By Eliana Sousa Silva
There are many different reasons why women fight around the world. Every March 8th, media articles and various events draw our attention to the challenges that billions of women face daily, in different levels and ways. International Women's Day can also be a moment of reflection on the meaning and importance of this date, which globally evokes the unequal and historical condition of women compared to men.
In this text, I emphasize the struggle of women in slums and marginalized areas, mostly black women. They are particularly affected in their most basic rights from the moment they are born. In this perspective, it is important to remember that the much-propagated gender equality, something that many women's movements seek to achieve, often does not include these women, nor do its results impact their lives.
However, this does not mean that women living in slums and marginalized areas have stopped creating their own forms of action and leadership in the struggles they have led for changes in various aspects of their lives. I understand that feminism, as amovement of struggle, has been fundamental in materializing many women's demands over time. But it is necessary to recognize that these struggles often have not incorporated the needs and issues of specific groups of women.
Jude Kelly and Eliana side by side during the Women of the World Festival in 2018. Photo by Douglas Lopes.
The waves that characterize feminism over time have sought the right to political participation for women and the guarantee of women's suffrage; they have claimed reproductive rights and sexuality as a priority. In a third wave, feminism has shown that we cannot discuss women's rights without considering their living conditions, sexuality, and race together.
This perspective undoubtedly highlights the challenges we face in taking action from a perspective that breaks the inequalities imposed in the various forms of being a woman. It is in this expanded view that we need to recognize that it is no longer acceptable to tolerate the violence that affects transgender women simply because they embrace that identity in the world. We can no longer think of these women outside the feminine place they occupy. I cannot see how we can be feminists and not recognize the oppression and phobia that these women experience throughout their lives to secure their place in the world.
At this moment, it is important to remember the trajectory of Cristiane Rodrigues da Costa, a transgender woman living in Nova Holanda (one of the 16 favelas in Maré), for the way she affirmed her place in the world. Cris, as she was known, died a month ago, run over on Avenida Brasil. At birth, she was given the name Cristiano Rodrigues da Costa. Since childhood, as she recounted in an interview, she identified herself in a female body; she wanted her name to be different. She fought a lot, even with her family, to assert her desires to live as she believed. She succeeded, despite the struggle to live and not be violated and insulted, as happened many times. A black woman who suffered greatly to be respected and recognized in her power. She remained true to her purposes and followed her own path with dignity, even though she experienced physical violence many times.
When I look at Cris' trajectory and see the power of her affirmation as a person and a woman, I ask myself: Why did she suffer so much to affirm who she was, what she wanted to be? Why did her life and way of being bother so many people? The answer to these and other concerns that I carry when thinking about the reasons (if they exist) that lead a significant part of society to disrespect women and their ways of existing lies in racism, ignorance, and conservatism, which structure Brazilian society. That is why I profoundly believe that there is no life, no models of sustainable existence that do not involve the action of women.
Eliana Sousa Silva is the founder and director of Redes da Maré and holds a doctorate in social work.
Rio de Janeiro, March 8, 2022. Maré de Notícias.
