Ideas like men being the head of household (or women’s careers mattering less) get questioned and scrutinized but ideas like violence being inherently more tragic when it happens to women generally fly under the rader.

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“It’s the death of a woman, sadly, again in our city […] This is an horrendous crime, as all murders are, particularly the murders of women.”
A Melbourne homicide squad detective (ABC News)

If we’re serious about gender equality then we have to recognize and reevaluate the protective attitude towards women that we’ve inherited from gender traditionalism. Caring more about women’s safety can feel entirely natural and unremarkable to us (see male disposability) but in the past the same could have been said for seeing men as the head of household or seeing women’s careers as less important too.

Feminism and women’s safety

Let’s take a look at feminism’s special preoccuption with women’s safety. One of the most common slogans within feminism is to “end violence against women”, which can be seen from various feminist/progressive parties, politicians, and organizations:

This slogan elevates women’s safety to a special status because it sets lofty, unattainable goals for women’s safety (no woman ever experiencing violence) and usually doesn’t mention men’s safety at all. Other progressive parties, politicians, and organizations single out the importance of women’s safety using different language:

It’s common to single out violence against women as a “human rights violation”:

  • “Violence against women is one of the most pervasive human rights violations of our time” (European Institute for Gender Equality)
  • “Violence against women and girls is one of the most widespread, persistent and devastating human rights violations in our world today” (Ginette Petitpas Taylor, Canadian Minister of Health in Justin Trudeau’s Liberal cabinet).
  • “Violence against Women [any act of violence that results in or is likely to result in physical, sexual or psychological harm or suffering to women] is a Violation of Human Rights” (Association SOS Help-line for Women and Children)

See also various Take Back The Night events; “[t]he mass gatherings and marches are a call for safety and equality for women in all places, at all times”, bringing “attention to the violence faced by women, girls and gender minorities in their daily lives”.

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Read the full article: Seeing Women’s Safety as Sacred Is Not New or Progressive