Feminist Perspectives on Slavery, Segregation and

Genocide

“Feminism is the radical notion that women are people”.

Cheris Kramarae & Paula Treichler

Amjad Nazeer1

Introduction:

In plain terms feminism can be defined as,....“a movement for social, cultural, political and
economic equality of men and women. Though the issues of feminism might vary from
culture to culture but they are globally tied together in their campaign to end gender-based
discriminatory practices against women2”. No singular feminist perspective or unified
theoretical framework exists around. The most prominent ones’ are radical feminism,
socialist, modern, post-modern and liberal feminism. But this distinction hardly matters to
discuss and underline feminist contribution to our understanding of genocide, slavery,
segregation and apartheid that this article is meant for. Most feminists agree that socially
and culturally institutionalized patriarchy and unequal distribution of power between men and
women are the source of violence, discrimination and exploitation of women.

Feminist Perspectives on Slavery:

It was Harriet Stowe’s novel, ‘Uncle Tom’s Cabin’ by that first brought the issue of slavery to
public in America and even contributed to the civil war and later on public policies in the
1830s. Likewise Francis Wrights’ radical ideas that made her notorious non conventional
ideas influenced the public mind. Anti-slavery and women rights campaign in the same era
by the two sisters Sarah Grimlke and Angelina, beginning by their hatred for slavery for
being severely reprimanded by their parents on teaching a slave companion, an illegal act
then. Refusing marriage and conventional life they joined Quaker society in Philadelphia and
found it too conservative. Both organized women for ‘American Anti-Slavery Society’
delivered fiery speeches, prepared pamphlets and profoundly influenced public conscience
and national agenda surmounting general disliking and attempts on their lives (Becoming
Human, HRQ, p.10,11).

1
The author is a peace and human rights activist and works for a an international human rights NGO in Pakistan. The article
was written in July 2010.
2
Definition of Feminism, See: http://ezinearticles.com/?Definition-of-Feminism&id=1697184
Ms. Deborah G. White describes the plight of women slaves and the general effect of slavery
on American society and culture, much neglected by male historians, in her landmark work,
Aren’t I a woman?: Female slaves in the plantation south (1985). Both black and white men
treated female slaves as a sexual substance, she observes. The role of slave woman and
her significant contribution in the plantation economy and the division of labour based on
age health and fertility status was understudied. She was grossly misunderstood as a (slave)
child-breeder, a nurturer and an asexual mother (earth). Her relationship to other women,
and her role in the black family and culture was rarely taken into consideration. She reveals
a startling fact that post-child-bearing-age women were most often assigned heavier tasks
than men. She believes that occidental, white, racist, imperial, slavocratic, and masculine
mentality misrepresented female slaves under their preconceived patriarchal notions.
(Deborah G. White 1985 in Thomas, G. 2005).

Slavery annulled woman’s identity as ‘women’ and their institutionalized rape was used to
annihilate their and their men’s resistance. The western patriarchal mindset reduced
women’s identity to objects of servitude or simply non-beings. Superimposed western
notions of ‘manhood’ and ‘womanhood’ as biological facts served to continue slavery and
exploitation (Davis A.Y.1971 as in James J.1998). Virginity, purity and domesticity were the
defining characteristics of Victorian women, all denied to a slave women. Black women were
presented as an entity without soul associated with overt sexuality and perverted behaviour,
simply an animal that breeds while it is the white women who mothers. ‘White man’ was
predated by ‘black women’ threatening the sanctity of white woman and her household. Not
possessing a male protector, family and home - signposts of western womanhood – further
added to her purported subhuman status. Surviving institutional rape constituted her
demonized character because a true woman would rather prefer death than being sexually
abused. Hence the interests of white men were juxtaposed with white women3.

Institutions and practices endorsing coerced, servile or highly unequal marriages and the
sale of wives and minor girls subjected to prostitution, debt-bondage, recruitment of child
soldiers, traffic in persons and the sale of human organs constitute new forms of slavery
even if they are embedded in cultural norms or opted out against poverty. Such Obvious
forms of human rights abuses tantamount to slavery but are tolerated under institutionalised

3
Hazel H. V. Carby, 1984: Ideologies of womanhood ( as mentioned in Thomas, G. 1987: 19, 27 in JENdA),
cultural and patriarchal values. The same values are sometimes somewhere translated into
the legal norms (OHCHR Fact Sheet, Welch, C. E. 2009:100).

Kavin Baily argues that despite legal abolishment, sexual slavery thrives in the new global
economy aligned with the mechanics of violence. For instance, young girls are commoditized
in the international spots of tourism and several metropolitan capitals of the world, at times
with parental consent. Far worse than the old slavery, victim women are marketed and
disposed off quite quickly given their age and sexual utility. Investors from various countries
are very active in this quick-to-start, low-investment, high-return business usually run in
collusion with the police and high officials. Severely beaten up to submission, they are
coerced or raped to elicit consent for sexual slavery. In turn the victims receive nothing save
a bare minimum food and a place to squeeze in. Around 27 million people are damned to
slavery or live in slave like conditions even today (Bailey, K. 1999).

The Slavery Convention 1926 defines it as “the status or condition of a person over whom
any or all of the powers of ownership are exercised (OHCHR).” It failed to include bonded or
farm labour, child sale, pornography, genital mutilation, sexual enslavement and forced
prostitution despite recommendations by certain members of the Slavery Commission.
Thanks to the gender-sensitive efforts of ‘Anti Slavery’ (NGO), the Supplementary
Commission of 1956 however includes a host of practices defined as contemporary forms of
slavery including sexual exploitation of underage children. Despite long recognition of such
practices as new forms of slavery and outright human rights abuse, its abolition is proving
difficult and protracted because of the state collusion, social acceptability and underlying
interests of patriarchal institutions. Feminists believe that gender equality and abrogation of
culturally endorsed slavery-like practices alone can help eliminate new forms of slavery
(Welch C.E. 2009:98-100).

Feminists Perspectives on Segregation:

Slavery and apartheid are squarely condemned but ironically, women’s subjugation and
truncated rights of property ownership, business management, involuntary veiling, workplace
discrimination, denying voting rights, confinement and even their lack of control over their
own bodies are considered to be the cultural values (Fellmeth A. 2000: 695). With the
commencement of Taliban regime in Afghanistan (1996), as one of the worst example,
women’s rights were the first causality. Their Right to schooling, work, voting and movement
were immediately suspended through enactment of such measures grossly illegal under the
international law. More or less a similar situation exists in several other countries of the
south (Verdirame. G. 2001: 4). Women’s disadvantageous position in the labour market is
reinforced by patriarchal traditions of housekeeping, child-care and their subordinated role in
society. Roles like nunnery, teaching, nursing, catering, typing, assisting, corresponding to
their stereotype roles, dismisses them to become a proprietor, engineer, supervisor etc (ILO
2000: 115).

Women’s work is supposed to be under-skilled, undervalued and underpaid, all because of

the public-private split in the market-sphere denying them the status of full personhood,
citizenship and entitlement to human rights (SEP: 2004). Corporations and religio-political
institutions, antagonizing women’s human rights, exploit public-private division by low
wages, keeping women’s policy priorities secondary and sustaining inhumane conditions of
work (Binyon G. 1995).

Marxist feminists believe that the equal status of men and women in the communal forms of
production was skewed in favour of men with the invention of private property and its control
by men. Surplus generation thereby changed the family structure to patriarchy where women
and slaves were assumed to be part of the property. Economic development proved a
counterproductive force for women. Their emancipation can come through their economic
liberation and equal participation in the market. Other feminists argue that women’s biosocial
reproductive role must be given equal economic significance, ignored by conventional
economists (Reed 1973, Leacock 1972, Saffioti 1978, Vogel & Benston 1995 as cited in SEP
2004).

Feminist Perspectives on Genocide:

Ethnic cleansing or wilful elimination of an entire social group perpetrated by the state or a
powerful faction in their struggle of nation-building, state-formation or manufacturing a
homogenous identity constitutes genocide. Although mass killing of men is inseparable from
genocidal attacks, women are specifically subjected to brutal sexual and physical violence.
In a genocidal situation the most intensive, horrifying and bestial acts of violence committed
against women. Violent bands usually rape, humiliation and torture them to disgrace
separatists or an adversary. Women-specific massacre has been seen in Indian Gujrat 2002,
Rwanda 1994, Bosnia 1993-1995, East Pakistan 1971 and Nanjing 1937 in the near past.
(Mojab, S. 2003, 1-2).

Horrendous torture was inflicted upon Tutsi women in Rwandan genocide 1994. Along with
rape, spears, arrows or other sharp objects were pierced into the vaginas of women or shot
into their genitals. Characteristic organs of Tutsi women such as sharp nose or long fingers
were cut off. Several Tutsi women were given to Hutu men in reward of killing maximum
Tutsis. Women were forced to have sex in exchange for temporary shelter or held captive for
sexual slavery by the militia or military. Women were gang raped, their sexual organs were
mutilated and in some cases raping corpses was also reported (AI, 2004: 2-5).

Abdomens of pregnant women were slashed open to throw their foetuses into the fire during
the genocidal attack against Muslim women in Indian Gujrat 2002. Tender age children were
sexually molested and burnt alive. Hindu religious symbols were cut out on the bodies of
sexually assaulted women. Bharat mata, ‘the motherland of India’ was ideologically blended
with the persona of Hindu women. Muslim rule in the past was interpreted as the
mythological rape of Hindu women, hence justifying rape of Muslim women. In other words it
was an act of reclaiming the motherland of India (IIJ, 2003: 4-21). In the former Yugoslavia
public assault was used as weapon of terror and ethnic cleansing.

The pattern of violence suggests that women’s bodies were particular site of brutalities with
innovative forms of torture. Their bodies were perceived to be the reproductive medium of a
particular ethno-religious identity (Sarkar, T. 2002). In their violent attempt of shifting the
demographic ratio, the rapists described their act as changing the victim’s identity. It reflects
the nationalist patriarchal perception that male ‘germ’ constitutes one’s identity while
woman’s body is just a container. Humiliating women is perceived as vital part of
constructing the manly image of ‘patriotic’ attackers (Panwani J. 16, IIJ 2003: 30).

Rape often results in pregnancy, disease, divorce, stigma and stereotyping. In many cultures
victim women are abandoned or killed by their male relatives to avoid ‘shame’ (Rowland, R.
1995: 12). Rape survivors, impregnated or otherwise and the widows are discriminated or
ostracised within their own families and communities. Contracting HIV/AIDs, STDs4, fistula,
trauma and other psychological disorders is a lifelong ailment that causes social humiliation.
Many keep silent under the fear of being stigmatized, marginalized or discriminated. During
post-conflict investigations, several women told, they were guilty of being survived. Some of
their own community members asked them to have cooperated with the perpetrators, if they
had survived. Several women were discarded by their husbands, many could never get
married and other told of not seeking medical assistance, even if it was available to conceal
the fact of having been raped (Al 2004: 5-7).

Police remained either silent or collaborated with the extremist Hindu groups during the
genocidal attacks in Gujrat. Several years down the road, the criminals could not be brought

4
Sexually Transmitted Disease (STD),
to justice simply because of the patriarchal and communal biases of the judges and
prosecutors. The law is inherently skewed towards men. The absence of witness or rejecting
women’s witness plays assists denying justice to the victim women. (AI 2005).

The Genocide Convention 1948 defines genocide as: “killing members of a group, causing
serious mental or bodily harm to the members of a group, deliberate inflicting on the group
the conditions calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part and
imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group..... (UN CPPCG).” ‘Intent’ is
considered to be a defining characteristic of genocide, emphasising on ‘the purpose of the
offender’ not the ‘outcome.’ For women the ‘outcomes’ are as serious as ‘intent’. The term
‘genocide’ and its’ subsequent definition, though quite broad and rich in semantics and
content, still ignores several aspects and impacts of genocide that women specifically
experience. The term ‘gendercide5’ i.e. sex-selective mass killing coined by Marry A. in 1985
is a theoretical breakthrough in the field of genocide research. Although ‘femicide’ and
‘gynocide’ are also used somewhere but to her keeping the term gender-neutral is important.
The rubric however mostly covers humiliation and rape of women followed by murder
(Gendercide Watch 2010).

Gendercide happens both in times of peace and war. Nation-building, state-formation,

identity-preservation and patriarchal culture are the key culprits causing genocide. Non-state
oppressive groups and communities, religious establishments and/or military are the
potential perpetrators. It is not a mere coincidence that patriarchal and state violence go side
by side. In-fact the state itself, all its apparatuses and institutions are inherently intertwined
to serve and protect patriarchal structures. Feminists argues that violence against men is
classified as a matter of public concern, calling for state intervention, while rape and torture
against women as a private matter to be resolved by the individuals implicated, causing a
greater barrier in seeking justice (Fellmeth, A.X 2000: 668).

The ideas and insights shared by feminist analysis of genocide calls for incorporating
elements of gender in the UN Convention on Genocide. Their analysis helped adding
aspects of gender to the racial, ethnic and religious groups as mentioned in the respective
convention and offers policy options and strategies to prevent genocide (Mojab, S. 2003).

5
Marry A Waren first coined in the term in her book, Gendercide: The implications of sex selection in 1985. She says that,
by analogy, gendercide would be the deliberate extermination of persons of a particular sex (or gender).... The term also calls
attention to the fact that gender roles have often had lethal consequences, and that these are in important respects analogous
to the lethal consequences of racial, religious, and class prejudice” Her analysis mainly focuses of anti-female gendercide.
Source: Gendercide Watch.
Conclusions:
State sovereignty and authorizing state to eliminate human rights abuses holds little value to
women as it means more powers to men and patriarchal orders within the state. State
sovereignty structurally undermines men’s oppression of women. Manoeuvring public-private
classification men halt state intervention to eliminate injustices both at home and outside.
The very division is manipulative, failing to contribute in policy measures favouring women.
Women suffer violence more at the hands of men than from the state. It is one of the
reasons that little changed has occurred despite state’s commitment in CEDAW to eliminate
sexism from their respective societies. Several states still have reservations even to sign in
on cultural grounds (Fellmeth, A. 2000: 669-677, 695).

Ideology, institutional structure and human rights practices subordinate distinctiveness of

women rights, violence against women in particular. For instance, rape is far more a serious
crime than simply a breach of human rights. Feminists are battling to incorporate women
rights into the patriarchically defined bill of human rights that ignores several discriminations
and violences suffered by women both in times of peace and war. The terms ‘people’ and
‘everyone’ used in UDHR ignores the fact that men wield more power and subjugate women
in most societies. By subordinating compliance to the culture and politics UN undermines
built-in prejudices and violences against women. Male dominated definitions of ‘rights’ and
‘freedoms’ stressing rights exercised in the public sphere, makes women rights infringement
invisible. The ‘declaration on the violence against women 1993’ is a milestone achievement
of feminists as it acknowledges the inequities of power resulting in systematic violence and
discrimination against women (Rowland, R. 1995: 9).

Both CEDAW and CEVAW6 were brought into existence with the feminists’ efforts stating
that both public and private discrimination against women violates women’s human rights
calling upon member states to take action (Fraser A. 1999). It is with the feminists’ struggle
that international law is progressively realizing the significance of women rights and the need
of protecting them from genocide, institutionalized segregation and sexual slavery. Contrary
to the conventional human rights theorization – which is abstract, deductive and hierarchical
- feminist understanding is empirical and compassionate. It is self-conscious, tentative and
rooted into the contemporary socio-political and economic realities. Conventional
jurisprudence, essentialising human persons as legal entities, is less likely to acknowledge
claims made by women. It boils down international human rights into international politics
only. Therefore human rights law has been a miserable failure. In-depth analysis reveals law

6
Convention on the Elimination of All forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW 1979) and Coalition on the
Elimination of Violence against Women (CEVAW)
to be inherently a gendered and oppressive system, reflecting male interests and
experiences, vehemently purported by liberal nation-states. Feminist contribution underpins
the insights of life that women experience differently from women. Precisely, inclusion and
plurality is the essence of feminist thought. Broader outcome of feminist contribution in
human rights is not women-specific; it rather engenders a profound impact for the betterment
of whole society (Binyon G. 1995: 2-5).

*********

References Cited:

Books, Reports and Articles:

1. Aaron Xavier Fellmeth 2000, Human Rights Quarterly No. 22, pp.658–733, Johns Hopkins
University Press, USA.
2. Arvonne S. Fraser 1999, on Becoming Human: The origins and Development of Women
Human Rights, No. 21.4, 853-906, John Hopkin University Press, USA.
3. Claude E. Welch, Jr. 2009, Human Rights Quarterly, Vol 31, 2009, The John Hopkins
University Press.
4. International Initiative of Justice, 2003, Threatened Existence: A Feminist Analysis of the
Genocide in Gujarat-
5. International Labour Office 2000, Woman, training, work and gender: A partnership of equals,
Geneva, Occupational sex segregation, Inefficiency, rigidity and discrimination.
6. Kevin Baley, 1999, Slavery, Economy and Disposable People: New Slavery in the Global
Economy, Los Angeles, University of California Press. Human Rights Quarterly, Book
Review.
7. Shahrazad Mojab, 2003, Kurdish Women in the zone of genocide and gendercide, Al-Raida,
Volume 21, No. 103, Fall 2003,
8. Rowland, Robin 1995, Human rights discourses and women: Challenging the rhetoric with
reality, in Symposium: Human rights and the sociological project, ANZJS Volume 31, No.2,
August 1995.
9. Sarkar, Tanika 2002, Semiotics of Terror: Mulsim women and children in Hindu Rashtra,
Economic and Political weekly, July 13, 2002.
10. Gayle Binyon 1995, Human Rights, A feminist perspective, Human Rights Quarterly, 17.3,
209-526, John Hopkin University Press.
 11. Guglielmo Verdirame 2001, Testing the Effectiveness of International Norms: UN
Humanitarian Assistance and Sexual Apartheid in Afghanistan, Human Rights Quarterly 23,
733–768, The Johns Hopkins University Press, USA.
12. Amnesty International: India: 2005, Three years later still no justice for the victims of violence
in Gujrat, Public Report, 25 February 2005.

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