Boletín nº 7 Junio 2020
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And what if we did...?
Kim Paradis
Comité de solidarité internationale de la Coordination du Québec de la Marche mondiale des Femmes (CQMMF) |
In the last months, we have entered into a global crisis that has radically shaken not only our life habits, but also the world’s economic system. We are being forced to live this health crisis, each one of us within our national and personal borders. Isolated, confined, we are surviving, in our own way.
Some have continued to work from home, with solitude as their accompaniment, or with a heavy mental load; others have lost their jobs, having or not complementary incomes. Some cultivate an internal garden, and others suffer the presence of a violent spouse. Many work in the frontlines, taking care of the ill, kids, seniors, while confronting fear and facing risk. We can see that flagrant inequalities are emerging in our societies, especially among women. And we can also see that not all women are equal.
It is said that the feminist movement is a plural one; but among our diverse realities, we can draw a common line, a shared collective truth: women continue to be the most affected in this crisis. The impacts on them are enormous, and they highlight common wrongs in our production-driven era: the sexual division of labor, the devaluing of female work, the non-recognition of the informal work performed mainly by women, the family responsibilities they have to carry on their backs, etc. We are all different, experiencing the crisis according to our own reality; but we all share all these patriarchal oppressions of the world’s capitalist economy. And, what if this period of changes becomes fertile ground for denunciations and collective consciousness making?
Theecofeminist movement is a philosophical and political current born from the union of feminist and ecological thought, which denounce capitalism and patriarchy. If the environment erodes, likewise the female condition erodes. As such, if the capitalist system participates in the destruction of nature and the exhaustion of its resources, it also participates in the inequalities and oppressions experienced by women. And what if, in our reflections about “after the pandemic,” we say “enough” to the current economy? And what if we put the protection of nature and the revaluing of female work (formal and informal) at the center of our actions? And what if we recognize all the contributions offered by women daily, often for free, to the development of the economy? And what if we dare to offer alternatives of justice and solidarity to the most vulnerable?
And what if that movement is not only an opposition, but also a movement that is built? And what if our collective strength is that? The re-appropriation of the economy through the creation of a movement is not only concerned with the work linked to production, but it is also interested for everything around us, taking into consideration all of life’s aspects[1].
And what if we are already marching? Québécoise women are getting organized despite all difficulties presented by the pandemic. Our World March of Women’s five claims directly affect topics whose importance is even more visible during this planetary crisis: poverty; violence; climate justice; migrant, immigrant, and racialized women; and indigenous women. And distance won’t be impeding us from resisting and working in solidarity with the global women’s movement. Our active participation in the World March of Women is an excellent example of this!
And what if in this period of crisis, we were feministly [sic] solidarywith our plural realities and we go beyond dreams and theories to propose alternative solutions to the current economic world…?
[1]Silvia Federici, « Le féminisme d’État est au service du développement capitaliste », avril 2020
Some have continued to work from home, with solitude as their accompaniment, or with a heavy mental load; others have lost their jobs, having or not complementary incomes. Some cultivate an internal garden, and others suffer the presence of a violent spouse. Many work in the frontlines, taking care of the ill, kids, seniors, while confronting fear and facing risk. We can see that flagrant inequalities are emerging in our societies, especially among women. And we can also see that not all women are equal.
It is said that the feminist movement is a plural one; but among our diverse realities, we can draw a common line, a shared collective truth: women continue to be the most affected in this crisis. The impacts on them are enormous, and they highlight common wrongs in our production-driven era: the sexual division of labor, the devaluing of female work, the non-recognition of the informal work performed mainly by women, the family responsibilities they have to carry on their backs, etc. We are all different, experiencing the crisis according to our own reality; but we all share all these patriarchal oppressions of the world’s capitalist economy. And, what if this period of changes becomes fertile ground for denunciations and collective consciousness making?
Theecofeminist movement is a philosophical and political current born from the union of feminist and ecological thought, which denounce capitalism and patriarchy. If the environment erodes, likewise the female condition erodes. As such, if the capitalist system participates in the destruction of nature and the exhaustion of its resources, it also participates in the inequalities and oppressions experienced by women. And what if, in our reflections about “after the pandemic,” we say “enough” to the current economy? And what if we put the protection of nature and the revaluing of female work (formal and informal) at the center of our actions? And what if we recognize all the contributions offered by women daily, often for free, to the development of the economy? And what if we dare to offer alternatives of justice and solidarity to the most vulnerable?
And what if that movement is not only an opposition, but also a movement that is built? And what if our collective strength is that? The re-appropriation of the economy through the creation of a movement is not only concerned with the work linked to production, but it is also interested for everything around us, taking into consideration all of life’s aspects[1].
And what if we are already marching? Québécoise women are getting organized despite all difficulties presented by the pandemic. Our World March of Women’s five claims directly affect topics whose importance is even more visible during this planetary crisis: poverty; violence; climate justice; migrant, immigrant, and racialized women; and indigenous women. And distance won’t be impeding us from resisting and working in solidarity with the global women’s movement. Our active participation in the World March of Women is an excellent example of this!
And what if in this period of crisis, we were feministly [sic] solidarywith our plural realities and we go beyond dreams and theories to propose alternative solutions to the current economic world…?
[1]Silvia Federici, « Le féminisme d’État est au service du développement capitaliste », avril 2020
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