Guardiola 1

Jorge Guardiola

Professor Powers

English 1302-219

12 March 2023

Women’s movements around the globe

Social rights movements have progressed over the last few decades, including the women’s

suffrage movement. Starting with little to no rights women have advanced in social movements as

well as political movements. Starting numerous organizations, fighting through oppression, and

getting representation in government are some of the achievements the women’s suffrage

movement has gathered over the years. Even though progress has been made, is every country as

progressed as much as they claim, or have some countries kept their traditional ways of looking at

women’s rights? Looking at women’s rights around the world helps analyze the different statuses

women have globally by researching the different norms, rights, and representation women would

have under the government and the influence movements have socially. Furthermore, analyzing

the setbacks of these movements whether it is religious or social is crucial to insight into modern

restrictions movements can have.

Norms and Rights

Rights differ from culture to culture and more with norms considered. Research by Liv

Coleman shows that government officials in Japan had the tendency to promote the idea of “good

housewives” (3). For example, Shinzo Abe at the time of his first administration reflected on ideas

of how women should stay home and care for their children instead of acquiring jobs, yet he later
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contrasted his ideas with his second administration by trying to promote women’s status causing

confusion among groups of women. Shinzo Abe’s statements led to the effect of where “women

tapped reflected Abe's choice to maintain continuity with the family values and maternalist

priorities of his first administration” (14). Public announcements by Shinzo Abe caused arguments

between the genders causing women to lean towards the idea that women should stay with their

children until a certain age before going to get a job causing a disadvantage for the movements

being placed in Japan. This also caused an effect on the promotion of jobs as male corporates gave

privileges to other male employees for higher-ranking positions because of the idea that women

cannot handle high-ranking positions “women continue to report in surveys that they leave the

workforce because of "push" factors such as a stalled” (16).

Moreover, in Mexico and Saudi Arabia, rights are still combated to keep in constant reform

due to the social norms in these cultures. Research in Villachuato, Michoacan by Susan V. Meyers

has shown how scarce education for women is in rural Mexico. Their lack of education leads

women uneducated on the basic rights of their own bodies due to the restrictions caused by the

machismo in Mexico. Similarly to Japan women in Mexico have been oppressed by the idea of

being housewives and causing women to be tied to their roles even in the absence of men

“traditional social patterns that keep women working at home while men go out to work in the

fields” (861). Analyzing several cases Susan V. Meyers presented how several groups of women

have acted in favor of moving forward with their education and started movements to make safe

spaces for women to go and progress further in their education by increasing awareness in local

communities.

On the other hand, Saudi Arabia shows similar signs to Mexico and Japan due to some

rights being restricted on various occasions. At the uprising of the First Gulf War, women had their
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rights of handling a vehicle taken away making problems with the servicewomen and locals at the

time. Research by Kelly J. Shannon shows how absurd the restrictions at the time were with the

interview of several servicewomen and with interactions with hundreds of local women “Many

servicewomen chafed at the restrictions related to dress and transportation imposed on them by

Saudi authorities or by the US military, which aimed to show sensitivity for Saudi culture.” (560).

Foreigners were shocked to see the several restrictions that women had in dress code and when it

came to driving. Norms and mostly religion had taken place in these decisions making reporters

spread awareness of the situation that was taking place as no movements were going on during the

time. Even though these cultures are nowhere near each other they share some similarities when it

comes to restricting rights and the ideas of what women should and not do.

Representation

Representation is difficult to acquire even with the support of movements and the

community. Research by Amanda Gouws addresses the uprising and downfall of the representation

of women in government. Starting with practices and following their core aspects has helped

change their mind about challenging problems in government. Spreading awareness to get into the

government worked for the feminist groups caused of their practices and core ethics yet the

representation did not last long as the new administration oppressed women in several ways after

the movements ascended into politics and parliament up to where “the link with women’s

organisations were lost, and the focus shifted to institutional politics, law reform and a discourse

around gender rather than feminism” (16). High problems of gender were silenced in South Africa

due to the drastic loss of power and interest in women’s rights.

Additionally, in Brazil representation of women in government is still progressing through

waves of feminism. Research made by Mala Htun states that women in Brazil have high numbers
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among feminist movements and large waves to combat representation among governmental

positions to the point of working closely with officials to make changes to the law “Brazilian

feminists have also worked with state officials to pioneer some of Latin America's most advanced

legislation and innovative mechanisms to advance women's rights” (736). Like the South African

movements, the Brazilian feminists went along with government officials to add rights and benefits

to their cause. This progress was later added to the addition of police stations occupied by the

women of Brazil specializing in special cases that were “Created to facilitate the reporting,

investigation, and prosecution of cases of domestic violence and rape, these stations are largely

staffed by women police” (738). Even after these achievements from the feminist movements, the

representation they get is on the low side and it is visible due to the high participation of women

and the low portrayal when it gets to government, “Women are slightly more numerous among

senior public servants in Brazil, but their representation at the top is still massively disproportional

to women's overall participation” (734).

This pattern follows South Korea and some places in Europe like Denmark where women

have an abundance of participation in one area but progress in gaining representation is almost

impossible due to the restrictions companies or the government make. In an article made by Aie-

Rie Lee, Korea is shown to have advanced women’s legislation yet an absence in decision-making

movements is seen “Korea has been regarded as one of the most advanced Asian nations in terms

of women's legislation, despite women's extremely low representation in elected decision-making

bodies” (1206). Korean movements for women’s rights have been successful and are very similar

to Brazil and South African movements where groups of women join up with the government to

increase chances of representation “women's groups in Korea were successful after

democratization not because they operate conventional forms of institutional politics, but because
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they chose to work with the new institutions and parties” (Lee 1209). Even though success was

made by the movements of women disproportion is seen just like in Brazil as “women have been

elected to less than 0.9 percent of National Assembly seats from 1948 through 2004” (Lee 1209).

This also follows in research made by Torben Iversen where in Denmark in the business

industry women cannot work long hours due to off work duties because “working long hours today

poses a particular problem for women, given the time-consuming extra home duties that society

assigns by gender” (88). This affects promotions to higher positions even though it has been shown

to improve corporate results where “European firms with at least three women on their executive

committees outperformed their rivals both in average return on equity and operating profits” (97).

Inequalities across multiple political and corporate industries are seen across multiple countries

adding to the problem of why women have a low representation.

Religion

Religion is a subject of great conflict between societies and communitarian groups with

every change in religion a change is also made to the reactions of women’s movements towards

religion. In Mexico, the catholic church aligns itself with the government through traditions

affecting the community and, in this case, social movements made by women. Ana Amuchastegui

in her article extends to the conflict of how the church intercepts policies like abortion and sexual

health policies “the Catholic Church, and a number of PAN politicians appealed to the Supreme

Court against it” (993). The Partido Accion Nacional (PAN) being one of the biggest political

parties in Mexico relies on the church to bring out decisions against feminist groups.

Poland and Egypt are other examples of religion intercepting with movements and rights.

Malgorzata Fuszara focuses on the small participation of women as “men are increasingly coming
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to share the view that the level of women's participation in the public sphere is too small” (1059)

and the advancements of the catholic church to implement religious guidance toward the problems

with “educational and informational activities, including religious instruction, preparation for

family life, and guidance in methods of natural family planning” (1072). Meanwhile, in Egypt,

Omnia Salah breaks down the uprising women have against traditions by expressing themselves

through art. Traditions, religion, and family bring down the expression women have toward certain

perspectives; nevertheless, artists escape that cycle with art and how “They also represent an idea

of ‘woman’ and of ‘female’ emotions such as fear, anger, love and jealousy” (Salah 68). Mexico,

Poland, and Egypt similarly intercept with religion when movements of women progress in laws

and society.

Conclusion

Overall, movements across the globe tend to change depending on their cultural properties.

In some countries, religion has a bigger opinion than in other countries while the government

emerges with restrictions and low representation for movements. By making alliances with the

government and incorporating jobs in companies’ movements in the cause of women have

progressed in representation and awareness for the public while also avoiding traditions, norms,

and religion the culture can have to focus on facts and the rights of women. Progress is shown

through the usage of skills and awareness that women get socially and politically across the globe

connecting every problem for one cause.

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Works cited.

Amuchastegui, Ana, et al. “Politics, Religion and Gender Equality in Contemporary Mexico:

women’s sexuality and reproductive rights in a contested secular state” Third World

Quarterly, Vol. 31, No. 6, 2010, pp 989–1005. EBSCOhost,

DOI:10.1080/01436597.2010.502733

Coleman, Liv. “Will Japan "Lean In" to Gender Equality?” U.S.-Japan Women's Journal, No.

49, University of Hawai'i Press on behalf of International Institute of Gender and Media,

2016, pp. 3-25. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.com/stable/26401934

Fuszara, Malgorzata. “Between Feminism and the Catholic Church: The Women's Movement in

Poland” Czech Sociological Review, Vol. 41, No. 6, 2005, pp. 1057-1075. JSTOR,

https://www.jstor.org/stable/41132243

Gouws, Amanda. “Feminism in South Africa today: Have we lost the praxis?” Agenda:

Empowering Women for Gender Equity, No. 83, Feminisms today, 2010, pp. 13-23.

JSTOR, https://www.jstor.org/stable/27917331

Htun, Mala. “Puzzles of Women's Rights in Brazil.” Social Research, Vol. 69, No. 3, The Status

of Women in the Developing World, 2002, pp. 733-75. JSTOR,

https://www.jstor.org/stable/40971571

Iversen, Torben, et al. “The Dilemma of Gender Equality: How Labor Market Regulation

Divides Women by Class.” Daedalus, Vol. 149, No. 1, Women & Equality, 2020, pp. 86-

99. JSTOR, https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.2307/48563034

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Lee, Aie-Rie, et al. “The Women's Movement in South Korea.” Social Science Quarterly, Vol.

88, No. 5, Special Issue on Women in Global Society, 2007, pp. 1205-1226. JSTOR,

https://www.jstor.org/stable/42956240

Meyers, V Susan. “‘They didn’t tell me anything’: women’s literacies and resistance in rural

Mexico” Gender and Education, Vol. 23, No. 7, December 2011, 857–871. EBSCOhost,

http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/09540253.2010.549110

Salah, Omnia. “Middle Eastern women, media artists and ‘self-body image.’” Technoetic Arts: A

Journal of Speculative Research, vol. 15, no. 1, 2017, pp.61-74. EBSCOhost, Doi:

10.1386/tear.15.1.61_1

Shannon, J Kelly “‘I’m glad I’m not a Saudi woman’: the First Gulf War and US encounters with

Saudi gender relations” Cambridge Review of International Affairs, 2014 Vol. 27, No. 3,

EBSCOhost 553–573, http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/09557571.2012.678296