Feminism: a Guide to the Future

I believe there is a leftover of matriarchal history in the DNA of women who share my Sardinian origins. The primordial power of the Janas - the Sardinian witches who populated the island and had powers of healing illnesses and talking to the dead - is intrinsic in Sardinian women’s nature. The centuries have passed by since the Janas were the cult protectors of the island. Yet, people still address some old women of the village saying “She’s a matriarch” meaning her husband don’t have any decisional power in family matters, and is just about as important as a servant, collaborating to the smooth on-going of daily life.

Certainly, most women have adapted to the submissive role that history gave them. The time came when if you were a witch, or in other words, an intelligent woman who used her knowledge of nature and spirituality to help others, you were burned alive at the stake. A time when women were simply evil because of the natural way men were attracted by them. A time that somehow scarred the generations ahead, making of women’s role very little else but an oven for the production of men’s children; when the only way to rebel and have the blessing of knowledge was to be rich and get into religion. Centuries went by and women very slowly have conquered a few rights, such as political opinion, the vote, and the opportunity to study in order to get a good job, rather than just impress a potential future husband. It was the two wars that brought back a little bit of Janas power to all women, and not just in Sardinia, but all over the countries involved. While men were busy killing each other in the name of their land, women HAD TO become the main work force, clever economists bringing up families in poverty, ruled by the philosophy of making do and mend, whilst opening their horizons to the world around them. So after my grandparents’ generation, things moved fast in term of independence for women. Women were supposed to go back to being housewives after the wars. It never happened.

Fashion was a significant means used to send messages of empowerment and revolution. While both my grandmothers have never worn a pair of trousers, their numerous children all have witnessed a little conquest towards what was considered the Future. The trousers revolution came first, a very symbolic moment as who wears the trousers in a family is who is in control. Coco Chanel introduced the concept that a woman didn’t have to be uncomfortable in order to look classy. Then denim became unisex, a working class garment that symbolised that even the so called weaker sex could work and earn her own bacon.

The Pill made women sexual beings that could approach sex like men: for pleasure as well as for the purpose of reproduction. But in spite of the big talk and the empowerment in magazines and in big cities where obviously social development moved much faster, the nuclear family was still the basis of society. And even when divorce came along, there were few women who were supported by their own families in doing the step towards what was seen as the ruin of a family. My mother was denied the blessing of her own mother when she divorced my father. And it was the Nineties. In high school, I was brought to the theatre to watch Euripides’ tragedy Medea. My teacher then was a woman, young, feminist, who was constantly disappointed by my hunger for living life rather than study - and my swearing habit, but that’s another story... When she taught us about Medea, she made us all (girls and boys) particularly passionate about this amazingly tragic story. Medea is a very powerful witch who helps her man Jason in overcoming the challenges of the Golden Fleece; one day she wakes up and she’s too old for him, and barbarian, therefore not good enough for a Greek man: he wants to marry another woman.

So she decides to avenge her betrayal not only by killing the future bride with a poisonous robe, but also by killing his –and her own- children, destroying forever Jason’s plan of a new family. We were taught the line “I’d rather fight a hundred wars than suffering the pains of giving birth to a child once more” as the symbolic words that made this character representative of the modern woman. 

We would talk about abortion and the contraceptive pill and ask whether the play was saying that when a woman puts her passion above her familiar duties it is seen like an outrageous crime? But when a man puts his passions above his family, it is considered a forgiveable weakness? Or was it for us to know how sometimes for women to pursue their own desires meant giving up on being a mother? 

The irrational rage of a dangerous woman compared to the capricious pride of a man was definitely a very extreme and controversial way to teach us independence, or perhaps it was meant to give us a hint of how painful it can be to take a path different than the one we were taught to take. 

Like the strident feminist Caitlin Moran suggests, “The belief that motherhood is some necessary, transformative event, without any parallel or equivalent – it is, ultimately, a right pain in the arse for women,” because they are less valued if they do decide not to have children. So while naturally we think of children when we talk about the future, who cares if some women do not want any? We are in an era when women can be doctors, lawyers, tube and bus drivers, priests, disc jockeys, soldiers, married lesbians and can adopt a child even if single. Yet, women are still paid less than men even if covering the same role; moreover, in times of recession they are considered before men as the ones to be made redundant, based on the justification that our salary is “second” in a family. Can we hope for and work towards a future when women are just left alone whatever their individual choices are? Is it really too much to hope to see women who are role models not because they are simply anorexic and photogenic, but because they have socially, ethically, politically or intellectually made a difference?

A future when women are seen a bit like Janas: protectors and powerful. Mothers, but also free spirits. Knowledgeable and hard working but also connected to nature. I can imagine this future, because I live in a social environment where I can have big dreams and aspirations. Yet, there are other realities where dreams are not allowed, or even where dreams are forgotten and thrown to the dogs for the sake of dutiful lives. The future is bringing a new wave of feminism that will involve countries where some achievements are more than just run of- the-mill, unlike in our beloved Europe. However, I can also see these same rights terrifyingly dissolving in European countries where women are no longer empowered by their rights, but use instead their sexuality and their surgical appearances to get to powerful positions in life, sometimes even in politics. What we need in this new wave of feminism is to treasure our rights, saving a bit of our primordial witch-ism and try to keep a sane balance. Good luck.