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Nabarralde | Nabarra Papers
How
Are We Doing?
Mila
Parot, Christianne Etcheberry and Argi Isturitz for Euskal Herria
Journal
Human rights
violations are wide-spread in many countries. And often women
are the victims. Women's rights are violated in the family,
in the community and by the state. We often hear of violence
against women and of the social and economic inequality women
have to endure. In developing countries women often have no
choice but to succumb to violence and inequality. In developed
countries, however, women perhaps have greater possibilities
for help. But the pain and humiliation are the same for all
abused and discriminated women no matter where they live.
In Europe, the
case of Semira Adamu brought us face to face with that reality.
It showed us in a very brutal manner the way in which the existing
legislation of the governments of the EU member states take
into account the suffering of women.
Last September,
at the eve of the 50th anniversary of the Human Rights Convention,
Semira Adamu, a 20-year-old asylum seeker in Belgium was killed
by the violence of the Belgian police because she resisted flying
back to Nigeria where a forced marriage was awaiting her.
Semira Adamu
died because the Geneva Convention does not provide anything
in cases of gender-related persecutions. Forced marriage and
other forms of persecution, like female genital mutilation or
social or religious violations of women's rights. Persecution
linked to the refusal by women to surrender to this oppression
is neither recognised at international level nor in national
legislation, as a ground for seeking asylum.
Violence
Against Women
Like most European
women, Basque women are allowed to vote, go to school, work
outside the home, go to bars, choose a partner, and even opt
for TV dinners. Yet like most European women, Basque women are
still far from equal.
It is commonly
known that chemicals are being put into the environment that
stimulate human hormones which adversely affect, specially,
women. However, in Baskongadak,
which is the second community in Spain with more contaminated
soil due to the industrial activity, programmes and services
to women, along with those for the protection of the environment,
are at the bottom of the pile.
For example,
the 1997 budget of the regional government of Bascongada allocated
34 million pesetas to industrial environment, and 301 million
to "the promotion of equality and opportunity for women" while
180,357 million went to the military. The funds allocated to
the military exceeded Bascongada's proportion of the central
government's defense as well as the budget for the local interior
department. Moreover, during the period 1990-1996, under the
Ardanza administration, the regional government gave 9,584 million
in subsidies to 14 arms companies. Obviously for the Ardanza
administration it was more important to maintain the health
of the Basque arms industry including Spain's arms exports (ranked
fifth place among the world's arms sellers in 1997) than the
health of the women.
In the Basque
Country (Euskal Herria in the Basque language) violence is not
just a women's issue. Violence in all forms is an issue for
the whole community.
Domestic violence
and sexual harassment has been recognised as an area of attention
by the two states that rule over the Basque Country and their
regional governments in Aquitaine, Bascongada, and Nabarra.
But their rhetoric is far from being fulfilled in practice.
No comprehensive study has ever been conducted on the extent
and nature of violence against women thus there is no data on
the issue. The limited information available about those cases
reported has been provided by grassroots organizations in need
of public funding.
No statistics
are available for cases of sexual harassment except those reported
in a study conducted in 1994 by the Spanish labour union UGT
and the regional government of Nabarra. The study showed that
4,300 women in Nabarra - 7.5 percent of the women in the work
force - claimed sexual harassment in the workplace.
Although domestic
violence is no longer a gender-specific topic women are still
abused more often by men.
Notwithstanding
the number of cases reported is unknown, in 1991 the Supreme
Court of Bascongada had already warned that incidents of domestic
violence and sexual harassment were up. In the four Basque provinces
in Spain alone, police received 1,343 domestic violence-related
complaints in 1993, of which 657 came from Bizkaia, 358 from
Araba, 166 from Gipuzkoa, and 62 from Nabarra. The number of
incidents reported in 1996 was 2,135.
There is no
comprehensive data on the issue, but myths and misconceptions
about domestic violence abound. For example, the questions in
a polling on domestic violence conducted for the government
of Bascongada in 1998.
The polling
questionnaire (1), designed with the help of
the government's women organization Emakunde, included questions
such as "do you think domestic violence could be justified
... when the woman provokes or doesn't behave as she should
... the agressor is going through hard times or is unemployed
... the aggressor is drunk or drugged." Obviously the
government has to be educated in the myths and realities of
domestic violence before even attempting to deal with the issue.
Sexual abuse
is a special form of torture used by police against the women
in the Basque national liberation movement. In the last 30 years
thousands of women have been arrested and held incommunicado
5-7 days. Many of the women described the special torture inflicted
on them.
Three women
arrested in 1992 told the special torture inflicted on them
by the Spanish police. Itsaso Sevillano was seven months pregnant.
She was forced to undress and was sexually humiliated by officers
who searched her and made obscene remarks and threats. Ana Iriarte
was forced to open her legs and was sexually assaulted with
objects. Encarni Blanco suffered a vaginal hemmorrhage while
naked under interrogation.(2)
Gurutze Iantzi
arrested in 1993 was tortured and let died in police cells so
we may never know the special treatment she endured.
In 1995, a young
Nabarrase woman was abducted from the street by police and tortured.
She was first drugged, then tortured and finally abandoned near
a gas station where she was found unconscious. The doctors who
treated her said she had been beaten all over the body and that
two stones and parts of an unidentified object had been found
in her vagina.
These are only
a few examples.
The
Right To Abortion
Women in the
Basque Country have campaigned extensively for the right to
abortion and for health centers to provide contraception and
information on abortion and the alternatives.
In the Basque
Country - with the exception of the Basque provinces in France
where abortion is legal - abortion still is considered a crime.
In Spain abortion is only allowed if "it creates a personal,
family, or social conflict" to the woman - a decision that is
made by two "specialists" of an "accredited center" after the
woman seeking abortion has gone through the required counseling
sessions.
According to
a women grassroots group Egizan the number of abortions per
year in the Basque provinces in Spain is 10,000, with private
clinics perfoming about 90 percent of the abortions. Because
of the pressure by pro-life groups in Araba and Nabarra, most
doctors in these two provinces do not perfom abortion.
Women in Araba
and Nabarra seeking abortion have to go for assistance to other
places in or outside the Basque Country. Women seeking abortion
are forced to take multiple days off from work, risk loss of
employment, lose wages, leave families unattended or arrange
for costly child care. This and the limited public funding for
those who can't afford the procedure put limitations on freedom
of choice and have made it increasingly difficult for women
to obtain "legal" and safe abortion. We really don't believe
such barriers would exist if men got pregnant.
The
right to choose the way of life we wish to lead
Most governments
of the EU country members recognize that equality for women
cannot be achieved without economic security and independence.
But for the majority of European women, including Basque women,
our right to choose the way of life we wish to lead is as limited
as it has always been.
Women are relegated
to an inferior position in the work force because the bosses
believe we are an unstable work force. Unstable means to male
bosses things as getting pregnant, staying home to take care
of a sick child, and equally frivoulous deeds.
Many women in
the Basque Country work at home taking care of the family and
are dependent on income received from their partners. Since
they don't get pay for rearing a family their status as an occupation
is at the bottom of the ladder.
A Basque sociologist
and a writer, Justo de la Cueva, reminds us that "the bulwark
of the Basque working class are the 650,000 housewives" who
work without pay an average of 9 hours a day, or 4 hours of
part-time work, to sustain a work force. "These `housewives'
work 4 million hours a day which are unpaid by the capitalist
system but required to keep a work force,"(3)
says de la Cueva.
On the other
hand, Basque women in the workforce are paid less than men for
similar work. Women's wages are 60-70 percent of men's. If women
have work at all. With the privatisation of the public sector
jobs once guaranteed by the state either no longer exist or
have gone to men during downsizing and gender-based layoffs.
In the Basque
Country the unemployment rate for women is higher than men's
and than the average in the EU. In the Basque provinces in Spain,
the unemployment rate for women is 32 percent in Bascongada;
and 18 percent in Nabarra. In the Basque provinces in France
the unemployment rate for women is 25 percent. The EU average
unemployment rate for women 25 and over is 12 percent. The average
unemployment rate for under-25 women is 40 percent in the Basque
Country, among the highest in the EU -- lowest EU rate for under-25
women is 7 percent; highest is 45 percent in Spain and 31 percent
in France.
In the arts
and lettres women are for the most part invisible in Basque
literature, subordinate to men in the making, analyzing, and
exhibiting of art. Women workers are relegated to the poorest
paying jobs. Very few women are in top managerial positions,
on boards of banks, members of parliament or of prestigious
societies. And when they are it doesn't seem to make much difference
to the rest of women.
That is because
the lack of women managers or in top positions is just a sympton
of the general situation of women as a whole, not a cause. Having
more women at the top of a profession won't change the basic
ground rules by which society is run. In fact, very often those
women at the top do suffer sexism from their colleagues and
are even ostracised from the old boys network and may find it
more difficult to succeed. Even Margaret Thachter as nasty as
she is probably had this problem.
But many women
at the top also have an interest in seeing the system continue
-- again we're reminded of Margaret Thachter. Their high incomes,
standard of living and position in society depends from their
being on the top of the pile. They may be progressive on safe
issues that affect most women, such as domestic violence, but
when it comes to issues that question the way society is run
and thus threaten their position, sisterhood quickly breaks
down.
Basque women
have of course won some gains. For example, women are allowed
to participate in public activities such a singing bertso (verse),
which used to be a male domain.
In the French
state, extensive campaign by women, as well as the government's
promotion of a higher birth rate, resulted in legislation that
granted women some rights. Under French legislation(4)
women are entitled to 52 weeks unpaid maternity leave, and entitled
to a one lump sum payment after the baby's birth. Free health
care is also available to the mother before and (to mother and
child) after the birth. A parent with three children or more
who chooses to stay home to take care of the family is entitled
to a monthly subsidy of about 3,000 ff (600 dollars).
Because of unemployment
and lack of quality child care many women choose to stay home
and often live in poverty. In fact, in the Basque provinces
in France the number of women (mainly single mothers and widows
with children) on welfare has gone up 20 percent in the last
five years.
Women
and European integration
Rosi Braidotti,
a professor of philosophy and feminist theory (Univ. of Utrecht,
Holland), is the director of the Institute for Women's Studies
and coordinator of the Network of Interdisciplinary Women's
Studies in Europe. She is also a model of the way of thinking
in Europe that asks women to trust the European Union (EU) with
taking care of our needs.
During a visit
to Denmark three years ago, Braidotti met with Danish feminists
and members of the left who opposed Denmark joining the EU on
grounds that it contains a southern European model of social
organization(5). Denmark has a thorough social
welfare coverage and boasts of having a 33 percent representation
of women (a system of quota) in their national parliament. Danish
women and the left claim European activities would be negative
for Danish women who will gain nothing from European integration.
Braidotti,
a self-proclaimed left-wing feminist and critical intellectual,
called the Danish case against Europe "arrogant" and "ethnocentric"
and claimed that "gender equality is a top priority in the Maastricht
Treaty." According to Braidotti, Danish women should think of
a global solution to inequality, and embrace the EU "even though
it may entail an immediate loss of privileges" to them. She
claims "we need more and harder work to elect women to the European
parliament," and that the EU needs the input of advanced social
movements such as the Danish and other Scandinavian women's
organization including the feminists. Danish have "every right
to criticize the masculinism of most European Union institutions,
including the Euro-Parliament," said Braidotti.
This seemingly
benevolent school of thought defends European integration on
the assumption that trans-national economy means the decline
of the nation-state, which supporters claim is a good thing
because this in turn will bury "all forms of nationalism" which
are responsible for the "tormented history and conflicts of
Europe." According to them "the territorial foundations for
the means of production are truly gone" and the EU only attempts
to deal with this in a constructive manner through integration.
Braidotti claims
that since we can't do anything to change the structure of advanced
postindustrial capitalism, the most effective way of organizing
politically is to "renounce ethnocentrism" and look for collective
solutions. That is, give up any "territorially-based social
privileges" and let the EU take care of our needs.
What she didn't
tell the Danish women, however, is that the EU is run for profit,
not for need. In fact, in the EU's policy agenda, market liberalization
and competition policies are of primary importance, compare
to welfare and social policies. The EU's main policy instrument
is legal regulation, while redistribution of economic resources
plays a very modest part. Moreover, this school of thought asks
us to renounce our differences rather than to recognize them
and go on from there.
According to
Braidotti, for most countries of the Union European legislation
is more progressive than state legislation especially in areas
such as women and gay rights. "Just think of the Irish feminists
and of Italian gay-rights activists appealing to the European
Court of Justice against their national governments."
But this is
far from being a reality. Firstly, the EU, like most national
governments, have failed to deal efficiently with one of the
main impediments preventing women from working: child care -
leaving it up to the individual to make their own arrangements
as best as they can. Second, even if the EU and its country
members would find solutions to issues such as unemployment,
equal education, job opportunities and equal pay, this would
amount to little without free 24 hour nurseries and free contraception
and abortion on demand. While a small minority of women like
Braidotti can buy control of their own fertility, for the majority,
family and child care still is as it has always been the largest
problem faced by women workers.
Neither can
we Basque women trust the EU with taking care of our needs --
even without testosterone flying high in parliament or with
those Danish women who are biased against southern Europeans.
The European Council, the main legislator, relies on doubtly
indirect democratic representation. The European parliament
does not have the authority to legislate and tax or to hold
the executive accountable. Executive power is concentrated in
the Commission, which favors the position of national governments
over anything that would challenge the governments' actions
or inactions. On the other hand, the European Court of Justice
while it has a strong role it lacks any means of implementing
its decision. That is, it has no way to impose its sanctions.
It is for these
reasons that the issue of women's ability to control their own
fertility is key in achieving equality. That is the fight for
abortion rights, for freely available contraceptives, and for
24 hours quality childcare. It is about creating a society where
working life and family life can be reconciled for women as
well as men. In this argument capitalism won't concede. It must
be defeated with sufficient pressure and persistence.
Very importantly,
however, we Basque women need an autonomous pressure group and
a campaign that presents our arguments to the entire body of
people and to fight as a whole. We ought to fight this battle
along with other crucial battles like the Basque language. We
cannot just build a nation -- but a new nation without second
class citizens.
February 11,
1999
(1) Questionnaire
text published by Egin
(2) UN Committee for the Prevention of Torture
(3) Las "Amas de Casa" son el grueso de la clase obrera vasca,
Justo de la Cueva (Negación vasca radical del capitalismo mundial,
Editorial VOSA S.L., Madrid 1996)
(4) LegiFrance
(5) Speech published by Forum Artikel
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