FROM 1820 TO 2020 WHY IS BEING CONTINUED AND HOW?
A girl was born on February 15, 1820. They named her SUSAN. It is said that SUSAN BROWNELL ANTHONY learned reading at the age of 3. She lived her life with a heart full of fight for human rights and freedoms until 13 March 1906, which is all her life. She starts her first social struggle in a war against the use of alcohol. She was also one of the first pioneers of the women's suffrage movement in the USA. Between 1892-1900, she was the president of the National Woman Suffrage Association, and helped pave the way for the Nineteenth Amendment (1920) to the Constitution, giving women the right to vote.
With the protests she initiated in 1852 she took all kinds of responsibilities such as publishing magazines, writing, talking, explaining to provide women with equal pay rights, revolutionize their clothing, suffrage rights and fighting against slavery. She simply couldn’t stay silent and did not.
Anthony took a group of women to the polls in Rochester in 1872. She was arrested two weeks later and while awaiting trial she gave a series of lectures that attracted great attention. She tried to vote in the city elections again in March 1873. She was later tried and convicted of breaking election laws; but did not pay the fine. From that date on, Anthony worked to change the federal constitution to give women the right to vote, through conferences she gave throughout the country and the women's associations she chaired. Together with her close friends Stanton and Matilda Joslyn Gage, she edited and published The History of Woman Suffrage (1881-1902; Vol4., The History of the Right to Vote for Women). She founded the International Women's Council in 1888 and the International Women's Voting Rights Union in 1904. In the meetings held in London (1899) and Berlin (1904), she was praised by women from all over the world for her pioneering contributions to women's rights. After 86 years of struggle, she left this world in 1906.
114 years after this amazing life, DonaltTrump, the 45th President of the United States, announced on 19.08.2020 that he pardoned Susan B. Anthony, who fought for the right to vote for women in the 19th century and was punished for being caught voting. Excuse me?! It is very difficult to understand what the forgiveness is about. While an apology should be owed to Susan B. Antony and all of the women whose rights have been abused and disregarded, it is a very “important” issue a pardon to a woman who’s given this struggle.
When we look at the approach to the WOMEN problem on a global scale (My heart hurts even while writing this. Is there even a concept called the MALE PROBLEM?) we encounter this kind of data.
On a local scale, the debate on whether the Istanbul Convention should be implemented or not continues since my article from last month.
On the other hand, femicide continues non-stop. It has been announced by the “We Will Stop Femicide” Platform that 36 women were killed in July 2020. In the face of these catastrophic events, the authorities share their usual, almost traditional, stereotypical condemnation messages.
We need to examine the nuclear family relations as well as the ways the political authorities dealt with the issue of Women's Victimization which the bleeding wound of our society, while some people we share the planet with, travel to space, find traces life on other planets, deal with nanotechnology etc..
We have to face it! It is very nearly impossible to find a solution to the problem of "women's victimization" by ignoring the inequality in women's relations with other women in the life cycle of a human child. It starts in the nuclear family.
Mothers, Daughters, sisters, grandmothers and all kind of female in laws in the family..
How-what are the attitudes, practices, stances, relationship styles of women in the nuclear family towards women's victimization within the family?
Can the mother protect her daughter-in-law’s rights with the same sincerity as protecting her daughter's rights?
While a woman is looking out for the rights of her mother and grandmother; Can she respect the rights of her mother-in-law with the same level of sincerity?
Is the sister in law (say maybe husband’s sister) defending her rights only as a bride in a famiy or does she look out for the wife of her brother in the same way too?
Of course, valuable exceptions do not break the rule, but we often witness that these equal rights are not unconditionally provided to all women by women and there is often an excuse presented for this situation.
In such an unfair family environment, the impact it will have on children who grow up witnessing a conditional relationship is not taken into account at all. How can it be expected from the children growing up in these environments,to approach the WOMEN issue unconditionally as the future husband/boyfriend/father candidates?
Of course, there are men with the ability and mental faculties to overcome possible negative situations in the family environment using their own judgment. But the proportion of these valuable men cannot eliminate the global problem experienced in the 21st century.
The issue in question unfortunately flares up and destroys lives everywhere, in the villages-cities, metropolitan-rural areas, educated-uneducated, famous-ordinary.
First of all, if we women can question ourselves as women, and of course, if we demand our expectations and legal rights from political authorities and men, we can eliminate this problem from the shame of the present century.
How is the attitude of women in the nuclear family towards other women in practice? The upbringing of girls, unfortunately, often in need of the protection of someone like their mothers or other women in the family who can be a negative example, inadequate, insecure, incompetent against all difficult conditions of life; To marry for the sake of being married, to marry for economic prosperity, for fame, to marry a man she does not respect, to accept to live and to maintain a problematic relationship despite brute force, not being able to give up economic / social living standards ... etc.
Unfortunately, the next generation raised by mothers and women with this line of consciousness is also brought up as boys and girls who do not respect human beings or even themselves and mingle with society.
Have you ever thought that some mothers tend to share their daughters' whole lives, WHY?
Even if their daughters are single or married, some mothers are too inconsiderate and try to be a partner in their daughters lives, controlling their daughters' lives, and giving them unsolicited “advice”. Could these mothers, who are generally insecure, see their daughters as a safe haven for their personal life, almost life insurance? The fact that some of their material and spiritual needs are met by another woman, and whether they are actually aware of it or not, girls who are "exploited" sacrificed by their own family! Pity!
Someone has to say "the king is naked"!
The problem is so deep that it cannot be eliminated only by the reality of "male dominated society". The mothers and the women in the house shape the boys and girls first. After this awareness, it is necessary to confront the traditional female identity in the society, as well as the expectations of the society and also the relationship between women and women in business life. If the woman does not respect the woman, can the same woman expect respect from the man?
I congratulate all precious Mothers, Fathers, Women and Men who lead a respectable life that can be exemplary.
I wish you all lives that are not exploited and destroyed by any gender, based on fairness, worthiness, principle, art, true and sincere love, companionship of life, friendship. I hope this situation is resolved as soon as possible without creating "boy-hating girls".
SUSAN B. ANTONY, I am forever grateful for your struggle for Women's Rights. 200 years later, I celebrate you with the sorrow of the unsolved problem and the destruction of the lives of tens of women every day. May your soul be blessed. 1820-2020
FAZİLET KENDİRCİ
20 08 2020 İstanbul / Türkiye
Translation: Helin Karaca
