Better feminism?

Something I’ve reflected on more than once while experiencing Bolivia is the self-asserted “correctness” of the “Western” model of development. I’m not speaking towards economic development models at the moment (though there is certainly content to be discussed there). I’ve been pondering more the crossing and conquest of modern cultures and ontologies. For example, feminism. In the post-modern age identity has become increasing removed from long-standing social norms. What does it mean to be a woman? What does it mean to be a man? These cultural shifts are just that – changes in culture. Not all cultures are the same. One cultures values aren’t necessarily correct, something that is forgotten frequently in the United States. 

Back to feminism now. What it means to be a woman in Bolivia isn’t necessarily the same as what it means to one in the United States. Just because the United States is changing doesn’t mean Bolivia must too. Just because the United State is changing, doesn’t also signify the change is for the better. Relativity.

We visited an NGO that worked with women this past Monday. Centered in El Alto, women could come in and take seamstress (I know that’s a ‘feminine’ word please remain calm) and cooking workshops. On the day we visited, they were learning how to make traditional Aymaran woman’s clothing. In the kitchen they were baking cakes. There was a daycare for their children. A popular radio station has broadcasted their ideals for years now. Many of the minibuses listen to their station.

In this feminism, a place is reserved for women. They strengthen their identity, reinforce what they know. Alternatively, in the more metropolitan areas of La Paz, Feminina stores, letters of emblazoned pink, have started popping up, selling lacy undergarmets and other "feminine" products. Start contrast to the intricate skirts made in the NGO's workshops. In the United States, the media coverage of feminism often only shows the other extreme, that women are raging against the system to achieve some ideal of equality, tossing out old identifiers. Free the nipple. And entirely different response to the gender's norms. Surely, history and previous social norms play a large role in current feminisms. Birth control as freedom in the US, birth control as patriarchy and control in some indigenous feminist circles here. Puritanism, indigenous-colonial norms. I think all of this raises profoundly interesting questions about values and truth. Can we be sure that one way, one method, one belief, is better than another?