The Week in Women Ep. 9

The Week in Women

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The Week in Women Ep. 9

The rise of far-right women, the global plot against abortion rights, and an Iranian-American journalist in exile talks about how women can stand in solidarity against the forces of violent misogyny.

Jill Filipovic

Sep 30, 2022

Welcome to Episode 9 of The Week in Women. This week on the show, we're talking about the rise of far right women, the global plot against abortion rights, an abortion ban in Arizona that dates back to the Civil War, and more. We'll also hear from Iranian- American journalist Negar Mortazavi, who is the host of the Iran Podcast, and is on to talk about the incredible woman led uprising in Iran and how feminists the world over can stand in solidarity with Iranian women.

I’m also adding a new feature to The Week in Women, which is a transcript of the news portion of the show (transcripts of the interviews of this and previous shows will be published in separate posts). This way, folks who aren’t podcast listeners and / or who are hearing impaired can also get the women’s rights news of the week straight to their inbox.

And as always, paid subscribers get The Week in Women early — so if you want The Week in Women early, upgrade to a paid subscription. Hope you enjoy, and of course feel free to share.

xx Jill

TRANSCRIPT

Hi, and welcome to the Week in Women. I’m your host, Jill Filipovic.

The Week in Women is a rundown of the week’s gender and women’s rights news, and it’s available for subscribers early – so head to jill.substack.com and sign up for a paid subscription if you want the Week in Women before everyone else. This week, I’m also adding a rough transcript to the news section of the show, so if you’re not the podcast-listening type, you can get the basic rundown of the week’s gender headlines in your inbox – again, early if you’re a paid subscriber.

This week, we’re talking about the rise of far-right women, the global plot against abortion rights, and an abortion ban in Arizona that dates back to the Civil War. We’ll also hear from Iranian-American journalist Negar Mortazavi, who is a columnist for the Independent and the host of the Iran podcast, and is on to talk about the incredible woman-led uprising in Iran and how feminists the world over can stand in solidarity with Iranian women.

But first, the headlines.

India legalizes abortion regardless of marital status:

This week, the Indian Supreme Court upheld the right to abortion up to 24 weeks regardless of a woman’s marital status – the country’s 1971 law legalizing the procedure had only done so for married women. And, the Court held, that marital rape is in fact rape, even if Indian law does not currently recognize it as such.

Feminism as a cover for authoritarianism in Tunisia:

Tunisia has long been one of the most progressive countries in the Arab world when it comes to women’s rights, and they currently have a parliament that is nearly half female and a female prime minister – but advocates for democracy and women’s rights say women’s rights are being used as a smokescreen for a nation bending toward authoritarianism. This summer, Tunisia adopted a new constitution, which gave the president sweeping powers and removed significant authority from parliament – and the prime minister. The Tunisian president has taken aim at many democratic institutions, shutting them down and at one point suspending parliament. Now, women’s rights advocates say, Tunisia’s female prime minister and the women who were elected to higher office are figureheads only, having no real power and simply putting a feminine face on the president’s overreaches.

Italian feminists worried for their future under a female neofascist leader:

And speaking of feminism being used as a smokescreen for authoritarianism, feminist groups in Italy are concerned about the future of women’s rights in their country under newly-elected neofascist leader Giorgia Meloni. Italian feminists have taken to the streets in protest largely in defense of abortion rights, which they understandably see as under threat – while abortion laws have liberalized in much of the world over the past several decades, the handful of countries where they have become more restrictive are almost all nations that have seen a hard right authoritarian turn: Poland, Nicaragua, and the United States. Meloni and her far-right comrades are also staunchly anti-gay – these are folks who want to censor the cartoon Peppa Pig because a polar bear character on the show has two moms, and that, they say, should not be presented to children as "as an absolutely natural fact.” It ok, apparently, to present as absolutely natural facts pigs who walk, speak with British accents, and are friends with polar bears – the truly unacceptably unnatural thing is lesbians raising a child. Ok. In any event, Italian feminists, LGBTQ rights activists, and democracy defenders all understand that Meloni and the other far right leaders who will take office with her are a direct threat to the rights of a majority of Italians – and that unfortunately, Italy may no longer be in a post-fascist era.

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Arizona reinstates abortion ban from 1864:

In the US, abortion opponents remain determined to take us back to the 19th century – in Arizona, quite literally. A judge just allowed an abortion ban penned in 1864 to go into effect, which means that when it comes to abortion, Arizona women now have about as many rights as they did at the conclusion of the Civil War. The law allows for two to five years in prison for anyone who helps a woman get an abortion. It had been unenforceable since 1973, when the Supreme Court decided Roe v. Wade. But with Roe gone, this nearly two-century-old abortion law is back in effect.

When Arizona’s 1864 abortion criminalization law passed, Arizona wasn’t even a state. The 15th Amendment, which extended the right to vote to American men, was not yet ratified, and women were still more than 50 years away from getting the right to vote themselves. Married women could not own property in their own names, and when women married, could not control either the money or property they brought into the marriage. In other words, when Arizona’s now-in-effect abortion criminalization law was passed, women were, under the eyes of the law, not separate legal persons. Women lacked legal personhood status. That is the era to which Arizona women are now being returned.

The global plot against abortion rights:

The US is not alone in being a bad actor on the world stage when it comes to abortion. A fascinating report published in Rolling Stone finds that far-right activists from Russia, Spain, and other European nations – plus, of course, American Catholics and Evangelicals – have joined forces behind CitizenGO, an organization made up of and funded by some of the world’s shadiest far-right actors. The group targets abortion and LGBTQ rights all over the world, recently taking credit for tanking abortion rights legislation in Kenya and a law that would throw LGBTQ people in Ghana in jail for long criminal sentences. CitizenGO has spent huge sums of money manipulating social media in Kenya, and in launching serious attacks on Kenyan activists and politicians who support women’s and LGBT rights. And while one of CitizenGO’s talking points in Africa is that women’s rights and the very existence of LGBT people is a Western, colonial import, in reality it’s CitzenGO that is a Western, colonial import, coming in from the outside to undermine local human rights campaigns and even free speech – in Ghana, a proposed bill tied to CitizenGO would mandate that anyone aware of homosexual activity report it to the police, throw gay people in jail, and allow for prison sentences of up to ten years for publishing anything that “promotes” homosexuality. This group, funded in part by Russian oligarchs and known criminals, continues to shape the future of abortion and LGBT rights in some of Africa’s most stable, growing democracies – undermining not just women’s rights and LGBT rights, but the civil societies, democratic futures, and economic potential of those nations.

Case against Chinese billionaire reopens #MeToo debate in China:

Chinese businessman and billionaire Richard Liu is being tried in an American court after a woman in Minneapolis said he raped her. Although prosecutors declined to bring charges, she is suing him in what could be a watershed moment for China’s still-nascent #MeToo movement. While Chinese women have been speaking out about sexual violence and harassment, the Chinese Communist Party has tried to shut down their claims. For speaking out, the woman at the heart of this case has been attacked and threatened on social media. Still, she is refusing to back down, and her case has opened up an important conversation in China about sexual assault, gender, power, and victim-blaming.

Covid vaccines and menstruation:

When you got the Covid vaccine, do you swear it affected your period? You’re not crazy: A new study of some 20,000 people worldwide who were vaccinated against Covid-19 found that, yes, Covid vaccination delayed menstruation by an average of one day. Not much to add there other than no, you weren’t making it up, and while the jury is still out on whether Covid vaccination causes other changes to menstruation, it’s heartening that this research is underway and women are getting answers.

Women rising up in Iran:

In Iran, protests continue as women and men alike demonstrate against the nation’s theocratic regime and the morality police that activists say killed a 22-year-old woman, Mahsa Amini, who was in their custody for allegedly wearing her hijab incorrectly and wound up dead. They are fighting a regime of violent misogyny and gender apartheid, and some of them are paying for it with their lives, as Iranian security forces launch violent attacks against the protesters, jailing hundreds and killing dozens.

And yet many Western feminists are strikingly silent on what is currently the largest women’s rights protest in the world. Iranian feminists are saying: Stand with us. Exiled Iranian feminist Masih Alinejad, who lives in an FBI safe house after Iranian intelligence officials plotted to kidnap her and who avoided an assassination attempt at her home this summer, writes in the Washington Post that “The true feminists and women’s rights activists are those in Afghanistan and Iran who are stepping forward, at great cost, to resist the Taliban and Islamic republic. They are the true feminist leaders of the 21st century, risking their lives by facing guns and bullets. They will go on fighting against the regimes, and we who have the privilege to live in free countries should actively amplify their voices. This is the moment for women in the West to stand with Iran’s mothers, daughters and sisters.” She continues: “My wish is for all of us to be louder than the tyrants. I call on the free world to join the protesters in calling for an end to the murderous regime of the ayatollahs. Iranian women are fighting to recover our dignity and exercise our personal freedoms — so that, one day, all Iranians can finally choose our government in free and fair elections. We shouldn’t be afraid of the religious fanatics and the jihadists. They are the ones who are frightened. It is why they seek to keep women down. Women in the streets are paying with their lives for change. But too many in the outside world are shaking hands with our murderers. I am asking all Western feminists to speak up. Join us. Make a video. Cut your hair. Burn a headscarf. Share it on social media and boost Iranian voices. Use your freedom to say her name. Her name was Mahsa Amini.”

Women the world over will be marching on October 1 in solidarity with Iranian women’s rights activists. Join them.