Feminism needs to embrace the political right

FEMINISM isn’t a club that should only be open to certain women of the correct political leanings, writes Alana Schetzer. It should be for all women.

Where was the feminist celebration when Britain elected leader of the Conservative Party Theresa May as their Prime Minister? (Pic: AFP)

THE definition of feminism is straightforward — to advocate for the social, economic and political equality of the sexes.

While politics is a significant part of feminism, the act of feminism itself is not meant to align to any one side or ideology of politics. But given that we live in a political world, feminism has found a much more comfortable world in the Left than the Right, the latter of which often refuses to acknowledge that women have been systematically and deliberately discriminated against for eons.

It would be easy to then claim that feminism is an exercise of the Left, as it is mostly Left-identifying people who actively promote feminism. But feminism works on behalf of all

women, even those who don’t believe in it.

It’s true that women on the conservative side of politics tend to go out of their way to denounce feminism and claim that they’ve never experienced sexism. As a feminist myself — and for anyone with a basic grasp of gender throughout history — it’s an incredibly frustrating thing to hear.

These women are traditionally from conservative political bases, women like Foreign Affairs Minister Julie Bishop, who has proudly said that not only is she not a feminist, but that it’s “not a term that I find particularly useful these days”.

She said at the same event, ironically, the launch of advocacy group Women in Media, that she would never “blame the fact that I’m a woman” if she didn’t get a promotion or certain job.

Foreign Minister Julie Bishop says she’s not a feminist. (Pic: Kym Smith)

Fellow federal Liberal MP Fiona Scott seconded Bishop’s words, saying that although she believed in equality, “at no point in my career have I felt either falsely advantaged or disadvantaged by my gender”.

It would be easy to ignore women like Bishop and Scott — or belittle their stance as being hypocritical and foolish — but feminism needs to embrace the conservative side of politics, even if it makes for uncomfortable bedfellows.

Feminism, and feminists, cannot claim to represent the interest of all women when it cherrypicks which women it is going to support.

There was no great feminist celebration when Theresa May became only the second woman to become prime minister of Britain, nor was there any particular acknowledgment when Gladys Berejiklian was elevated to the role of New South Wales premier, back in January.

This wasn’t because the elevation of women to the top roles has become a novelty — it’s still sadly far too rare — but because these women come from the conservative side of politics, and they weren’t considered the “right” type of women to congratulate.

The silence that met May’s and Berejiklian’s accomplishments reflects badly on feminism and only furthers the rift between itself and the political Right.

It’s true that the political Left has been much quicker to acknowledge the need to work consciously on issues including the gender pay gap, maternity leave, reproductive rights, which is why feminism and the Left are more naturally aligned.

The older I get the more tiresome I find the argument only Liberal women get there on merit. Women hold 13 per cent of government seats. 1/2

— Samantha Maiden (@samanthamaiden) August 29, 2017

Unless you are a card carrying male supremacist you are a muppet if you think only 13 per cent of women in the LIberal Party are meritorious

— Samantha Maiden (@samanthamaiden) August 29, 2017

The federal Labor Party introduced the 40 per cent rule in the 1990s, which meant that it would aim for 40 per cent of its elected representatives to be women. The party is now aiming to increase that to 50 per cent.

Meanwhile, on the Right, former prime minister Tony Abbott infamously had just one woman in his first cabinet and appointed himself as Minister for Women. His successor, Malcolm Turnbull, has done only a little bit better, with five women in his government’s most senior roles.

It’s for these reasons that the conservative side of politics urgently needs feminism, after its failed experiment sticking to the so-called “merit” rule, which has clearly illustrated that merit really has little to do with who gets preselected and chosen for plum roles on the front bench.

Feminism is not a club that should only be open to certain women of certain political leanings. At the same time, conservative women who have worked to undermine the very benefits that feminism has afforded them also need to rethink their current approach.

Feminism means supporting women to carve out an equal place among men in political, economic and social spaces, even the women that we may not necessarily agree with.

Call it what you want — feminism, gender equality or something else — but if we concern ourselves more with achieving true social, political and economic equality of women and men — then it doesn’t matter what we call it.

But what does matter is that we have a strong, diverse team fighting for it, everyday.

Originally published as Feminism needs to embrace the political right