"We often hear it said in Africa that feminism is a Western import and does not
come from our African traditions. But I don't want these traditional values ifthey reduce me to my uterine function! ---- Fatou SOW, Senegalese sociologist---- Fatou SOW, is a Senegalese sociologist, a pioneer of feminism in Africa. Sheis relatively critical of "decolonial" feminism, which appeared recently in theFrench landscape. "This feminism has only allowed us to pose as racialized women- a term that I hate! However, in Africa, I do not belong to a visible minority.---- Afrofeminism or "black feminism" is only valid for the West, not for Africa.In fact, this current decolonial feminist discourse has power because it comesfrom the West. We listen to it more than we pay attention to what Africanfeminists say and think.»Another point of disagreement: the question of the veil. While the activistRokhaya Diallo defends the possibility of a veiled feminism, Fatou Sow, Muslimand coordinator of the network "Women under Muslim laws for West Africa", doesnot mince her words. "There is no choice in wearing the veil. It's wrong! Theveil is the confinement of women. Some decolonial feminists in France today makeit a symbol of women's resistance and resilience, but in Egypt in the 1920s and1930s, women who were struggling for their autonomy fought against the veil. Thequestion is whether I need a Muslim identity and, if I take it, is it the veilthat will make my Muslim identity?»For Mamadou Diouf, director of the Institute of African Studies at ColumbiaUniversity in New York, who recognizes in her "the courage to say what many darenot talk about", "Fatou Sow is not afraid to leave attacking religious citadelsand patriarchal citadels based on African traditions. ".The sociologist notes, in fact, that African women have to face differentreligious fundamentalisms (Islamic or Christian, in particular Catholic andProtestant) but also cultural, which intend to manage both the bodies and thesouls of women. "The way of practicing Islam in Africa has changed. We arewitnessing a re-Arabization of Islam and a re-religionization, if I can put itthat way, of culture under the influence of Arab monarchies and theirpetrodollars", denounces the one for whom secularism is a sine qua non. ofwomen's rights. Fatou Sow disagrees with Islamic feminism, which, according toher, "will look in a fourteen-century-old text for ways to liberate women today"."In fact, Islamic feminism was created by women who live in a system where Islamis a state religion and where if they want to fight, they can only do so withinthe Koran. , as in Iran or Saudi Arabia. It's a strategy.»Fatou Sow also stands out from certain African sociologists who, like theNigerian Oyeronke Oyewumi, reject the difference between men and women, whichwould be Western and would not correspond to the social categories operating inAfrica. She also does not believe, like the Senegalese jurist Fatou Kiné Camaraor the writer and researcher Catherine Acholonu, that motherhood and matriarchycan be the basis of African female power. "Matriarchy is not power to women. Thissystem just says that through our womb function we transmit power and goods tomen, she insists. We often hear it said in Africa that feminism is a Westernimport and does not come from our African traditions. But I don't want thesetraditional values if they reduce me to my uterine function! I want Africanvalues that we rethink so that we have a social project that includes us so thatwe can participate in politics, but by transforming it. It's not about being apolitician like a politician.»According to an article by Seneplus, 30/11/2019http://cnt-ait.info/2020/07/22/fatou-sow-le-feminisme-et-les-traditions/_________________________________________A - I N F O S N E W S S E R V I C EBy, For, and About AnarchistsSend news reports to A-infos-en mailing listA-infos-en@ainfos.ca
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