I begin with a quote from Manifesta: Young Women, Feminism, and the Future by Jennifer Baumgardner and Amy Richards (Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 2000).

Those who label us ‘hooligans’ have very little understanding of feminism nor of the history and culture of civil society nor indeed of how democratic institutions work. They have (which is a lot of women) grown up with the social mandate that says “be nice”. History has taught us that being nice got us nowhere.

Another confusion is with regard to AWARE as a women’s organization. What is AWARE? Is it a welfare organization? Is it a social club?

It is both. But AWARE is more than that. AWARE’s founding members realized that AWARE needed to go beyond maintaining the status quo if women’s aspiration to be treated as equals to the men were ever to be achieved.

AWARE, then, set out to follow the feminist ideology and mode of action. It became a movement for social, political, and economic equality of men and women. Equality, in these terms, is a balance between the male and female with the intention of liberating the individual.

Feminism’s goals are social and political change. This means one must be engaged with the government and law, as well as social practices and beliefs. And implicit to these goals is access to sufficient information to enable women to make responsible choices.

Take for example one issue that AWARE pioneered and feminist organization the world over) and promoted – domestic violence. Until feminism, there was no word for battered women or domestic violence, no legal protection and no shelter system. AWARE needed to raise consciousness of the public, policy-makers and the victims to succeed in raising the issue as a serious concern and lobby for laws to garner mainstream support and provide victims with support.

But unfortunately when the concern becomes mainstream, as it has in Singapore, the resulting social programs are reduced to treating the symptoms rather than curing-or preventing-the disease. This is the mode of action of welfare organizations.

In order to have a robust movement, domestic violence and economic development need to be re-identified as feminist issues and victories.

Take all the concerns that AWARE has pioneered and promoted – citizenship rights, equal medical benefits, one-third quota in the medical faculty and others – have all since become mainstream issues.

Another case in point is sexual harassment. This was again not recognized nor acknowledged till AWARE did the survey two years ago. The feminist mode of action for AWARE would be to lobby for laws against sexual harassment, public policies and protocol to deal with harassment in the workplace, trainings for implementation of these laws, and process to help women through the process.

Feminism requires action and responsibility for oneself. A feminist organization such as AWARE is required to work for political and social change; campaign for laws and policies that support individuals toward equality; provide individuals with the knowledge, skills and power to make their own choices and respect each other as equals.

This is why AWARE can never ‘be nice’. If it becomes ‘nice’ it would have failed in its mandate.

Constance Singam
July 8 2009

Related:

• July 11, 2009 -- Rawkin’
• June 5, 2009 -- They’re Coming to Get You
• June 1, 2009 -- How ST covered the story
• May 28, 2009 -- Sin Boon Ann: AWARE & Failure of the Media
• May 28, 2009 -- Koo Tsai Kee: Tolerance & Diversity