How can gender analysis help us understand the current financial crisis?

It’s questions like these that just might put the ‘Oomph’ back into International Women’s Day, said renowned feminist Cynthia Enloe, research professor at Clark University in Massachusetts.

On Mar. 8, the world celebrated International Women’s Day, and while some feel feminism has gone out of style in our relatively equal society, Enloe says it still has much to offer.

For one, the struggle for equality is ongoing, she said.

“Well it’s not done – women don’t have equal wages, sexual harassment still happens within workplaces with women feeling very isolated… Barbie Dolls are having their 50th anniversary this month, and they’re still selling like hotcakes, and Barbie is not exactly a feminist model.”

Enloe also emphasized the importance of looking at things through a gendered lens.

“You just always ask feminist questions, about anything.”

Enloe looked to a recent article in The Observer, a British paper, as an example. Reporter Ruth Sunderland interviewed female Icelandic politicians and financial experts who are now picking up the pieces of a crumbled economy.

The women blamed the bank culture for a part of the fall, Enloe said.

“ Women’s movements can’t survive just on campuses

Cynthia Enloe, research professor, Clark University

“Inside these banks there was this kind of macho culture about taking extreme risks, and those are exactly the root of this financial crisis,” she said.

Ideas surrounding gender expectations can bring light to many current events around the world, and International Women’s Day is about making global connections in order to share knowledge between varied groups.

Karen McDonald, status of women director with the University of Winnipeg Students’ Association, agrees.

“I think international days are really great for that, to emphasize the global community.”

“International feminism today is very diverse and full of discussions and new thinking and not taking ideas for granted,” said Enloe.

But while many International Women’s Day events focus on university campuses and women’s groups, getting the message out to the public is another matter.

“Women’s movements can’t survive just on campuses,” said Enloe. “They really need to have more broadly popular and public visibility.”

“It is definitely harder to get it out to the mass population,” McDonald said.

The U of W’s Womyn’s Centre teamed up with local groups to provide a week of activities leading up to a march on Mar. 8.

While most events were open to the public, McDonald feels that many people in the community were simply not aware of these opportunities.

Getting the word out is the first step, she said.

Published in Volume 63, Number 23 of The Uniter (March 12, 2009)