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People in the south receive no sex education, voter suppression and dismissal about reproductive issues due to their location in the US. This is why reproductive justice was nourished in the South.

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Womanism heavily focuses on the issues and conditions that black women must endure and the struggles they face. We have talked a lot about social perception, and the inequality these women here in Pittsburgh face is not only a failure of our system but also a failure for black women (especially mothers) to be socially perceived as equal and having their issues be heard or believed to be worthwhile. They are constantly pushed under the rug.

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Gender Entrapment leaves Black femmes vulnerable from every angle. Black femmes freedom is imperative to the reproductive freedom of all people.

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Religion is weaponized to distract from the truth that reproductive autonomy has existed for thousands of years in many religions. This is an important part of Womanist theology.

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In this 2021 Bloomberg article Deesha Philyaw expresses her discontent with the city of Pittsburgh and its inequality in regards to black women. She talks a lot about her personal success, and why she is so eager to leave Pittsburgh for good.

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The Not-So Secret Lives of Pittsburgh Black Women 

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The Not-So Secret Lives of Pittsburgh Black Women 

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"It’s fair to say I’ve achieved what I’ve achieved despite Pittsburgh, not because of it"
Deesha Philyaw

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Islamophobia rises in France as presidential election nears

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Muslims have increasingly been portrayed as a threat to French society under Macron's presidency, analysts say.

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With another runoff between Macron and Le Pen looming, France's obsession with Islam continues to disenfranchise voters and undermine the true separation of church and state.

Research Officer at the London School of Economics' Religion and Global Society Research Unit

Assistant Professorial Research Fellow at the London School of Economics' Religion and Global Society Research Unit

A woman holds a placard reading "Freedom leads all the people" as protesters demonstrate against a bill dubbed as "anti-separatism", in Paris on February 14, 2021 [Geoffroy Van Der Hasselt/AFP]

Emmanuel Macron may have won the first round of France's presidential election, but the success of right-wing candidate Marine Le Pen, who came in second with 23.1 percent of the vote, paints a worrying picture of the future of French politics.

Le Pen's surge was in part due to her ability to focus on the cost of living and repaint herself as a moderate nationalist. But anti-immigrant and anti-Islamic attitudes, often wrapped up as a defence of "French culture", remain a bulwark of her appeal.

Le Pen's popularity demonstrates that divisive rhetoric holds political currency in France. Yet it is no longer solely the preserve of the far right. This year's presidential election saw candidates from across the political spectrum attempt to outdo each other as defenders of "laïcité" (separation of church and state). At one point in 2021, Macron's interior minister Gérald Darmanin even accused Le Pen of going "soft" on Islam.

France's obsession with Islam is based on the concept that the state is secular in nature. Yet every political statement or government policy that seeks to protect laïcité and regulate Islam contradictorily entangles state and religion ever closer. Not only does this undermine any true division between religious and political spheres, but hinders genuine political dialogue over France's rich cultural and religious tapestry.

An obsession with 'political' Islam

Attacks on Islamic "values" became an acceptable mainstay of political discourse under President Sarkozy, who frequently framed his anti-Muslim policies as a defence of laïcité. After the murder of Samuel Paty by an ISIL sympathiser, Macron has adopted a similar tenor, launched a crackdown on Muslim civil society organisations, and undermined academic freedom by commissioning a study on the alleged expansion of Islamo-leftist (Islamo-Gauchiste) ideology at French universities.

While Macron's efforts to curb religious "extremism" may seem rational, they also evoke an uncomfortable truth as to who truly counts as fully French and what can be considered a proper interpretation of French society. As Reza Zia-Ebrahimi writes, laïcité is not a fixed set of values, and its lurch towards a right-wing anti-Islamism has occurred incrementally over several decades.

Yet it is law-abiding Muslims that have often felt the real-life consequences. The recent anti-separatism bill against Islamist "extremism" gives French authorities greater power to intervene in religious associations and limits foreign funding. Over the past year, there have been a number of cases where French authorities have used administrative procedures to close down mosques, schools, Muslim food stands and even a leading anti-discrimination group, the Collective Against Islamophobia in France.

A 'culture war' by any other name

Macron has denied France is in the throes of a US or UK-style "culture war", but the language of laïcité denotes an anxiety about cultural loss and anti-immigrant sentiment that the European right has been exploiting for decades. Islamophobia is sadly commonplace across Europe and the US, but whereas Islamophobia is recognised (albeit sometimes disingenuously) by political leaders in most Western countries, French politicians refute the very existence of any anti-Muslim stigma. Instead, "Islamophobia" is seen as a ploy by an "Islamo-leftist" front to silence defenders of French culture.

This double-denial silences debate over France's rich cultural and religious heterogeneity. Instead, uniformity is considered the basis of belonging, with little attention paid to the power and backgrounds of who gets to delineate the ethical contours of such an identity. As Muslim migrants are not recognised along ethnic lines, discrimination against Muslims is understood as religious critique rather than cultural disenfranchisement. Such criticism is defended as a legitimate expression of free speech in a secular society, and those who voice unease with the nature of such critique are either labelled as leftist Islamic sympathisers or outright Islamists.

This leaves little space for French Muslims - whether they practice Islam or not - to genuinely contribute to political debates on their terms. Muslim French citizens - despite many being second or third-generation sons and daughters of immigrants - are disenfranchised through simultaneous demands that they assimilate while excluding them through spatial, legal, and security measures. The broader intersectionality of contemporary French identity is ignored as a threat to the privileged position of traditional culture.

Reclaiming laïcité?

Sadly, with the final presidential runoff between Macron and Le Pen only weeks away, there is little prospect that anti-Islamic political feeling will dissipate anytime soon. It is seen as an easy vote-winner, and neither candidate will be willing to dent their "cultural" credentials.

But, in the long term, any genuine effort to end France's sensationalist obsession with Islam will require recognition of the diversity amongst the country's six million Muslim citizens and the creation of genuinely open spaces within which religion can be discussed without state interference. Only by doing so can the ideal of laïcité be reclaimed from its current right-wing interpretation and lead to true free debate.
The views expressed in this article are the author's own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeera's editorial stance.

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The French culture war over Islam shows no sign of abating

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With another runoff between Macron and Le Pen looming, France's obsession with Islam continues to disenfranchise voters and undermine the true separation of church and state.

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'a ploy by an “Islamo-leftist” front to silence defenders of French culture.'

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ran for president against Macron this year and lost

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France is home to the largest Muslim population in the "Western" world

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no overt symbols of religion at work for public officials

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2010 - complete ban on burka & niqab that can result in €150 fine

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compared used of public spaces for Muslim prayer to Nazi occupation of France

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Despite loss, RN won highest number of seats in the National Assembly since its founding

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Despite loss, RN won highest number of seats in the National Assembly since its founding

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The biggest winner on the night, according to these first estimates, is Marine Le Pen's National Rally party with 89 seats, 11 times more than it won back in 2017.The National Rally will be able to form a parliamentary group (minimum 15 seats) for the first time since Le Pen's father's National Front won 35 seats in 1986, during a rare French experiment with proportional voting.

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France: Marine Le Pen's National Rally estimated to win 89 seats - France 24

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The biggest winner on the night, according to these first estimates, is Marine Le Pen's National Rally party with 89 seats, 11 times more than it won back in 2017.The National Rally will be able to form a parliamentary group (minimum 15 seats) for the first time since Le Pen's father's National Front won 35 seats in 1986, during a rare French experiment with proportional voting.

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"commissioning a study on the alleged expansion of Islamo-leftist (Islamo-Gauchiste) ideology at French universities"

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"The language of laïcité denotes an anxiety about cultural loss and anti-immigrant sentiment that the European right has been exploiting for decades."

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Muslims who veil are seen as a threat - the community of Islam is a threat to individuality

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How France's Latest Hijab Controversy Fits Into History

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To understand the controversy over the hijab in France means looking at the deep history behind the debate.

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laïcité - constitutional principle of secularism

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"If it was about giving Muslim women more agency, then in that case, you could let them or let all women wear whatever they wanted,” says Al-Saji. “But it’s actually about controlling what women wear and how they appear and what gets seen and that their bodies are seen, this kind of colonial male desire, that constructs Muslim women as trapped and pawns of their culture and needing to be unveiled.” (NYT, 2021)

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a visible symbol of resistance to colonization

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For every dollar made by a white man in Pittsburgh, a white woman makes 78 cents; Black women make 54.

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View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Diet Prada ™ (@diet_prada)

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(Howell, Junia, Sara Goodkind, Leah Jacobs, Dominique Branson and ElizabethMiller. 2019. "Pittsburgh's Inequality across Gender and Race." Gender AnalysisWhite Papers. City of Pittsburgh's Gender Equity Commission.)

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(Howell, Junia, Sara Goodkind, Leah Jacobs, Dominique Branson and ElizabethMiller. 2019. "Pittsburgh's Inequality across Gender and Race." Gender AnalysisWhite Papers. City of Pittsburgh's Gender Equity Commission.)

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The Female Soccer Players Challenging France’s Hijab Ban

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France’s soccer federation forbids hijab-wearing women from competing in soccer games, even though FIFA allows them. A collective of Muslim players is fighting what it considers a discriminatory rule.

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(Howell, Junia, Sara Goodkind, Leah Jacobs, Dominique Branson and ElizabethMiller. 2019. "Pittsburgh's Inequality across Gender and Race." Gender AnalysisWhite Papers. City of Pittsburgh's Gender Equity Commission.)

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(Howell, Junia, Sara Goodkind, Leah Jacobs, Dominique Branson and ElizabethMiller. 2019. "Pittsburgh's Inequality across Gender and Race." Gender AnalysisWhite Papers. City of Pittsburgh's Gender Equity Commission.)

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"Black girls and women suffer from higher poverty rates, birth defect rates, death rates, unemployment rates, and school arrest rates than black girls and women in just about every other city examined in this study."

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Pittsburgh Inequality Across Gender and Race (Howell, Junia, Sara Goodkind, Leah Jacobs, Dominique Branson and ElizabethMiller. 2019. "Pittsburgh's Inequality across Gender and Race." Gender AnalysisWhite Papers. City of Pittsburgh's Gender Equity Commission.)

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Pittsburgh Inequality Across Gender and Race (Howell, Junia, Sara Goodkind, Leah Jacobs, Dominique Branson and ElizabethMiller. 2019. "Pittsburgh's Inequality across Gender and Race." Gender AnalysisWhite Papers. City of Pittsburgh's Gender Equity Commission.)

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A report released in 2019 that evaluates the livability of Pittsburgh across different gender and races. The conditions for black women in Pittsburgh are dire.

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"When it comes to unemployment, most racial groups in Pittsburgh lag behind peers in other cities. But no one lags like black Pittsburgh women." (Bloomberg 2019)

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Community
- Women's rights placed at the core of struggle for freedom that crosses generational and gender lines
Radical self love
- Activists use their art, intellect, and life to combat oppressive forces
Refusal to conform
- Iranian women are lawyers, doctors, writers and poets, athletes and 60% of university students despite inequality and oppression

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"It’s a political and feminist error to treat the protest of the Iranian women as a protest only against wearing the hijab...  The same gender apartheid encompasses very broad issues such as the marriage of minor girls, custody of children, freedom of movement without the approval of a guardian, employment rights and a long list of matrimonial laws that discriminate against Iranian women and subject them to the absolute control of the men. That is what they are protesting."

- Rajaa Natour

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13 cities across Iran immediately erupted into protest following Jina's death

Protests largely peaceful but met with lethal force

Thousands have been injured and over 400 killed - women, men, and children

Iranian government has disrupted internet access and blocked messaging apps

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"This is not culture, it is force." -Asieh Amini

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"This is not culture, it is force." -Asieh Amini

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The current hijab policy does not respect the different forms of dress worn by various ethnic and religious groups.
Persians, Kurds, Azerbaijanis, Lurs, Gilakis, Arabs, Balochi and Turkmens make up the mixed society of Iran, and each has its own colors, patterns, and styles of hijab.
- Joshua Askew

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“Reproductive Justice Framework” or the combination of reproductive rights and social justice is a term coined by black women in the United States to explain the components of neglect that people face when they have intersections within their identity.

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Ecospirtuality is an important factor of Womanist theology. Ecospirtuality proposes concepts about Black women’s spiritual and bodily autonomy connecting to their ecological surroundings. This is deeply weaved into our relationship with nature and the environment. This concept perpetuates that we are all linked to each other through nature. Through the lens of reproductive rights this could also be applied to Indigenous practices of abortion that find it to be a bodily right relating to balance in creation.

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Womanist theology centers the liberation of Black women's relationship and role to religion in their community. Many religions and spiritual practices have beliefs that abortion procedures are a holy, or natural right of God/Earth.

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What is choice for someone who does not receive the education, environment, and support necessary to have autonomy in the first place? Reproductive Justice in the South targets this very idea.

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"Any movement based primarily on the right to choice thus favours predominantly White middle-class women who are able to make reproductive decisions more easily than poor or low-income women and women of colour, whose options are limited by their social location"

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“Jin, Jian, Azadi!”

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Iranian Women’s Demands for Freedom Must Be Heard

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The current protests gripping Iran show no signs of abating. More than forty days since the death of Iranian Kurdish woman Mahsa Amini–who died after being arrested by Iran’s morality police for breach of the country’s strict dress code–the wave of fury unleashed at compulsory hijab laws, security f…

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"Dear Members of Congress:

Black women have unique problems that must be addressed while you are debating health care reform legislation. Lack of access to treatment for diseases that primarily affect Black women and the inaccessibility of comprehensive preventive health care services are important issues that must be addressed under reform. We are particularly concerned about coverage for the full range of reproductive services under health care reform legislation.

Reproductive freedom is a life and death issue for many Black women and deserves as much recognition as any other freedom. The right to have an abortion is a personal decision that must be made by a woman in consultation with her physician. Accordingly, unimpeded access to abortion as a part of the full range of reproductive health services offered under health care reform, is essential. Moreover, abortion coverage must be provided for all women under health care reform regardless of ability to pay, with no interference from the government. WE WILL NOT ENDORSE A HEALTH CARE REFORM SYSTEM THAT DOES NOT COVER THE FULL RANGE OF REPRODUCTIVE SERVICES FOR ALL WOMEN INCLUDING ABORTION"
- Loretta J. Ross

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"I suffer from seeing other people’s discrimination as much as those individuals themselves suffer from it. It is our responsibility to clear the way for the recognition of the humanity of all human beings, regardless of their gender, sexual orientation, beliefs, ethnicity, etc., and to respect all human beings and human rights. I consider the struggle for human rights and justice not as a duty, but as a part of my identity."

Mahnaz Parakand discusses her fight for women's rights in Iran as a lawyer, once sentenced to death for participating in political demonstrations in 1981.

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Iranian law enforcement with access to power, arms, and detention center which restricts freedoms such as sexuality, alcohol consumption, dress code, and large group gatherings

"re-education centers" - detention facilities where citizens are given classes about Islam and the importance of the hijab; forced to sign a pledge; established in 2019 - Nadeen Ebrahim, CNN

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Sept. 16, 2022 - Mahsa (Jina) Amini was killed by Iranian "morality police"

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Sept. 16, 2022 - Mahsa (Jina) Amini was killed by Iranian "morality police"

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After being taken into custody for allegedly wearing her hijab in an improper manner, the 22-year old woman was killed.

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Iranian-Dutch Singer releases song in support of Iran protests

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Iranian-Dutch Singer releases song in support of Iran protests

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"A woman without freedom is like a flower without soil."
"We must continue to speak up and fight institutions that condone oppression, violence, and murder. We must face the people that deny the dignity and respect for all of us women. We are so tired of being told how to be, what to be”
-Sevda Alizadeh

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SEVDALIZA - WOMAN LIFE FREEDOM زن زندگی آزادی

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noun: the study of religious faith, practice, and experience

especially : the study of God and of God's relation to the world

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coined by Alice Walker in 1978
1. from womanish (opposite of girlish)
2. a woman who loves other women sexually and/or nonsexually
3. " Loves music. Loves dance. Loves the moon. Loves the Spirit. Loves love and food and roundness. Loves struggle. Loves the Folk. Loves herself. Regardless."
4.  "Womanist is to feminist as purple to lavender (In Search of Our Mothers' Gardens: Womanist Prose, xi-xii)"