8 March – Women and the People’s Revolution

Can the world be made safe for the ‘subversive’ feminine values?  The Italian sociologist Eleonora Masini, with whom I worked in 1977 in Hiroshima on the life histories of those who survived the atomic bombing, has  an optimistic view of the  capacity of women to be agents of change toward a more just and humane world.  “Women are capable of sensing the seeds of change which need not only rational capacities but intuitive capacities.  This intuition has not been developed by centuries of searching for better productivity, more profit, hence more consumption, which is what men do. Women instead have capacities that are of help in capturing seeds of change that are still alive such as:

a)      capacity to grasp the wholeness of a situation other than the details, such as the feeling ill or well of a family:

b)      capacity to act rapidly after rapidly grasping whole situations, such as stopping a child from falling out of a window;

c)      capacity to change from one interest to others almost at the same time, ironing, reading, watching the child at play;

d)      capacity to sacrifice herself for the good of others.  This capacity has very often been ill used.

All such capacities make a better audience for the seeds of change and better creators of vision. In the long term, the future is one of more solidarity among people, rather than hunger; one of love and understanding rather than one where the atomic bomb is present; one of peaceful living in big towns, rather than one of violence which the children experience every day.”

See Also

Sustainability, Deep Ecology, & the Sacred

A test for women as agents of change toward a more just and humane world is presenting itself in the Arab-Islamic world.  The People’s Revolution which began in Tunisia followed by Egypt has now spread throughout North Africa, the Middle East and Iran.  The waves of the People’s Revolution are having an impact throughout the world.  It is being watched with hope by many and with fear by those who have interests in the status quo.

On this International Day of Women, we must ask a crucial question: How does political conflict degenerate into mass violence, generating new crises and new forms of violent conflict in the future?  How does a community pull itself out from a cycle of violence and set up sustainable ways of living in which different categories of people may be encouraged to contribute to the process?

Women, individually and in groups, have played a critical role in the struggle for justice and peace in all societies.  However, when real negotiations on the future of a society begin, women are often relegated to the sidelines. Therefore, there is a need to organize so that women are at the negotiating table to present their ingenuity, patience and determination. Solidarity and organization are crucial elements.  8 March 2011 is a reminder of the steps taken over a 100 years and the distance yet to be covered.