-rock">Hottest Chicks in Hard Rock</a>” calendar, where female musicians are depicted in sexy poses with their instruments. At a press conference in June 2016 in Australia, where she was launching her Digital exhibition, <a href="http://www.factmag.com/2016/06/01/bjork-speaks-out-against-music-industry-sexism/">Björk stated</a>:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>The fact I’m a woman and I can do what I do, it’s kind of unique, really. I’ve been really lucky. But I have been hitting walls. What’s really macho, for example, is music journalism. It’s really like a boys’ club. They like music that is… well, a lot of it is for boys. </p>
</blockquote>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/201649/original/file-20180111-101508-1nsjrgk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/201649/original/file-20180111-101508-1nsjrgk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=439&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/201649/original/file-20180111-101508-1nsjrgk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=439&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/201649/original/file-20180111-101508-1nsjrgk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=439&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/201649/original/file-20180111-101508-1nsjrgk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=551&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/201649/original/file-20180111-101508-1nsjrgk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=551&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/201649/original/file-20180111-101508-1nsjrgk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=551&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Mary Osborne, Vi Redd, Dottie Dodgion, Marian McPartland and Lynn Milano performing in New York in 1977.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/tommarcello/428863385/in/photolist-DU39i-CB7LT-9rHusm-9rEwnZ-fzf9X9-DwPEi-9rHubQ-9rEvzP-9rEvCg-9rEwrc-9rEwbD-9rEwdp-9rEweK-9rHuqf-9rHv3L-9rHtUY-9rEwSc-dQjK47-9rHuT7-9rHtTu-9rHtzC-9rEwua-9rEw34-9rEvqc-9rHuVN-9rHtuL-9rEvUM-9rHtR1-9rEvEe-9rHuE7-9rEwyF-9rEwgg-nFJeGt-9rHuyw-9rEvJ8-9rEwWg-9rHuPs-9rEvvZ-9rEwwn-9rEvVP-9rHuHw-nDHqid-9rEwvk-nFGZ5U-9rHuK7-9rEwFi-9rEwGB-9rEwzZ-9rHuuY-9rHuf1">Tom Marcello/Flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In classical music, things aren’t much different. The Vienna Philharmonic didn’t accept female musicians to permanent membership <a href="http://www.osborne-conant.org/vpo2011.htm">until 1997</a>. The <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2003/jan/10/gender.arts">harpist Anna Lelkes</a>, who had by then performed with the orchestra for 26 years, was the first to be accepted as an official member. But it would take nine more years and a passionate media campaign for any more women to be hired.</p>
<p>In 1967, George T. Simon wrote in his book <a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/Big-Bands-George-T-Simon/dp/0028724208">The Big Bands</a>: “Only God can make a tree, and only men can play good jazz.” Simon started as a drummer and was one of the most influential jazz commentators during the swing era, as associate editor and then editor-in-chief of Metronome. Women had proven him wrong way before he wrote that. But he had a voice. The voice that wrote the history of jazz, that validated who was who in the jazz world was a male voice. But that has changed.</p>
<h2>#Metoo</h2>
<p>Inspired in the <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2017/10/the-movement-of-metoo/542979/">#MeToo movement</a>, several jazz female musicians from around the world founded “<a href="http://www.wehavevoice.org">We Have Voice</a>” against sexual violence and gender discrimination in music. It’s quite interesting that the first article in their <a href="http://www.wehavevoice.org">manifesto online</a> states their “commitment to creating a culture of equity in our professional world”. Their website also features a definition of sexual harassment, useful information on assault, consent and even tips for bystanders. </p>
<p>These are clearly women who have taken a crucial stand, drawing from what was done by the pioneers before them. These are informed, educated, travelled and successful musicians who will not take it anymore. This is a new generation of women who are pointing out what is absolutely obvious today – equity is inherent to music.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/89663/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jose Dias does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
Female jazz musicians are taking a stand against entrenched sexism within the genre.
Jose Dias, Senior Lecturer in Music, Manchester Metropolitan University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/81356
2017-07-27T06:33:21Z
2017-07-27T06:33:21Z
Arundhati Roy’s new novel lays India bare, unveiling worlds within our world
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/179461/original/file-20170724-7881-1l3tyen.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Arundhati Roy, in 2010.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/people/49503077999@N01?rb=1">jeanbaptisteparis/Flickr" </a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Wearing two hats at once can be an uncomfortable fit, but it does not seem to bother the author <a href="http://www.thehindu.com/2002/03/07/stories/2002030706060100.htm">Arundhati Roy</a>, who for most of her life has <a href="http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/profsaibabas-bail-cancelled-contempt-notice-against-arundhati-roy/article8022484.ece">railed</a> against <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2008/aug/22/kashmir.india">state excesses</a> and <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gnTS9gHCZoI">corporate exploitation</a> while also <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2008/aug/22/kashmir.india">wielding the pen</a>.</p>
<p>Maybe she does not think of these two jobs as different, but rather as extensions of each other. </p>
<p>This, at least, is the impression Roy gives her readers in her latest novel, <a href="https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/305323/the-ministry-of-utmost-happiness/">The Ministry of Utmost Happiness</a> (Hamish Hamilton), which came out in early June. Two decades in the making, the book records the story of India as it transpired over those 20 years. </p>
<p>This contemporary history is told and retold by myriad voices: those of <em><a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/488683?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents">hijras</a></em>, people who identify themselves as belonging to the third gender or as transgender; of a dalit man (of the lowest castes) who pretends to be Muslim; of Kashmiris, of Indian civil servants, cold-blooded killers and puppet journalists; of <em>adivasis</em> (tribal populations) and of artists, of owls and kittens and of a dung beetle named Guih Kyom.</p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/179220/original/file-20170721-28512-3wqz0h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/179220/original/file-20170721-28512-3wqz0h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=860&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/179220/original/file-20170721-28512-3wqz0h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=860&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/179220/original/file-20170721-28512-3wqz0h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=860&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/179220/original/file-20170721-28512-3wqz0h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1081&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/179220/original/file-20170721-28512-3wqz0h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1081&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/179220/original/file-20170721-28512-3wqz0h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1081&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Roy’s second fiction work was 20 years in the making.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.amazon.com/Ministry-Utmost-Happiness-novel/dp/1524733156">Penguin/Amazon</a>, <a class="license" href="http://artlibre.org/licence/lal/en">FAL</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Locales are similarly wide-ranging. Roy takes readers from a graveyard in Old Delhi to civil war-torn Kashmir and to central Indian forests, where Maoist insurgents fight India’s army. Some of the book transpires too in the 18th-century astronomical site, <a href="https://books.google.fr/books?id=QyI6tKjRhdgC&redir_esc=y">Jantar Mantar</a>, the only place in Delhi where people are allowed to protest. </p>
<p>Those are just a few of the backdrops in this panoramic novel, which touches on the various Indian social movements that have captured global attention in recent years, from <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2011/aug/23/anna-hazare-anti-corruption-protest">the 2011 anti-corruption Anna Hazare protests</a> to the <a href="https://thewire.in/58820/the-dalit-fightback-at-una-is-indias-rosa-parks-moment/">2016 Una dalit struggle</a>. </p>
<p>Roy uses the internal contradictions of the movements and the locales to mirror her meandering plotlines, which knit all these skeins together into a kaleidoscopic larger narrative. </p>
<p>It’s an uneasy fit, and the book often feels like it is about to burst at the seams. Still, Roy somehow holds it all together, clumsily yet passionately, leaving no one and nothing out. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/179459/original/file-20170724-11666-1mltff.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/179459/original/file-20170724-11666-1mltff.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/179459/original/file-20170724-11666-1mltff.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/179459/original/file-20170724-11666-1mltff.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/179459/original/file-20170724-11666-1mltff.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/179459/original/file-20170724-11666-1mltff.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/179459/original/file-20170724-11666-1mltff.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Old Delhi is among the settings featured in The Ministry of Utmost Happiness.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c6/India_-_Delhi_old_man_-_5053.jpg">© Jorge Royan/ Wikimedia Commons</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Between a graveyard and a valley</h2>
<p>Both the margins and the marginalised speak in the Ministry of Utmost Happiness, a feat Roy has also sought to achieve with both her activism and <a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/features/arundhati-roy-the-next-novel-will-just-have-to-wait-2371609.html">her non-fiction work</a>. </p>
<p>The story follows two characters: Anjum, nee Aftab, a <em>hijra</em> who rejects the politically correct term “transgender”, and Tilo, a Delhi-based architect turned graphic designer who kidnaps a baby from Jantar Mantar. </p>
<p>Anjum’s life is a lens onto an alternate <em>duniya</em>, or world, one <a href="http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/17542863.2011.570915?src=recsys&journalCode=rccm20">where <em>hijras</em> live and learn together</a>, cloistered, following their own rules, regulations and hierarchies. </p>
<p>That changes forever when Anjum travels to Gujarat, a western Indian state that is known for its recent history of <a href="http://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt7t0nz">religious violence between Hindus and Muslims</a>, and witnesses a <a href="http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/1356788020821?journalCode=tstc20">massacre</a>. Shortly thereafter, Anjum moves to a graveyard in Old Delhi. </p>
<p>As always, Roy’s brilliance shines most in her choice of locales and the imagery they invoke. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/179219/original/file-20170721-28483-73nus0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/179219/original/file-20170721-28483-73nus0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=353&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/179219/original/file-20170721-28483-73nus0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=353&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/179219/original/file-20170721-28483-73nus0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=353&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/179219/original/file-20170721-28483-73nus0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=444&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/179219/original/file-20170721-28483-73nus0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=444&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/179219/original/file-20170721-28483-73nus0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=444&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Conflict-beset Kashmir, which Roy has covered extensively in her non-fiction work, features in her latest novel.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/kashmirglobal/5166832834">KashmirGlobal/Flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/books/97/05/25/reviews/970525.25truaxt.html?mcubz=0">The God of Small Things</a> (1997), the banks of the Meenachil River in southern Kerala served as the space of deviance for the protagonists, where Ammu and Velutha have their escapades and Estha and Rahel get up to mischief. </p>
<p>In The Ministry of Utmost Happiness, the author gives us two contrasting, contradictory settings: a graveyard that becomes a place of life and the verdant Kashmir valley, a space of death and misery.</p>
<p>Anjum starts a guesthouse in the old graveyard, with each room enclosing a grave. Holding feasts for festivals, she invites her friends over to dine regularly at the graveyard-guest house. Later, Tilo moves in permanently with the baby.</p>
<p>The reader understands this resplendent graveyard, which features not just living humans but an impressive stock of animals too, as an ode to tolerating (or, more correctly termed, to accommodating) plurality, a blunt contrast to the truth of modern-day India, with its increasing intolerance towards religious and social differences.</p>
<p>For this, for trying to etch out a semblance of hope, for showing broken things and shattered people coming together to carve out a niche of their own, Roy deserves applause. </p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"869501985493585922"}"></div></p>
<h2>Disparate and intertwined tales</h2>
<p>At times all these voices, places and problems escalate into a dissonant cacophony that leaves the reader perplexed, exhausted and grasping at the multiple threads of the plot. But the novel’s brilliance lies in how it captures subtle moments, with attention to detail and sharp compassion. </p>
<p>For instance, the <em>Ustad</em> (master) Kulsoom Bi takes Anjum and the other newly initiated <em>hijra</em> residents to a light and sound show at the Red Fort in Delhi just so they can hear the fleeting but distinct coquettish giggle of a court eunuch. She explains to them that they, the <em>hijras</em>, were not “commoners, but members of the staff of the Royal Palace in the medieval period.” </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/179453/original/file-20170724-28293-17jrr2o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/179453/original/file-20170724-28293-17jrr2o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=371&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/179453/original/file-20170724-28293-17jrr2o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=371&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/179453/original/file-20170724-28293-17jrr2o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=371&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/179453/original/file-20170724-28293-17jrr2o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=466&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/179453/original/file-20170724-28293-17jrr2o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=466&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/179453/original/file-20170724-28293-17jrr2o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=466&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Hijras, or transgender women in New Delhi’s Panscheel Park.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Hidras_of_Panscheel_Park-New_Delhi-1994-2.jpg">R D´Lucca/Wikimedia</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>These nuggets of everyday history and poetry keep readers hooked, gradually lowering us through each of the story’s many layers and offering moments of clarity in an otherwise tangled mesh.</p>
<p>Some have called Roy’s novel a “<a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2017/07/arundhati-roys-fascinating-mess/528684/">fascinating mess</a>”, but frankly when one decides to write a shattered story about all things, the narrative(s) is bound to get fuzzy. </p>
<p>The book may be difficult for those who have not been following Roy and her causes in the long years since God of Small Things. But those who get <a href="https://www.democracynow.org/2017/6/26/arundhati_roy_on_the_rising_hindu">her intellectual moorings</a> and understand her role as a voice of dissent in today’s climate of “<a href="http://press.princeton.edu/chapters/i8560.html">saffronisation</a>” – the spread of extreme-right Hindu values across India, a nation veering hazardously towards authoritarianism, know that the author and her work are one. </p>
<p>Roy’s novel, much like her role as a public intellectual, is a reminder that the world we inhabit is a composite one – a <em>duniya</em> of <em>duniyas</em> – where invisible people, their unrepresented struggles and their unacknowledged yearnings have the right to exist. </p>
<p>The Ministry of Utmost Happiness tells their story, extolling everyone’s right to be heard, even if only fleetingly, in the coquettish giggle of a court eunuch.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/81356/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Malavika Binny has received the Erasmus Mundus IBIES Fellowship from the European Union and the Junior Research Fellowship from the Union Grants Commission of India.</span></em></p>
Author and activist Arundhati Roy proves once again that she is a passionate voice of dissent in a nation that’s tilting towards authoritarianism.
Malavika Binny, Researcher, Jawaharlal Nehru University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/70390
2017-01-19T03:32:34Z
2017-01-19T03:32:34Z
Aussie rules football still has a way to go to be considered ‘feminist’
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/152467/original/image-20170111-29599-ifixfb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Establishing unique voices from various female perspectives will help create a united front on issues of specific female concern.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Dean Lewins/AAP</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>There was some unwitting irony in the commentary about the growth of women’s AFL in 2016, when Penny Cula-Reid was given credit for her contribution. Herald Sun journalist Paul Amy <a href="http://www.heraldsun.com.au/leader/localfooty/penny-culareid-picked-up-in-afl-womens-draft-13-years-after-helping-get-girls-league-set-up/news-story/9e692e5cca813aa74a53b86cc6079014">explained</a>:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>She’ll be a trailblazer in 2017 just as she was almost 15 years ago when, as a schoolgirl, she went to the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal and effectively forced AFL Victoria to create a youth girls’ competition. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>This was not a case about participation in a newly developed girls’ junior league – it was a case about the continued participation in an established junior Aussie rules league with the club Cula-Reid had played with since the age of six.</p>
<p>Cula-Reid and the other two female footballers did not win the case. At the same time, a worthwhile by-product of this loss was that it forced the creation of a youth girls’ competition. </p>
<p>In 2016 alone, there was a 56% increase in the number of female community club teams to 983, and a 19% increase in the total number of female participants. This continued a trend that <a href="http://www.afl.com.au/news/2016-11-22/womens-football-explosion-results-in-record-participation">has accelerated since 2013</a>. </p>
<p>The numbers are a little rubbery, because when you discount the 53,409 female Auskick participants (up 21% in 2015), you end up with an average of just over 332 players per community team. So a lot of female participation occurs outside formal community competitions, in school competitions and in other forms of the game such as <a href="http://afl9s.com.au/">AFL 9s</a>. </p>
<p>Regardless of this quibbling, there is no doubt there has been an explosion in female participation in football, particularly since 2013. </p>
<h2>Politics, feminism and sport</h2>
<p>Feminism is a broad church, made up of a number of different positions, all of which share a desire to improve women’s authority over their own lives. As sport remains the most evocative public demonstration of difference between the sexes, its importance to feminist politics cannot be neglected. </p>
<p>In an Australian sporting environment that has a history of <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-09-11/convery-the-matildas'-pay-dispute-could-spark-real-change/6767916">few well-paid jobs in female team sports</a>, the new league in women’s AFL, along with the Big Bash, netball and football leagues, may open up careers for women (admittedly not as well-paid) that have previously been exclusively available to men. </p>
<p>The maxim “a rising tide lifts all boats” might apply to the economics of women’s sport generally, especially if established sports continue to lose players to the <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-09-15/turf-war-in-womens-sport-would-be-great-for-female-athletes/7844516">new women’s AFL league</a>. </p>
<p>The danger is that the <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/triplej/programs/hack/should-female-afl-players-get-paid-the-same-as-men/7817118">relatively poorer wages</a> offered to women participants suggests the participants are likely, in the long term, to come from very specific social classes. Regular training, weekend games and drafting to distant clubs <a href="https://www.eurekastreet.com.au/article.aspx?aeid=49831#.WHX8YPl97IU">may necessitate</a> home relocation, sacrifice of educational and work opportunities, the need for more expensive childcare, and the loss of local support networks. Such sacrifices are more easily made by players, or parents, of independent wealth.</p>
<p>Unless some extra forms of support can be put in place at all levels of football (this may be where affirmative action is important), then other groups of women will miss out. Thus, the AFLW may end up subsidising the leisure pursuits of wealthy women.</p>
<p>At a participatory level, some local football organisations lament that they do not have the ground space and facilities to cope with the introduction of women’s AFL teams, and that local councils should do something about this. </p>
<p>But if men and boys have to play shorter games, or play or train less frequently, to allow women and girls access to playing time, then this is what equality demands.</p>
<h2>Costs of incorporation</h2>
<p>The history of Title IX in the US has shown that while coaching and administration of women’s collegiate sport was poorly paid, the labour market offered opportunities for females. <a href="https://sportslaw.uslegal.com/title-ix-and-other-womens-issues/">Title IX</a> of the US Education Amendments Act is a federal law that prohibits gender discrimination in any educational program that receives federal funding, including sports at all levels of the US educational system.</p>
<p>Once the women’s collegiate sports system became funded to (theoretically) equal levels to the male system, men entered the <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1123/ssj.8.1.47">coaching and administrative roles</a> – that is, the roles with authority – and replicated men’s sport with women participants.</p>
<p>Will this occur in the women’s AFL? It certainly <a href="https://www.eurekastreet.com.au/article.aspx?aeid=49831#.WHX8YPl97IU">looks like it could</a>.</p>
<p>Six of the eight head coaches are males, and several management positions are also going to men. It is important to note that most clubs have female coaches in development roles, so there are opportunities for careers in both areas in the longer term. But it is fraught. </p>
<p>The danger is that in this incorporation, the voices of women are lost. To flourish in the newly professionalised world of women’s AFL, will footballers like the enigmatic Mo Hope have to become something different? </p>
<p>More importantly, when voices from various female perspectives help create a united front on issues of specifically female concern, such as maternity leave and on-site childcare, without being shouted down, then we will know that Aussie rules football has become more feminist.</p>
<hr>
<p><em>This is part of a short series of articles on equality in, and access to, sport. Catch up on the others <a href="https://theconversation.com/topics/sport-access-and-equality-34779">here</a>.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/70390/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Michael Burke does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
Sport remains the most evocative public demonstration of difference between the sexes, so its importance to feminist politics cannot be neglected.
Michael Burke, Researcher, Institute for Sport, Exercise and Active Living and Senior Lecturer, College of Sport and Exercise Science, Victoria University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.