Ideas on Feminism Vary Depending on Culture Location

不同的文化背景对女性主义的认识也不尽相同

 

From Nairobi to Conakry, women across Africa are demanding change in attitudes towards sexual harassment, fair wages, access to land and equal opportunities for political leadership.

 

从内罗毕到科纳克里，非洲各地的妇女都在要求改变对性骚扰的态度、公平的工资、获得土地的权利以及政治领导的平等机会。

 

But they’re doing it in their own way says Gwendolyn Michael, professor of anthropology and Foreign Service at Georgetown University and author of a book on African feminism.

 

但乔治敦大学人类学和外交服务教授，同时也是一本关于非洲女权主义的书的作者格温多林·迈克尔说，他们正在用自己的方式做这件事。

 

“In the U.S. women often think feminism means I alone, determine what’s best for me. But African feminism is very much a different thing. It’s about how women interpret their interests and empowerment within the context of where they live and their cultural values.”

 

“在美国，女性通常认为女权主义意味着我一个人，决定什么对我最好。但是非洲的女权主义是完全不同的。它是关于女性如何在她们生活的地方和文化价值观的背景下诠释她们的兴趣和赋权。”

 

Feminism has historically had negative connotations on the African continent, says Xingu Rama Terra who teaches African feminist theory at Rhodes University in South Africa.

 

从历史上看，女权主义在非洲大陆具有负面含义。在南非罗兹大学教授非洲女权主义理论的辛古·拉马·特拉（Xingu Rama Terra）说。

 

“Feminism one is considered to be a title that is given to middle class people or people who are white. There’s also an attachment to feminism that feminism is anti-men and anti-African cultural systems and anti-African traditional practices so in that regard there are many women who would hesitate to be identified as feminists.”

 

“女权主义有人被认为是中产阶级或白人的称号。还有一种对女权主义的依恋，女权主义是反男性的，反非洲的文化体系，反非洲的传统习俗，所以在这方面，很多女性不愿意被认为是女权主义者。”

 

Advocating for women’s right on the basis of equality of the sexes can be intimidating for some men but American University professor Kwaku Nwamah says, “it shouldn’t be the case it starts with not being afraid of the word feminist and understanding that what’s right for our women is right for us as a society, as a continent in general.”

 

在性别平等的基础上倡导女性权利对一些男性来说可能是令人生畏的，但美国大学教授夸库·努瓦玛（Kwaku Nwamah）说，“不应该是这样的，开始于不害怕女权主义这个词并且理解什么对我们的女性是正确的，对我们整个社会，整个大陆也是正确的。”

 

He says some of the problems require a shift in cultural attitudes and those take a long time, but some countries on waiting. Rwanda for example has the largest share of seats in parliament in the world held by women.

 

他说，有些问题需要文化态度的转变，这需要很长时间，但有些国家还在等待。例如，卢旺达妇女在议会中所占的席位是世界上最多的。

 

“One nice terrific example of what public policy can do to help women. They use quarters and people say what quarters diminish the role of women. No it doesn’t. Then on the end of the spectrum you see countries like Tanzania where the government says you can go to school if you pregnant.”

 

“这是公共政策可以帮助女性的一个很好的例子。他们使用四分之一，人们说什么四分之一削弱了女性的作用。并没有。在范围的末端，你会看到像坦桑尼亚这样的国家，政府说如果你怀孕了，你可以去上学。”

 

Dr. Michael says things are evolving on the continent.“I’d say beginning about 20 years ago I began doing a lot of, having a lot of conversations with ordinary women who had been supporting various movements, for example in South African, ANC women and what was fascinating is that these women used to say I can’t talk about feminism until we deal with getting rid of apartheid. Now what we’re seeing is that these women are parliamentarians all across the country. They are trying to get land laws changed.”

 

迈克尔（Michael）博士说，非洲大陆正在发生变化。“我想说，从大约二十年前开始，我开始做很多事情，和支持各种运动的普通女性交谈，例如在南非，非洲国民大会的女性，最吸引人的是，这些女性过去常说，除非我们解决种族隔离问题，否则我不能谈论女权主义。现在我们看到的是，这些妇女是全国各地的国会议员。他们正试图修改土地法。”

 

People like Kenya’s environmental political activist Juan Gauri Mathai and South Africa’s anti-apartheid activist Winnie Mandela are seen as great feminist inspirations for material.

 

肯尼亚环境政治活动家胡安·高里·马塔伊（Juan Gauri Mathai）和南非反种族隔离活动家温妮·曼德拉（Winnie Mandela）等人被视为伟大的女权主义素材灵感来源。

 

But is being a feminist critical in the empowerment of women in General. “The simple answer for that should be would be no because many women across the decades have done work that is feminist what we would consider to be Feminists.”

 

而是作为一个女权主义者，对女性赋权提出了批评。“简单的答案应该是否定的，因为几十年来，很多女性都做过女权主义的工作，我们认为她们是女权主义者。”

 

She says the lack of the feminism label in some cases doesn’t negate the credibility of their work.

 

她说，在某些情况下，缺乏女权主义的标签并不会否定他们工作的可信度。

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