feminism “made in China”

I have a friend who just returned from 3 weeks in New Zealand. Together with tons of stories and beautiful pictures of forests, mountains and valleys, she brought me a little feminist magazine: MUSE - “a Wellington based zine that aims to provide space for the voices of young feminist women in Aotearoa New Zealand”. Reading it was almost a mystical experience as it seems so foreign and exotic to know that this little fanzine comes from this far-away land that I didn’t actually know anything about. So I am kind of having first hand experience with certain issues that I usually only mention as general theoretical facts (like “rest of the world” or “Asia”) and don’t really have knowledge about. I realize more and more how European-centered I have grown. I realize how my open-mindness is still shyly buzzing under a thick blanket of self-centrism, self-importance, and self-indulgence, by now already arrived as “intrinsic” in our western civilization. The struggles expressed by women writing articles in MUSE are not only geographically on the other side of the planet but also poles apart from what we struggle with. And I realize that my fight for equality and justice can, without any intent or knowledge, easily become an enemy to the fight for equality and justice of other women situated in these “far away” foreign places. Like a butterfly effect... caused mostly by lack of awareness of these “exotic” experiences, cultures and political views.

One of them talks about how Asian women’s experience in feminist spaces has often been entirely focused on the analysis of sex and gender and how they often felt that “the dynamic between non-white women and white women is not talked about much”. Also how “even less discussed is the impact that liberal white women’s rights have had [and probably still do have] on non-white women”.

For example, one important western feminist issue is the fight for women’s right to work outside the home. I always considered that one of the core issues of feminism that contributes to the end of women’s exploitation. Honestly, it never occurred to me that this may not be a common international issue and approach of feminism. And it could apply to our white (western) society and culture, but that doesn’t make it global. And I read now how “[Asian women] may not be fighting for [their] right to work outside the home, because many of [them] already do” that for a long time: they work in factories in minimum wage jobs. Some clean white rich people’s houses since liberation of white women had taken them out to work together with men.

And sometimes our white judgemental minds raise an eyebrow at the sound of a feminist woman not supporting that core fight of equality. Even if she comes from a different culture or geographic region, I wonder how many of us care to understand her reasons for not considering our goals and fights an example of good practice. Instead of listening, many of us would feel offended by such remarks and just shut down their enthusiasm towards her and her “far away” issues that won’t make sense.

Now I’m thinking of how many times I checked the labels of the products I bought and found written on them the familiar “Made in China”, or other Asian countries that I might not even know where to locate on the map. It’s true that lately every time I read that, I have in my mind some dramatic picture of women that are exploited by a system that cares more about industry then people. A lot of them are probably working for under wage so that I can be happy to buy a “cheap” pair of socks, or shoes or a t-shirt.

The whole Europe is blooming with such products. We buy those things because they are “cheap”, or because we don’t make political statements when we’re out shopping, or we believe that encourages capitalist growth in developing countries; sometimes because they are the only option on the market or maybe we just can’t give them up ...and that’s it! But outrageously disgusting is to check the labels of the clothes in the big corporations’ stores... for example, the clothes we buy at exorbitant prices and are still made through exploitation of those Asian (mostly) women that might not be “feminist enough” for us when tackling politics. I wonder how many of the white feminists from the Western world check the labels of the products they want to buy. And how many decide not to buy them anymore because “they care for a better world for women”... and after all, for how many “that world” includes “ALL WOMEN”.

Then, “in the quest for equal gender opportunities within the workplace, I would question whether the mission for some white feminist women is to join white men on the capitalist ladder of privilege and monetary gain, as opposed to challenging the power held by mainly rich white men and exerted over women of all ethnicities as well as poor people across the world”.


“For me as a queer Asian woman living in Aotearoa, resisting assimilation, actively resisting racism and white supremacy, challenging class elitism, dismantling capitalism that degrades people and the land, and decolonizing myself and my community are all feminist issues.”