Language and Other Contextual Politics of Patriarchy

Recently, a video of a young woman being harassed by policemen at a check point at dead the night while commuting through Dhaka city went viral in social media. In that video, the lawmen were seen hurling abusive and derogatory comments to the woman, because of her gender and choice of time for movement. Nasir Uz Zaman analyses the politics of language in the context of a patriarchal society. 

OUR identities are multi-layered. Sometimes or most of the times our gender and sexuality could be focused through the use of explicitly gendered terms. As example, the recent incident of a young woman being harassed by male cops is a representation of patriarchy which presents how male act, talk and think about female in patriarchal system. There is no option to bypass the linguistic as well as contextual problems of patriarchal society which is an integral part of the cultural, political and economic system — weather the system is a modern industrial society or feudal in nature.

Women organised a protest event against recent harassment of a young woman at night. Shahbagh, Dhaka, November 1, 2018  — Jibon Ahmed

The synopsis of the incident of 23 October around 2.30am at a Ramupra police checkpoint was that on the pretext of checking a woman’s handbag, male law enforcers stopped an auto-rickshaw in which the victim was travelling alone. During the incident the male cops were flashing torchlight on her face and speaking in derogatory terms, while she repeatedly requested not to flash the torch on her face but on her bag, asking them repeatedly to check her handbag if they wished. However, the male cops on duty continued to rebuke her for travelling alone at night. In the video clip, recorded and uploaded on social media by police, we found the male cops saying, ‘you are not bisshosundori (miss world)’, ‘why you talk so much? Shameless woman’, ‘what time is it now? 2.30 at night. A girl from a family of repute doesn’t stay outside at these hours’, ‘she is completely addicted’, ‘leave her on the road side where she belongs’.

Protesters organised an event against recent harassment of a young woman at night. Shahbagh, Dhaka, November 1, 2018  — Jibon Ahmed

The language of the male cops can be used as the text to decode and to understand the patriarchal ideology and hegemony that lead such incident, in other words, harassment. In this patriarchal society, ‘male gaze’ towards women is to objectify them as sexual objects. Tough, the term ‘male gaze’ is used to describe how viewers engage and are engaged with visual media but also includes the ways that are used to produce and reproduce a sexualised way of empowering male and objectifying female. The insinuation of the woman as a bisshosundori or a ‘prostitute’ is the production of male gaze in the patriarchal system to think and believe the woman as the sexual object and sexual other.

Patriarchal society tends to create and recreate the hegemonised norms and conditions to chain women within the boundaries of a house — a form of exploitation of women’s labour to prevent women from becoming a freely circulating part of the economic structure. Such system or society pushes certain values that become an obstacle for the participation of women in labour force which also uphold many old stubborn values that can ensure the continuity of exploitation of their efforts in only caring for the home, husband and children thus unpaid labour. It also reinforces the values that chain women only to their children and husbands in the name of sweet motherhood, hegemonising with the ideas like – paradise lies under the feet of mothers or the obedience to the husband as the highest quality of women as a mark to the obedience to god. Yet, in this patriarchal society, there are a large number of men who still do not agree to women going out for working or education with the argument that they will lose their femininity, honour and purity if the leave the house to engage such activities. Though, the system tries its best to keep the women inside the house but if the women become successful to come outside, the system again force to send them inside the house by such arguments like – she is not from a decent family or she is addicted one or she belongs to the road or she is a prostitute – also different forms of patriarchal repression.

A young woman is holding a placard at a protest event against recent harassment of a young woman at night. Shahbagh, Dhaka, November 1, 2018 — Jibon Ahmed

Exploitation of women’s labour is not the only production of the patriarchal system but also the exploitation of language. In patriarchal society, there is the tendency to suppress the voice of women or tend to take away their voices. The epidemic practice in patriarchal culture is to make the women silent in a way that the more the woman becomes silent, the more feminine the woman becomes. Otherwise, the patriarchal society tags the woman as shameless, manner-less or addicted though that person might be raising voice against social unjust.

The oppression, exploitation and social pressures on women are constituted as an integral part of the cultural, political and economic system which requires to be abolished for women’s emancipation as a part of broader class struggle. The ghastly situations and problems for women in present society are the legacy of the historical development that made one class to rule over another class – men’s domination over women which is also the product of class and sex struggle. Though the truth is that still many people close their eyes and remain silent to this fact, but still many are trying for a radical change that can end the structure of exploitation and abolish the domination of men over women not only in society but also within the family relations – the core constitution of patriarchy. The core of the relations is remained in the origin of the values and sacred beliefs which, throughout ages have concreted and reinforced the system of patriarchal and class oppression. The development of patriarchal system is the result of political, cultural and economic factors, among many other factors, and also inherent characteristics of the mental and psychic constitution of people.

The most dangerous thing for women as well as all human being is to leave in an illusion, in other words, not to recognise the truth. It deprives them from the most important weapon or initial step toward or in the struggle for freedom, emancipation and to control their lives or the future. The first step on the road to emancipation is to be conscious about the fact that the one is still a slave in nature and still living under oppression. From historical evidences, it is seen that political and economic changes may happen quickly but social and cultural changes or progress takes long time as it is linked with deep inner senses and physic processes of human mind. On the emancipation of working class, Karl Marx points out that ‘the emancipation of the working classes must be conquered by the working classes themselves, that the struggle for the emancipation of the working classes means not a struggle for class privileges and monopolies, but for equal rights and duties, and the abolition of all class rule’. On women’s freedom, it can be pointed out that emancipation of women must be conquered by the women united not for the class or gender privileges but for equal rights and duties, and the abolition of all class rules for their liberation. 

It is necessary for women to unite everywhere to broaden and strengthen their movement for their liberation. Solidarity among women is a powerful force to change the patriarchal system which can also influence future development in favourable ways. From historical women’s movement around the world, it has been seen that freedom of women could not be achieved unless they unite into an organised political force which should be powerful, dynamic and conscious enough to present the half of the society truly to rid them of the patriarchal system to become free. In Egyptian feminist, writer and activist Nawal El Saadawi’s words, ‘To my mind the real reason why women have been unable to complete their emancipation, even in the socialist countries, is that they have failed to constitute themselves into a political force powerful, conscious, and dynamic enough to impose their rights’.

Nasir Uz Zaman is a member of the New Age Youth team

Published: Nov 11, 2018 (New Age Youth)

Links:

http://www.newagebd.net/article/55637/language-and-other-contextual-politics-of-patriarchy

http://epaper.newagebd.net/11-11-2018/23