SORAYA CHEMALY: RIGHTS AND RAGE

Washington DC-based author and feminist activist Soraya Chemaly believes women’s anger can be a powerful force for social justice

- Aekta Kapoor

In April 2020, Soraya Chemaly wrote a prescient article in NBC Think about how Coronavirus could hurt women the most, and how to prevent a “patriarchal pandemic”. “Societies that value women and their time, work and health tend to be the world’s healthiest, for women, children and men,” the Washington DC-based feminist activist wrote. “The United States is not among them.”

A year down the line, it was clear that her prediction was spot on, not just for the US but the whole world. Women’s income decreased up to 60 percent during the first lockdown months, and 50 million more women are estimated to have slipped under the poverty line. Women’s share of unpaid care work at home went up, domestic violence increased, and job losses hit them worse.

And it’s clear that societies still aren’t valuing women. A new survey last month of over 200 women’s rights organisations across 38 countries found that grassroots organisations fighting for gender justice have consistently had their funding slashed during the pandemic.

“IF EVER THERE WAS A TIME NOT TO SILENCE YOURSELF, TO CHANNEL YOUR ANGER INTO HEALTHY CHOICES, THIS IS IT”

For Soraya, the award-winning author of the phenomenal bestseller Rage Becomes Her: The Power of Women’s Anger (Atria Books, 2018), it is clear that crisis situations – like pandemics – only exacerbate fault lines that already exist in any society, and if women are to make any progress, they’ll need to harness their anger to fight for equality. “If ever there was a time not to silence yourself, to channel your anger into healthy places and choices, this is it,” she writes.