8 March: For a feminism that unites

On the occasion of International Women's Day, we will be thousands strong in the streets to remind everyone that equality remains an ongoing struggle. I share this conviction. Women's rights are never permanently secured and must be defended relentlessly. We are still far from the equality that I, like so many others, have been fighting for over so many years. This year, unfortunately, the slogan chosen for the march deeply disturbs me: “All against Arizona”. The fight for women's rights deserves better than slogans that weaken democratic culture. A government is the product of free and pluralistic elections. One can, and must, debate, criticise, contest certain decisions. That is even the heart of democracy. One can be against certain public policies, against certain reforms. But one cannot be “against” a democratically elected government as if it were illegitimate. This slogan raises another problem: it excludes a portion of women, since among Belgian female voters, many voted for the parties now in government. They can support some policies and criticise others, like any citizen in a democracy. Symbolically excluding them from a demonstration meant to defend all women is a mistake. Reducing feminism to a political camp impoverishes it. In reality, there is no “feminist” party in Belgium. But there are feminists in every party. Women, and men, who, on the left, in the centre or on the right, work to advance equality. Women's rights have always progressed through broad coalitions and commitments that transcend partisan divides. 8 March must remind us of a more tragic reality. In some regions of the world, women do not demonstrate to improve their rights but to have the right to exist. In Iran, women have been imprisoned, beaten or executed for removing their veil. In Afghanistan, women are literally erased from public life: deprived of education, work, and freedom by a codified barbarity. For them, demonstrating can lead to prison, rape or death. 8 March must be that moment of international solidarity with those who risk everything for their freedom. That is the spirit of feminism: defending women's rights everywhere, and bringing together all those who believe in it. Because equality belongs to no party. It belongs to all women.  

By Viviane Teitelbaum, Senator