What’s wrong with fighting for women’s rights?

I am simply astounded by the public comments made by Dame Joan Sawyer, a woman of great privilege, for showing such disrespect for the women and men in the Bahamas who fought over the years to advance the cause of gender equality, an issue she calls “a waste of time”. It is the persistent advocacy of men and women firmly believing in this human rights and social justice principle that is responsible for her ability to enjoy a privileged position today. And it is simply incredible that a woman of her stature could display such wilful ignorance and have the audacity to brag about it to the media. And by ignorance I am referring to her admission that she has not even read the bills; is uneducated about them and yet feels righteous in declaring them a waste of time.

This referendum does not represent the revolution by any stretch of the imagination but to call it a “waste of time” is to diminish our history of civil rights progress, which has been defined over the years by evolutionary steps. Political change in The Bahamas has always come little by little, with Bahamians grasping hold of small victories one at a time. The victories over the years to advance gender equality in the Bahamas have been notable. However, there is still much work to be done and in this world, power concedes nothing without a demand.  

This is an important nation building opportunity and should be seen as one small step on the evolutionary road of civil rights. Law has a normative effect on society. And a constitutional referendum is the only mechanism in which the Bahamian people are in the driver’s seat with setting the law. Far from being a waste of time, it is one of the most significant opportunities Bahamians have to express and entrench their collective values, one way or another.

Is Dame Sawyer suggesting that gender equality and women’s rights are sham causes? Clearly in her privileged position, Dame Sawyer is blind to a system that still has structural inequalities. Clearly she has never heard about the Bahamas’ record breaking feats when it comes to sexual violence and the direct relationship between inequality and violence. She may have never suffered from sexual harassment in the workplace or street harassment, but I can assure her, many Bahamian women have, and do daily. Many women also find that gender bias creates an unlevel playing field when it comes to politics, business, social welfare and security. Our bodies are policed with bogus dress codes; when applying for jobs, our privacy is infringed with gender biased interview questions and we have unequal rights to passing citizenship to our children and husbands.

I take great exception to her dismissal of the entire gender equality movement when she herself is a beneficiary of the progress that has been achieved. How forgetful we can be sometimes. Her statements suggest to me a satisfaction with being an accessory. Personally, I could not be satisfied with anything less to than full citizenship. I want that for myself and for every other Bahamian.

Some people live by a horrible code that says, once I straight, to hell with everyone else. What should I care? Well that’s not the type of Bahamas I want to live in. I believe we should take care of the least of us. These bills create a second class of citizenship that affects all of us. So whether Dame Sawyer plans to vote yes or no, why would she advocate for people not to care.

And for her to suggest that this process hasn’t involved much thought is a disrespect to the Constitutional Commission that spent years producing the initial constitutional review; the advocates who worked tirelessly to educate the public on these issues in 2012; the members of parliament in both the upper and lower houses who voted nearly unanimously to support the bipartisan bills this year; and the vote yes and vote not advocates, who continue to work tireless to think about the bills and educate the public. All of this is even more incredulous knowing that Dame Sawyer herself has not been doing much thinking, as she admittedly has not looked at the bills.

After her comments I had to ask myself: What’s wrong with fighting for gender equality, for women’s rights? The answer was of course an emphatic and unapologetic, nothing. To the contrary, everything is right about fighting for women’s rights, about fighting for gender equality. It is a part of our rich tradition of civil rights advocacy. And I am heartened to know that the efforts of our foremothers and fathers in this respect are responsible for Dame Sawyer’s voice even being considered relevant.

Sincerely,

Noelle Nicolls

Activist, Journalist, Entrepreneur