Sexism & Separatism

Dissolving the Division

One of the resolutions of the Brighton Gathering was a Consensus agreement on respect for Women-only space within the EF! movement. Rowan from Oxford discusses why this is valuable.

Ecology and feminism have been recognised as intrinsically bound together, and often referred to as "eco- feminism". Eco-feminists believe that it is impossible to stop the domination of by the patriarchy without also redressing the gender imbalance. If we are to facilitate this process the most important step is to recognise that a division exists between the sexes. One way of doing this is to positively set aside separate gender space and know that it is to ultimately dissolve the division.

Nick and myself ran a workshop on the theme at the Brighton gathering as we have both been aware of sexism within EF!. Men dominating in their numbers, attitudes, expression of machismo in actions and vocally in meetings.

At the workshop some men expressed objections \ fears about women only space giving rise to aggressively expressed exclusion of men by strident separatists and the possibility of a breakdown in communication at actions. My responses to this are:

1. People should be encouraged to voice their fears\objections in a workshop forum. It is not appropriate to discuss these issues in either a women only space or during actions when feelings are running high.

2. Womens oppression is typified in the difficulties they have in expressing anger. Men who have experienced this have felt the impact of that womans rage at her own personal experiences and those of millions of women over thousands of years. I am not trying to justify, but to put these situations in context.

3. Many politically active women will not join EF! unless there is women only space. Such women have a valuable contribution to make.

4. It is necessary for men to respect women only space and trust that women are equally capable of assessing difficult situations that arise and acting accordingly. Women are also aware of the need for communication with others during actions.

Nick and myself both noticed a significant change in attitudes at the Brighton Gathering and we believe that this is a response to increased awareness of these issues.