On
the 24th of May Eritrea celebrates its 17th Anniversary
of independence as a nation state. The celebration symbolises the spirit of
freedom, peace as well as respect and dignity of the citizens of independent
Eritrea. Most Eritreans rightly share this day that marks the end of what they
had suffered under subjugation and the liberation struggle that brought their
suffering to an end with euphoric rejoicing. Still, as Eritrean nationals, we may not be living the identity and/or the ability to
appropriate our real aspirations and imaginations/ expectations within it on
the same trajectory. Class, religion, gender, either “home-resident” or in
the Diaspora, and many more factors, each hinder or aid us on the path to
achieving our aspirations and imaginations, either as individuals or as
sub-groups of the nation. My
proposal here is that the day should equally serve as an occasion of solemn
reflections about why and how we achieved that feat/fate but also of why and
how we need to get to another plain. Most will readily subscribe to the notion
that class and religion are indeed significant factors in how our nation is
organised, functions and will fall or rise. Fewer would subscribe to the idea
that gender is as significant or even decisive in attaining where we need to
get to. Perhaps still fewer would conduct themselves in either their personal
lives or public, even at the expense of the rise of Eritrea, to attain the
national dream of personal and national freedom, peace as well as respect and
dignity; all of them preconditions of development in the contemporary world.
For this simple, but important reason, let us reflect on this day on gender in
the development of Eritrea from a female perspective. What does this
independence mean to Eritrean women? What
has independence done for them? Even
as you know the answer to these questions in the core of your being, you could
still be justified to ask what women have in turn have done for Eritrea, in
recognition of the mutual of expectations. The answer will be self-evident in
the ensuing discussion.
After
decades of fighting, the armed struggle ended in 1991, during which thousands
of fighters as well as non-combatants lost their lives, and many were
physically maimed and traumatised. Among the survivors are women, including
ex-combatants of the independence war. If I take the case of the women
fighters as an example here, it is because their case graphically exposes the
meaning of Eritrean independence for women, perhaps more than for any
sub-group of the nation. Bernal’s study has concluded that women’s
perception of how they are treated by independent Eritrea as a state, and as
individuals in their relation with men, as a let down. “Women ex-fighters
lack resources, skills, and jobs. They feel that they are being devalued in
the new society of independent Eritrea”.
(Bernal, 2000) This
concluding position is the outcome of their daily struggle in the independent
nation to which they had risked/sacrificed their
lives. In addition, they are now being “ divorced for civilian
women”.
In other words, the admirable qualities that made them heroes of the war are
now milestones around their necks as wives or mothers. He adds,
These
heroes of the nationalist struggle are finding that the very qualities that
made them good soldiers and comrades stigmatize them as wives and potential
wives. Former women fighters are seen as having experienced independence,
sexual freedom, and equality with men. They fought side by side with men and
killed enemy men. Their morality is suspect, their femininity is doubtful, and
their ability to behave as obedient wives is questionable. Although national
liberation has been achieved, the emancipation of women is at best incomplete”
(Bernal 2000)
Male
veterans expect, demand and are rightly accorded honour and respect for their
role in the attainment of independence, while female veterans are being
punished for the same sacrifice they made. What do these varying reactions
tell us about our nation? One thing is for certain, the plight of women
ex-combatants is only the tip of the iceberg in what the nation does and
expects of women, as it is of women’s burden in the nation. We need to
briefly define some of our key concepts to be able to understand how Eritrean
women bear the burden and yet not share the privileges of being Eritrean on
the same conditions as men.
Firstly,
nationalism can exist without the presence of an established state or state
system which can be referred to as a nation state. In other words, Eritrean
nationalism might as well have predated the founding of the Eritrean state. In
this case one can even argue that it is nationalism that has led to the war
and the creation of the nation state rather than vice versa. Secondly,
nationalism is a “political principle which maintains that similarity of
culture is the basic social bond” (Gellner, 1997) - i.e. cultural
consciousness. Culture in its narrow meaning is the existence of “shared
style of expression in words, facial expression, body language, style of
clothing, preparation and consumption of food” (Gellner) ; and in its wider
meaning it can include specific ways of behaviour, social organisation,
religion to food and music, in a community of people. Eritrea is not unique or
different from most nation states of our contemporary world in its composition
– of a state made up of diverse cultures and yet justifiably asserting
nationhood. However, the dichotomy created by the presence of cultural
diversity and perceptual uniformity of the nation state challenges us to
persistently seek progression to a higher plain. One of dichotomies exposed by
the end of the war is the role of women in that war and the reality they face
today – the dichotomy our cultures expose between the input women make and
the recognition they get or the lack of it vis-à-vis men. What we have among
the Eritrean communities, both in the homeland and abroad, is an attempt to
perpetuate and sometimes transform and manipulate a “bank of acquire[d]
traits” (Gellner) called culture to the advantage of men, even when the
reality lived has dramatically changed.
Let
us take a step back into the past, to visualise the tensions between the needs
of a viable Eritrean state and the culture of male dominance. Eritrean women
have played important roles in the liberation struggle as members of the
Eritrean armed forces in the underground armed struggle. Many women suffered
imprisonment, torture and even brutal assassination by the Ethiopian regime.
They were part of the political and armed struggle in the frontline with their
male counterparts during the 30 years of war. That experience has naturally
changed the combatants and their view of life and culture, as have their male
counterparts. However, the
Eritrean society has barely changed its view /attitude of women as the result
of the heroic role they played. In some instances the changes have been
negative rather appreciative of their sacrifices. As
studies show, after independence Eritrean society expected all women,
including those ex-combatants to return to the domestic sphere. On the other
hand, many of the men who fought in the wars have become officials of the
state; the women are largely excluded from the official sphere. While this
situation certainly gives advantage to men, it is hardly a recipe for peace
and/or development. When the state perpetuates inequality of the sexes/gender
in its own conduct, usually by a subtle subscription to a stultified vision of
culture, it also perpetuates the discrimination of females in general. In a
society where the majority of the people do not recognise women’s rights
despite their contribution to the political and armed struggle, it is
difficult to consider women’s emancipation.
Nira
Yuval-Davis and Floya Anthias have analysed how nationalism, gender and
sexuality interconnect. “The nation imagined as a female body gives rise to
strong familial connotations, and it is the task of patriarchal nationalism
and male power, often represented by the government and military, to rescue
and defend, sacrifice and in the end die for her. In their resistance to a
patronising colonial power, anti-colonialist forces in general and
postcolonial nation-builders in particular seem to be especially susceptible
to invoking this gendered manner of nationalism and the image of the Nation as
woman. A
figure of a woman, often a mother, symbolizes in many cultures the spirit of
the collectivity, whether it is Mother Russia, Mother Ireland or Mother India.
In the French revolution its symbol was 'La Patrie', a figure of a woman
giving birth to a baby, and in Cyprus, a crying woman refugee on roadside
posters was the embodiment of the pain and anger of the Greek Cypriote
collectivity after the Turkish invasion. In peasant societies, the dependence
of the people on the fertility of 'Mother Earth', has no doubt contributed to
this close association between collective territory, collective identity and
womanhood”
Similarly,
the Eritrean freedom movement envisaged the country in feminine terms during
the struggle. As we see in many discussions among Eritrean groups the nation
envisaged in feminine terms, a perception not unique to Eritreans. As
in other national liberation struggles the world over, seldom has the
conception of liberation encompassed the liberation of women of the nation. In
Eritrean nationalist rhetoric the homeland is constructed as a woman/mother,
making the female as an embodiment of the resilient nation. At the same time
the process of nation-building is embodied as a male enterprise.
This construction either ignores or stultifies cultural construction
and freezes gender roles into unchanging forms. While culture can enhance
progress by adoption and adaptation, rigidity in a culture can be an obstacle
to progress.
In
my mind within the Eritrean context nationalism is treated as political rather
than a cultural phenomenon. Issues
of gender and domestic relations have not been recognized as central to the
construction of nations and nationalisms. This is due to the defining of
nation as only political construction by ignoring the cultural construction
which in its turn ignores gender analysis. However, culture is not static. It
can be reformed and redefined through a process in which some parts of society
encourage change, while others resist it. That is societies are not
homogeneous and no assumptions can be made about a compromise on cultural
values. Cultural values are continually being reinterpreted in response to new
needs and conditions. Some values have been affected or challenged by
migration. However, when it comes to women and their sexuality such changes
are slightly challenged because they are perceived as biological but not
cultural. Such symbols are potential to the notion of nationalism and
belonging/identity. The Eritrean government has formally announced that
it will fight against laws that discriminate against women.
We await the effects of this effort in the lives of women. In the
meantime because of the gap between the law and women’s real lives, the
reality on the ground is tipped against their daily lives and livelihoods.
Legal reforms are an important step in addressing the gender disparity/ but
unless and until they are enforced rigorously, so long would the dreams of
freedom and development elude us. Mindful
we must be that Eritrea cannot build a viable nation state without the
inclusion of women/. Thus the full integration of women on equal terms with
men, is not a special favour to them but a need/ a necessity for
nation-building. To achieve gender parity/equality we need to pay attention
to: a) the exclusion of cultural/excluding
cultural bases of womanhood b) nationalism
as politics/ national politics that believes on womens abilities is best
served when women are perceived as equal and independent members of the
society and masculine right because
women's abilities is best served when they are perceived of as full and
independent members of society. (Bernal 2000).
Clearly
we need to re-direct our vision from the violence-driven aspects of struggle
to the constructive aspects – the mundane taken-for-granted dimensions -
such as production of material goods, raising the coming generations with a
good sense of self and respect for others, equal value of each person, and so
on. For, when the guns finally go silent, it is these acts and values that
will sustain the nation. Thus appreciating and rewarding these aspects of
culture is what will ensure a secure and free nation.
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Comments:
It is a perfect commemorating speech raising the rights of the women, the
global issue of gender equality that still is absent in the Eritrean Society
Fesseha
Nair