Feminism, the dam against the extreme right

Dossier Women's rights: not one step back Desplega

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Women's resistance

BarcelonaWith the far right gaining ground in parliaments and governments and women's rights threatened around the world, we spoke to four women who are fighting against this regression of rights in four areas: sexual and reproductive rights, labour rights, the rise of sexism among young people and new forms of hatred. Feminism and feminists as a dam against anti-rights discourse.

"When women organize, they change the world"

Two decades of conservative Popular Party governments have placed the Community of Madrid in an advanced position in the attacks on women's sexual and reproductive rights, one of the favourite targets of far-right groups to gain social space. Gemma Candela is a member of the Commission for the Right to Abortion in Madrid, an entity that fights in the political sphere so that "not a single step is taken back" in all the conquests that have cost sacrifices and years and that, despite being made law, are not fulfilled. "Access to abortion is not guaranteed," says the activist, who gives data: only 71 of the 17,870 abortions performed last year in the region were carried out in the public system. Candela denounces that to have an abortion in the public system, a "treasure hunt" designed by the regional government must be carried out to make the process a path full of obstacles. All women who request a free pregnancy intervention (as well as the pharmacological method) must first go through a regional office that gives them a favourable report in order to request an appointment for the intervention in one of the seven accredited clinics. All these centres are located in the city of Madrid, and the office only serves during office hours in the morning, so care is complicated for women who live in towns without good public transport connections, or those who are in more vulnerable situations.

For Candela, it is no coincidence that Madrid has been the venue for the meeting of far-right parties and movements, because in the Spanish capital for many years anti-abortion activists have been very well organised and have held rallies in front of authorised clinics, such as the veteran Dator. Groups opposed to women's freedom move there and call them "murderers", and to intimidate them they have planted a huge banner on a nearby building with the faces of smiling babies. They even invite women who go to the clinic to a seemingly harmless coffee that actually prevents the woman from undergoing the abortion because she has broken the prescribed fast. "The police do nothing and they tell us that they only pray, but they tell you that you kill children and they accuse you of paedophilia," complains Candela, who also emphasises "the violence prior to 8-M" against organised feminists. In the last three years, the National Police has arrested activists "senselessly" every year. However, the activist emphasises that, despite the retrograde air, women must mobilise because - he says - when women organise "they change the world". And he gives the example of the force against the PP's reform to return to the restrictive abortion law of 1985. "We must not forget that women threw out [Alberto] Ruiz Gallardón [Minister of Justice who resigned because his proposal did not prosper]". How do you combat the ultra-right discourse? "There comes a point when you can no longer do any more pedagogy and you choose to move in more comfortable groups."

"Visibility has the penalty that it is paid for by suffering violence against you"

The first time that the journalist and writer Irantzu Varela He was attacked in 2011: after publishing a text On her blog, an anonymous person sent her to wash dishes. Three years later, she received a death threat for a video she had published in a section of the newspaper Public. Since then, the extremists have been attacking this Basque feminist activist, although she maintains that, rather than noticing an increase in violence, she does notice "a greater social awareness." Comments and insults that until recently were allowed to pass and normalized, are no longer the case. "The awareness that feminism gives to recognize violence and point it out makes it seem like it happens more," she says. "We have let them tell us "whore," "brat," "I'll kill you" or "go back home," and now they are winning elections," she adds.

Varela signs What remains (Contintametías), a kind of feminist memoir in which she reviews episodes of violence due to being a "visible" and uncomfortable woman, while also highlighting how she has done so to heal the wounds. She has received insults on social networks and by mail, but she has also been harassed near her home. She has reported everything, "legally advised", but the complaints have not prospered because - she stresses - the laws are not on the side of women, and even less so of feminists. Far from being intimidated and keeping quiet, she believes that the only way is "agitation and propaganda", making yourself seen and heard to shut up. Of course, "unfortunately visibility has the condemnation that it is paid for by suffering violence against you." It is unfair, but there is nothing to be done.

The activist points out that the great mistake has been to minimize the danger of these ultra groups to the point that it was said that they were "four people gathered together," when in reality their ability to obtain financing and organize at all levels has been demonstrated. "Now we pay the consequences of being tolerant of the intolerant," he says, and affirms that there has been a sin in enforcing the principle of "freedom of expression" in order not to react to furious attacks against women and other groups. In this sense, Varela defends that space cannot be given to these groups, and cites as a warning that "at a table with one Nazi and nine listening there are actually ten Nazis." According to him, feminism is the sharpest tool that exists today to fight against this ultra wave that wants women "slacked" to maintain the privileges of the patriarchy. On the other hand, social networks, especially X following Elon Musk's purchase, are channels that facilitate the proliferation of sexist, racist and anti-LGTBIQ+ messages and postulates, because hidden algorithms help give voice to some and silence others. He says that it is now more difficult for his messages to have greater relevance, while ultra-right accounts have a lot to gain. He is clear that digital violence is a breeding ground for other types of violence.

"We are not doing something right if young people think they will have more freedoms under far-right governments"

Far-right ideology has managed to infiltrate the world of young people through social media and by using plain language that connects with this public. Although there is an increase in attitudes and discourses anchored to the right and the extreme right among young people, the feminist social psychologist and co-director of the consultancy G360, Gemma Altell, also asks not to exaggerate the percentage of young people who agree with this discourse: "One of the interests of the extreme right is equality," she argues.

However, anti-feminist and anti-gender discourses are taking hold among a part of the youth. They are easy speeches that touch the heart. "One of the things we should learn from the extreme right is the ability to give simple, forceful and easy-to-understand arguments, because we are not doing something right if young people think that with far-right governments they will have more freedoms," says Altell, who notes that the arguments of the left-wing parties have always "been". "Because the world is complex and we want to maintain that complexity, but that doesn't help to transmit arguments in a massive way," she adds. The challenge is to translate it into a language that reaches people. "The extreme right is knowing how to connect with people - with false expectations, of course - by listing the real problems that people perceive they have. But it doesn't offer solutions," she says.

Altell also notes that feminism and equality are no longer seen as "revolutionary issues." In addition, adolescents and young people need, as part of their life stage, to distance themselves from their parents. And this works against them. If the majority discourse among their parents is equality and feminism, they distance themselves. And what to do? This psychologist recommends fleeing from adult-centric positions and stopping to listen to young people. "That means having to listen to things we don't want to hear, but it is from here that we can ask questions that allow for reflection. If you ask a young person what Trump can contribute, they can argue. Because if we give them the answers, critical thinking is not encouraged," she says.

We also have to be self-critical. Many young people have been thrown off balance by the feminist advance, and the way in which feminism is being explained does not help: "We must flee from indoctrinating and lecturing positions, because we know that it does not work." And how to do it? "We must generate more spaces for debate and create contexts in which it is allowed to talk about what is politically incorrect, because only by listening can we support critical reflection," she adds.

The latest data showed that 30% of young people do not believe in democracy. There are many historical gaps. "They don't know Franco's regime and for young people a totalitarian system is, at best, an abstract concept.", says Altell, who proposes making changes to the teaching of history in schools to ensure that the syllabus relating to the most recent history is taught, which is what "has marked and conditioned the times in which we live." "It is our responsibility." And he warns: "We still do not know the extent of the fact that some young people do not know what it is about."

"Nothing will be consolidated if we don't keep fighting"

Precarious jobs. Lower wages. Layoffs coinciding with pregnancy. Women who are asked in a job interview if they have children or want to have children. Self-employed women who cannot afford maternity leave or sick leave. There are many situations in which women's labour rights are threatened. In addition, the gender pay gap has been reduced by only 200 euros since 2008. Women earn 6,200 euros less than men per year.

There have also been advances, some of which They also benefit men. The new family law, for example, has brought about improvements to facilitate conciliation, although the eight-week paid leave is still pending. But Cristina Torre, secretary of trade union action for CCOO in Catalonia, She warns that with the current geopolitical situation "there may be a regression of rights." "Nothing is consolidated if we do not continue fighting, and this is the best way to combat the extreme right and the radical right," she adds.

Torre recalls that many of the union struggles translate into improvements for women, and assures that the negotiations of collective agreements in the workplace must be carried out with a gender perspective to end the wage differences between men and women. She defends the draft law to reduce the working day from 40 to 37.5 hours, which should serve, she says, to adapt to the current transformation of the workplace: "Nobody works like they did in the 1980s." "The productivity we have today in an hour of work is not the same as 40 years ago," she says. According to Torre, the reduction of this working day must be seen "from a feminist and class perspective": "It should allow us to live better, to better distribute care work, women cannot spend more hours than men caring for our relatives," she says. She adds: "Those who have money to pay caregivers for their children or for the care of the elderly do not need to reduce their working hours. It is as important to continue raising salaries as it is to distribute work by reducing working hours." The average annual salary of women in 2022 was 24,359 euros and that of men, 29,381, 17% less, according to the latest data published by the INE.

Socially, care tasks have been feminized, poorly paid sectors that have enjoyed little social recognition. "And it is no coincidence, because we are in a sexist society," says the number 2 of CCOO in Catalonia. "We must have a society that is willing to pay for care work properly, and what has been done is to outsource these services. This part of the welfare state must be strengthened, which is why we are calling for a care pact to strengthen these public services for all citizens."

Regarding the rise of the extreme right, Torre also calls for self-criticism. "The fact that there are extreme right-wing majorities in an election means that there are working people who have voted for them. And the fact that people vote against their interests means that we are not explaining well what those interests are," she argues. For Cristina Torre, the struggle of working women is the struggle of feminism. "We have a lot of work to do so that men also understand that improving women's rights is not against anyone, but in favour of the working class as a whole," she concludes.