The Point: Spring 2018

For women who are
privileged enough to
have constitutional
rights, thinking about
women who are
second-class
citizens in other
nations may be
difficult.
“It is only now that there is actually
finally a response. To expect the rest of
the world to kind of catch up quickly,
even though there are statistics that
show there are other countries that
seem to have less gender equality, but
they have female presidents and female
politicians, is unrealistic,” Yuen said.
Yuen further considers how people in the
U.S. make the mistake of believing they are
much further along than other countries.
“In actuality there are things [other
countries] have that we’re not even
there yet, in terms of female presidents.
India has had a female president,
and yet we consider India so far
behind,” Yuen said. “Not that having
a female president is a guarantee of
gender equality, but that is one sign of
acceptance of women in leadership.”
The Me Too movement is said to be for
everyone, yet Yuen believes it only became
a national conversation after famous
white actors became the face of it.
“Half of Bill Cosby’s accusers were women
of color, and none of these created a
movement.” Yuen said. “Me Too took
off because of the famous actresses
people identify the movement with. Of
course they’re white; the Hollywood
elite are predominately white.”
While the white Hollywood elite brought
forth the Me Too movement in full
force, the place of women of color may
remain ambiguous, such as in the cases
of actresses Lupita Nyong’o and Salma
Hayek’s experiences of sexual assault
by film producer, Harvey Weinstein.
“When Lupita Nyong’o and Salma Hayek
accused Harvey Weinstein, he did not
respond to any of the white women that
accused him, but he discounted Lupita
Nyong’o and Salma Hayek’s stories. He
publicly discounted their stories, but didn’t
discount any of the white women.” Yuen said.
“Even in the U.S., women of color occupy
a lower status in terms of believability and
legitimacy. If it’s happening with Lupita
Nyong’o, who is an Oscar winner, how can we
expect that women of color in other countries
[will] be even thought of or cared for?”
Azarin Sadegh, an Iranian writer, left Iran
with the hope of going somewhere where
she would be seen as an equal. Though
she feels more freedom in the U.S., she is
surprised to see women here still endure
similar battles to those of Iranian women.
“As an Iranian, [reporting harassment]
is something you never think about it
because you’re used to it. As a woman
you’re used to being harrassed and living
like a second degree citizen, and you
never think about it,” Sadegh said. “Even
here, you realize that even women in the
U.S., they have the same kind of issues.”
Sadegh explains that in Iran, it feels as
though all laws are against and restricting
women, and though U.S. women still
face inequality, U.S. laws still seem
to say women are equal to men.
“Right now there is this kind of movement in
Iran where women take off their hijab and go
and stand in the street, and they carry their scarf
like a flag. They say they are trying to hang or
kill their scarves,” Sadegh said. “It is a movement
against forced hijab, and these women are
being arrested; they are being attacked.”
In countries where protest is strictly
prohibited, the Me Too movement may
only serve as a source to inspire hope
for the future. Sadegh discusses the
ineffectivenes of a Western person bringing
in Western thought into a country like Iran.
“I don’t think that the Me Too movement
does anything in a country like Iran. In that
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