Intl Women's Day

INTERNATIONAL WOMEN'S DAY

FLOWERS ARE NOT ENOUGH!

By Stephen Wilson

 

'Tulips are not a plantain against domestic violence' or rather {Tulips won't heal the wounds of domestic violence} lamented the words on a small art poster that had been pasted up on a bus stop in Moscow. A plantain is a plant which people rub on to their skin if they have been stung by nettles and is supposed to relieve the pain. In the center of the picture was a beautifully painted eye weeping tears of blood. An old woman also standing by me told me, "How silly? How negative! What does it mean? Why has someone put this up? I don't understand this picture," shaking her head in bemusement. I explained to her that I understood it to mean it was a protest against domestic violence against women, that this is a serious problem and that some women believe that giving flowers on International Women's Day is scant compensation. But the women did not understand saying something about 'Abstract art' being beyond her and thought it ridiculous. Yesterday I had noticed that 4 other such art posters had been put up on notice boards only to be quickly ripped down.

 

I found the posters with striking images and succinct messages arrested your attention. It was at least a brave attempt to raise a burning issue. And the women are surely right to claim that the giving of flowers on International Women's Day is poor compensation for the violence against women which scars and mars human relations. For the issue of violence against women is often raised by Feminists on International Women's Day. Some sociological studies indicate that as many as one out of four Russian women have experienced violence and as many as 26,000 experience violence on a daily basis. According to Human Rights watchdog, {2013 survey} well over a thousand Russian women die every year yet the Russian government passed a law where beating a women was no longer regarded as a serious offence effectively giving a green light to abusers.  

 

What those posters and other protests indicate is that Feminism is on the rise in Russia and won't fade away or die down. Despite this it would be an error to depict 'men' as 'the enemy' and that all of them have a vested interest in keeping women down. Today I have witnessed many Russian men and boys who are genuinely striving to treat women much better and truly respect them. Not everyone uses this day to fob off women with the token banquet of flowers.

So what is to be done? What steps might be taken to at least improve this situation rather than fighting a counter productive war with lose lose results?

 

1. Firstly, I have noticed that in some quarters, women have been celebrating this day a bit longer than just one day. And why not? Why shouldn't men make an attempt to make women very happy not on just one day but a whole week? We should at least try to make an effort to do some things that make women happier. And if need be just ask what women want because it is not always clear. Even Freud said he could not answer the question 'What do women want?' But Freud never gave up asking the question and neither should any man relinquish seeking an answer. Step by step we might make 365 days of the year like International  Women's Day in the best sense of the word.

 

2. We need an urgent and radical preventive educational program to prevent violence against women. That is we have to tackle the very roots of violence. So young boys from an early age have to learn to refrain from any violence against women. At kindergartens, schools and within the family we should hammer into children the fact that any mental or physical abuse of girls is 'taboo' so that it does not become an ingrained habit. And the Orthodox church can play a profound and prominent role in this regard. Just as a person would never dream of damaging or breaking an Icon in church, then he should never dare to raise a hand to the human icon which is priceless. So treating women with dignity, respect and awe is part of 'the liturgy after the liturgy'.  There is a danger that violence against women, in deed anyone, can be 'normalized' and be seen as 'acceptable ' because everyone else is doing it. Some people will go to great efforts to 'rationalize' any evil and claim black is white! Part of the roots of violence arise from men feeling a very low sense of esteem as so called 'losers'. It is often a case that such people too were the victims of violence. That is the bully becomes the bully. Surely we should be attempting to  build rather than lower a person's self esteem. There is no doubt that one of the causes of domestic violence is rooted in a negative 'putting down society' which is so over-competitive it makes some people feel they are either total losers or total winners. Such a narrowed minded and myopic ethos renders people mad. Some people take out their negative emotions on the nearest person to hand. Abusers are not born but made!  

 

3. A new police force has to be made which is controlled and accountable to the people. That is a police force that intervenes to defend women against violence and assume real responsibility to fight crime rather than seeing their jobs as merely a lucrative means of getting an income.

 

4. Women should attain equal pay and their present role more acknowledged as say artists, scientists and writers. For instance, in the history of Russian art we too often hear about Wassily Kandinsky and Kasimir Malevich but not so much about Vera Yermolayeva, Anna Leporskaya and Yelena Guro. All the latter were very important artists of the Avant-garde who were part of a renaissance at the turn of the 20th century. For example, in 1939, Vera Yermolayeva painted the striking picture 'Lucretius points to the Sun' and Yelena Guru painted 'Woman in a headscarf,1910'. Thanks to the art historian Yevgeny Kovtun, 'Avant-Garde in Russia, 1920-1930', by Parkstone Aurora publishers,1996, I learnt about so many female artists which I had never previously heard of before. Can you imagine how many female artists have been overlooked and sentenced to ill deserved obscurity? Some art historians ought to launch a rescue operation to make their works more known!

The artist M. Matiushin did not forget the profound role of Yelena Guro as a catalyst of the renaissance in Russian art. He stated - 'I recall how Guro inspired me with the way she would invariably bare her soul in a natural setting as well as the constant intensity she applied to the observation in the creative process. Thus was constituted a creatively fruitful environment of solid and friendly support. As a result of this communion our achievements and new projects came into being'.