Understanding Western Feminism Vs Feminism in developing countries

By Jiya Bharti

Feminism is defined simply as ‘equality for the genders’, however, the constant evolution of feminism throughout history has shown that the word holds different definitions in different periods and places, fostering a plurality of perspectives. Women globally all fight the gender inequality norms, which have been conditioned throughout the different societies which have been garnered, although, this does not mean that the inequality and oppression they all face worldwide are the same, additionally the question arises, in a world where we have advanced to globalisation through the internet and travel, are women still united by oppression or now instead by strength? This is relevant to understanding the difference between the unity of western feminism vs feminism in developing countries. Despite, the fight against patriarchy and oppression, the experiences and oppression faced by women in developing countries could be highly invalidated if compared to those in the west, as they both have goals of achieving equality but at different levels.

The effects of colonisation on feminism in developing countries

The Europeans started to settle into Africa in the 15th century, initiating a trade in goods such as gold, ivory, and slaves. However, the colonisation of Africa was only established in the 19th century in a conference that took place in Berlin 1884–1885, the continent was fractioned to be influenced by Britain, France, Germany, Belgium, and Portugal. Despite, the advancements of colonisation in many developing countries, African women were oppressed by men of their land and foreign land, while many of them capitalised on African women’s labour which has been the root of many detrimental societal and political issues oppressing women in these countries. [1]Even in the legal sphere women were disadvantaged as ‘customary’ laws were established based on male ideals and testimony that provided them with advantage even more so for elite men, which were based around divorce and marriage and this precolonial activity was ignored and, in some ways, reinforced by colonisers. However, in the current somewhat ‘woke’ society we live in, there is the ongoing ‘decolonisation’ of Africa, which refers to changing roles that were highlighted in colonial African societies. [2]A form of this is the emergence of a shift of focus on a ‘informal economy’ in which the goal is understanding patterns and issues which were neglected ‘forms of revenue generation that had been ongoing in different African countries that had displayed the significance of female in entrepreneurship, in most West African societies.

In addition to this, there is the British colonisation of India, the effects of this have had a destructive effect on the women in India. Women face the impact of colonisation through targeted oppression such as through the view of male supremacy, female cultural traditions, colourism of women, and the caste system. However, this is a dilemma for South Asian women in general, through the shared oppression faced, many of the struggles in developing countries in South Asia are the same. A harmful ongoing battle that many South Asian women face is the one with colourism, which is heavily rooted in colonialism. There is the trope of light-skinned superiority which was embedded through the maintained propaganda of the British, white superiority, since then colourism has been [3]linked in perpetuating women’s oppression. Some examples of this are, the glorification of fair skin in the South Asian media, a large industry with a complicated relationship with dark skin is ‘Bollywood’. This is evidently shown with their endorsement of actors and actresses advertising skin-lightening creams, a well-known celebrity advertising these creams was Priyanka Chopra, who even won the title of Miss World in 2000. Even in the Bollywood industry itself, actors and actresses who are seen as desirable are fair-skinned, and there is extreme discrimination, this is seen with a well-established actress ‘Deepika Padukone’ who faced discrimination for her ‘dark and musky complexion’, despite her skin colour being a very light shade of brown.

Further, skin-lightening is a multibillion-dollar industry, which has now been acknowledged by many activist groups and young people.

Western Feminism positively influencing developing countries

A clear indicator of a positive future of the feminist wave in developing countries is being seen through current western feminist movements. Fair and Lovely is India’s bestselling skin lighting cream and it has the largest annual revenue in the skin lightening industry at about 24bn rupees which adequate to £256m. However, Hindustan Unilever the company that owns the controversial brand, Fair and Lovely had announced on the 2nd of July 2020, that they were renaming their brand to ‘Glow and Lovely’ claiming to be more inclusive to positive beauty, this occurred due to the public outcry of many on social media. Social media has been a huge target by western feminism, there are many pages dedicated to public awareness of gender inequality, oppression and these pages sometimes tend to cause large-scale movements, as recently occurred in the case of the murder of Sarah Everard. Her death took storm on social media and caused a large-scale feminist movement identifying the ongoing battle with male violence and sexual harassment. In the case of the 2012 Delhi gang rape and murder of [4]Jyoti Singh, a 23-year-old female, her death could be classified as the making of an international feminist cause. The brutality of her rape and murder was exposed on worldwide media, there were dedications and protests in regard to her death not only just in India but in England, America, and Canada. The exposure of her death on western media may have been one of the triggers to India understanding the severity of women’s sexual abuse in India, which has still had an effect and will continue too in the far future, this reflects the impact of western feminism on developing countries.

A similar movement that had an immense impact on the future of feminism worldwide was the #metoo movement, which started in America, it was founded by Tarana Burke, an African American Activist, this movement brought exposure to sexual assault and abuse worldwide and it virally spanned through social media. This movement would be labelled under western feminism; however, it had a vast positive impact on developing countries as well, many people in India made use of this international movement and exposed the sexual harassment which occurred in the workplaces, the media, and the Bollywood industry, which was not seen as a prominent issue due to the suppression of it by the Indian media. This is an important indicator of the direction that feminism will take over the next 10 years, based on evidence such as western feminism’s correlation with social media and its impact on feminism in developing countries, it is evident that many young people who will grow up on these apps and use them as a source of information will become more educated on the oppression that women face in these countries and use their platforms to create a difference.

Another contributing factor is a trope online, called ‘cancel culture’, where many influential individuals will be ‘cancelled’ in turn meaning their careers ruined or online harassment if their actions are sexist, racist, homophobic or in a way cause harm to a disadvantaged group in society. This has led to many western feminists taking action and cancelling celebrities or influencers who have been sexist. Under the label of western feminism, the large majority would be white women, however, there are women of colour who would also be put under this label, therefore, many women of colour tend to use their platforms or privileges to educate many, to help the struggles of women in their ethnic countries.

Additionally, a recent significant win for females not just in the UK but worldwide is the exemption of tampon tax which started January 1, 2020. This has a positive impact globally because we live in such a globalised and connected society currently and so it creates a foundation and influences other countries that this should become a norm. It can be argued that tampon tax is unconstitutional and a form of discrimination towards females which is clearly seen in the United States, [5]”Thirty-six states impose a sales tax on menstrual hygiene products, while products like spermicidal condoms and erectile dysfunction medications are tax-free”, this does show that even feminism in the west is far from equal, however, western feminists use this to their advantage by establishing that tampon tax is wrong and educating the wider public of this, this has created many petitions and has influenced Governments, a prime example being in Malaysia, where [6]tampon tax which was originally 6% tax on sanitary products, however, due to the pressure of many Malaysians, the GTS reappealed for tax removal and replaced by SST and they are no longer taxed since 2018. It can be argued that India was influenced by this as, in 2018 India removed its 12% tax on sanitary napkins which was because of the new GST regime. In addition, Scotland was the first county to provide free sanitary product, after the passing the [7]Period Products (Free Provision) (Scotland) Act 2021, which will influence the future and it can be predicted that in ten years from now, many developing countries will be exempt from tampon tax and may even have some free sanitary products, however, this would be with restrictions due to expenses and large-scale pollution in many of those countries.

Negative Influence of Western Feminism on developing countries

A large portion of feminists in the West are liberal feminists or socialist feminists, this is because many of the ongoing issues based around middle-class white women and their issues tend to focus on equal pay and sexual assault, which are both significantly valid and salient issues. However, in developing countries, feminism there has a different perspective due to their perspective of salient issues. For example, in [8]Great Britain according to a statistic provided by Ipsos in which it was revealed that in 2019, the biggest issue facing women was equal pay, 29% of women responded that this was the most important issue to them personally. However, in a developing country such as India, larger issues for women would be child marriage, as statistics show that 1 in 4 women under the age of 18 are married, further, 1 in 3 of the world's population of child brides reside in India. This shows a clear distinction between the perspective of feminism in the west V developing countries, which is an argument by many difference feminists. Even though it is evident that Western feminism has a large impact on developing countries, as seen through westernisation over the last few centuries, it will continue to over the next 10 years. However, this can negatively impact these developing countries, an argument to support this is one of the western perspectives for why developing countries are ‘oppressed’ is because of their ‘backward cultures’. Further, a lot of western feminists treat the west as lands that have achieved equality or in some way they develop a superiority complex over developing countries and a saviour complex.

There is the argument, which was made by a well-established western feminist, [9]Hillary Clinton, and in her 1995 UN speech, she referenced how rape is a ‘tool for war’, but she ignores American soldiers’ tendency for sexual violence in foreign countries they situate in. This shows that many western feminists, tend to overturn important issues for the benefit of their own land, which is why developing countries may be negatively influenced by this form of feminism in the future.

Additionally, a struggle for many women in developing countries is religious or cultural oppression, which is as significant as an issue in the west due to most Governments holding a form of secularity. In Saudi Arabia, women were only permitted to drive cars in 2018, which is very recent, growing up in the west and seeing this restriction was infuriating. However, this is where cultural oppression can delve in, in a way which western feminists may not be able to understand. Saudi Arabia is a country that does not promote secularity and is under a Islamic government, therefore it is unlikely that western feminism will affect this country as much in the future. Further, in September 2011, a woman in Saudi Arabia was sentenced to ten lashes for driving a car, which is seen as violence from the state in the west and would not be permitted in the UK, America or many western countries, which shows the difference in the oppression they face, which would not be just from society but from the state. Women are not just discriminated against by men in general society, but they are [10]legally discriminated against and everything is constituted, the segregation of men and women is seen as a necessary law. Nevertheless, there are feminist movements, and the education of women has shifted dramatically over the last 50 years, but in turn, this also shows the slow progress being made. This means that particular countries, will not be that influenced to a higher extent by western feminism in the next 10 years, this is because many countries still follow religious law and western feminism will not be able to overcome that.

So what will feminism look like in developing countries in the next 10 years?

To conclude, women in the west, have very different life experiences to those in developing countries, additionally, they will both hold many different viewpoints, and their focus on issues cannot be used, as women in developing countries struggle from issues that women in the west do not face. Looking at the past and colonialism, it is evident that it affected females negatively, this is where decolonisation is introduced as a form of societal change which is

currently ongoing. Despite, many developing countries being free of colonisation, the root of propaganda has been integrated into these societies and therefore is still currently being reversed.

Many developing countries are greatly affected by the west and therefore they will start to inhabit a lot of western feminist views. Even so, they will be behind western feminism due to their drawbacks in many other sectors, however, they will develop quickly to adopt these ideals as already has been seen through many feminist movements in developing countries. The effects of social media have played a large role, as women in these countries can gain access to more knowledge and adopt change. There is also the notion of strength between the western feminists and feminists in developing countries due to the shared oppression faced, which will continue to be garnered over the next 10 years as seen through well-known social media apps, like Twitter and TikTok. It is the belief that there is now a developing anti-male notion in western feminism which has arisen, this is very prominent on social media and is even being used in the media and fashion industry. This will continue to grow over the next 10 years and influence many developing countries, additionally, this may promote female solidarity.

However, feminism in developing countries with religious authorities, may not be affected by western feminism to a higher extent. Looking at current feminism it is evident, that many of the new generations are educated on the significance of equality, they have been educated through the internet and media encouraged movements, and these young people will adopt this mindset of gender equality and understand the patriarchal society, their feminism in 10 years will be much more prominent in the west and even so in developing countries, just not to the extent as in the west.

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