{UAH} Pojim/WBK: I’m dreaming of the day when feminism is not exceptional - Comment
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I'm dreaming of the day when feminism is not exceptional
So what do Kenyan schoolgirls and a couple of Tanzanian presidential hopefuls have in common? Nothing, except for the fact that their gender makes them "interesting," perhaps even "exceptional."
About a week ago, I was perusing some information on the performance of Kenyan girls and women in the academic sphere, where they have been outstripping their male colleagues.
This has engendered some concern about the plight of the Kenyan boy. It caused a fellow peruser of the news a bit of a meltdown as he contemplated the probable end of society as we know it, engendered by all these high-achieving women.
For if women are to take over the world, as clearly they will by getting excellent grades and joining the formal labour market at managerial levels, the institution of family will fall apart and Armageddon would surely follow. I only exaggerate slightly — he didn't actually mention Armageddon, but it was strongly implied.
As ludicrous as this conclusion may be, and as annoying, my fellow peruser was right in that there is cause for concern.
A few years ago I was told that men, African men particularly, were vulnerable. Having a tough time, and whatnot. I was sceptical, to put it mildly. And then, of all places, America came to my aid, unexpectedly and unpleasantly. My perspective was challenged by the Obama phenomenon and the unconscionable numbers of African Americans who end up at the barrel end of a police officer or deranged supremacist.
When he was voted president of the United States, some of us remained ambivalent about the statement that he was the first black man to win the position.
The long racial history of American society, like that of apartheid South Africa, has placed an emphasis on blackness that isn't necessarily genetically honest nor politically constructive, but let's roll with it for argument's sake. This poor man assumed an impossible burden of expectation to affect the immediate and continued welfare of African Americans positively.
In the twilight of his presidency I think we can admit that one man may embody a symbolic victory but a society doesn't improve that quickly. If anything, his high visibility has served to excite the worst racists and to highlight the perils that certain American citizens face from their own police force.
That Obama is exceptional is evident, his "race" has nothing to do with it other than to contextualise some of the challenges he faces and help him pull off a magnificent grin nicely offset by that lovely café-au-lait complexion…
Where was I? Right. America under a black president has pretty much proved that African Americans are nowhere near dominating the political let alone the economic spheres, yet the crazies have taken it as an excuse to feel threatened and to act to countermand that threat. Pretty crazy, but there you have it.
Race isn't a zero-sum game either but equity always costs someone something and it in that context I can understand those who choose to see doomsday's approach in the success of women.
With apologies to my Kenyan sisters who are taking their schooling system by storm, they are not actually exceptional so much as fulfilling their natural potential. That their male counterparts are falling behind is indicative of something broken in the system, since the point is to have both genders flourish in tandem.
And in so far as women's success serves to highlight the distress that men are in — a negative indicator if there ever was one — then let the issue be addressed for what it is.
As for my Tanzanian women of note running for president, about whom I so wanted to be excited, there is the issue of so-called exceptionalism.
Truth is, I am rather annoyed that I should even be excited about them outside of whatever they may have to offer as individuals. Hillary Clinton is making a run for it in America and I am not certain that the thought of a woman in the Oval Office offsets the considerations of Hillary Clinton being that woman.
I wouldn't call any of the women candidates Clintonian, but the point remains that character and ability rather than gender should be the point of excitement.
On principle, the celebration should be saved for that day when we see a 50/50 gender split between those running for head of state. And when this kind of thing becomes unremarkable, oh happy dream, I will happily retire my flaming sword of righteousness and go hunting for some other form of inequity to gripe about.
Feminism, it turns out, isn't easy since it consists of the exceptional striving for the unexceptional.
Elsie Eyakuze is an independent consultant and blogger for The Mikocheni Report, http://mikochenireport.blogspot.com. E-mail: elsieeyakuze@gmail.com
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