Agenda of the Young Feminist: Rediscover, Redefine and Reclaim Feminism
(Presented at the AP-NGO Forum on Beijing+15, Feminisms through Generations Part II, 22 October 2009 by Shuchi Karim)

Let me start with a declaration: I AM A FEMINIST. Unlike many women, successful and well-intentioned, who, not only shy away from the label, but also would probably not even touch it with a bargepole- I, happily and proudly embrace it. I am, what I term as an ‘openly, outed feminist’. And trust me, it is perhaps, much more difficult an identity to live with than ever before!

Feminist in a new era: Like DAWN says, there must be a need for alternative version of feminism, for women of this new era! Though one must contest the phrasing of “young women” or “next generation women!” “Who is young?” “Younger than who?” (Feminists from 60s and 70s?); or even better, within the brand of “new generation” there are multi-layers of mini generations and each one is as different from each other as chalk and cheese. Even within the all-encompassing new generation feminist brand, are we all that different from the “older generation?”  Are my feminist issues in 2009 very different from yours? Or am I just the old feminist essence packed in a shiny, glamorized, globalised wrapper?

But first, let us try to define who is a feminist in today’s world.  Isn’t the aspiration of a feminist at any given era to strive for empowerment – to be able to live up to my own full potential? To have the ability to live an independent life that is respectfully accepted by others?

Let me give an example of what ’empowerment’ means to ‘much’ younger women of today. Based on our recent interaction with some young university women leaders, the answers were highly educated, professional, rich, family-oriented, God-fearing, someone who can balance between home and work, good communicator (but who does not speak much), who makes careful decisions, good-looking and well-dressed, multilingual (in some cases), etc.

Who is this woman? Who is she? Where does she live? She appeared to be this mega-successful, modern, urban woman, who is palatable to everyone, pleasing all gender norms but in a more glossy-glamorized way – obviously a product of media invention, an image that most young women strive to become, and find disappointment in executing it to the tee.

As much as we were disappointed with the answers, we could not but acknowledge that the next generation woman is, after all, a consumerist, media-obsessed, urban-cosmopolitan-self, for whom the world of poverty, global politics, rural realities, struggle of mainstream/ordinary everyday women from any other socio-economic class does not exist (beyond the newspaper or TV reports).

We have created our own marginalized groups, people who must live on the periphery of this epicenter of comfort and privileges. We are more racist than ever before, more hetero-normative than our predecessor and more fundamentalist than we appear to be. We tend to mainstream everything, with a vengeance.

Today’s Feminism and aspiring feminists are elitists. The whole question of class, race and sexuality still remains relevant but a struggle to feature in urban feminism.

Mainstream feminism is still educated, urban, elite, rich, beautiful, intellectual and straight – and most of us still look for fulfillment in marriage and children, in social acceptability.

-We don’t have alternatives, because we don’t look for it, because it is too risky, more than ever before;

-We don’t have a BIG Broader common battle/cause/challenge to fight or face.

-We don’t have the edge, because we have our carefully crafted comfort zones, resulted from previous generations’ struggles and fights.

But is it a BAD thing then that we look aimless-shameless in our individualism, our personal struggles taking priority over the common one? Are we failing to see the bigger picture, as such?

The answer lies in a bitter-sweet, often contradictory introspection of ourselves. The truth lies in the fact that we are situated and positioned in a highly competitive, consumerist social structure, and we are kind of born with obsession/self-possessiveness and individualistic focus of life.

Our generations change in every 5 years, with each having its own value systems and norms –creating gaps between the intra-generations that are difficult to bridge.

We do not endorse ‘sisterhood’ as such, it sounds so yesterday to many, rather, we bond as ‘peers/friends’, different from each other, in a transnational reality of life- feminism that is based on friendship with a common thread of understanding and acceptance.

There are very few feminists, and even fewer in the making.

None of us, for that matter became feminists because we witnessed great movements or causes, or even waves—we have evolved as feminist.

We have evolved as feminists because of our small, everyday struggles against certain norms and barriers (both old and new) that threatened to curb our growth and individual aspirations.  Many of us became aware of the surroundings, or of the bigger picture, because we happened to meet great feminist mentors, and worked in places that opened the world as well as our own backyard to us—our feminist identities are rediscovered by us; we chanced upon this ‘ism’; we learned to redefine feminism as we progressed in life; and finally, we have come to ‘reclaim’ an identity, an ideology called feminism that often gets a bad name.

Being a feminist is a lonely journey, a tough one- personally and socially. It makes you look odd in our own surrounding, you are often the target of joke and sarcastic humiliation, an intimidating personality who relentlessly says things that are right, whether someone listens to her or not!

But what is the pull of feminism after all? Unlike other identities or isms, a feminist remains a feminist all her life, with a great attitude and a changed vision- elements that are central to empowerment.

So, today’s feminist agenda, for me, is to help younger women rediscover, redefine and reclaim herself, through the feminist framework.

As the popular ad goes, ‘try feminism, because you are worth it!’

* Both Shuchi Karim and Anupama Sekhar are graduates of the DAWN Regional Training Institute (RTI) for South and Southeast Asian in 2007. Anu is a Project Executive at the Asia-Europe Foundation and Shuchi a full-time PhD student at the Institute of Social Studies in the Netherlands.  Other speakers included Emee Lei Albano (UN Population Fund – Philippines), Satsuki Murase (University of Sacred Heart Japan) and Eriko Tanno (Japan Women’s Watch).