Gypsy Feminism

Intersectional Politics, Alliances, Gender and Queer Activism

Laura Corradi

• Publisher: Taylor & Francis
• Year: 2017
• Print ISBN: 9781138300330
• eBook ISBN: 9781351403849
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Scienze sociali
• Subtopic: Sociologia

Clumsy stereotypes of the Romani and Travellers communities abound, not only culturally in programmes such as Big Fat Gypsy Weddings, but also amongst educators, social workers, administrators and the medical profession. Gypsy cultures are invariably presented as ruled by tradition and machismo. Women are presented as helpless victims, especially when it comes to gendered forms of violence. The reality, however, is much more complicated.

In Gypsy Feminism, Laura Corradi demonstrates how Romaphobia – racist and anti-Gypsy rhetoric and prejudice, pervading every level of society – has led to a situation where Romani communities face multiple discrimination. In this context, the empowerment of women and girls becomes still more difficult: until recently, for example, women have largely remained silent about domestic violence in order to protect their communities, which are already under attack. Examining feminist research and action within Romani communities, Corradi demonstrates the importance of an intersectional approach in order to make visible the combination of racism and sexism that Gypsy women face every day.

This concise and authoritative book will appeal to scholars and students in the areas of Sociology, Cultural Studies, Women's and Gender Studies and Anthropology, as well as Politics, Media Studies, Social Policy, and Social Work. It is also an invaluable resource for activists, community and social service workers, and policymakers.

1 Patriarchal traditions and feminist intersectional research

We need to think and act

intersectionally

to understand

that we have been subjected

to multiple exclusions

and discriminations.

(Nicoleta Bitu, Eniko Vincze 2012, p. 45)

The intersectional approach proposes looking at inequalities comprehensively by intersecting them – understanding them as ‘mutually constitutive,’ rather than analyzing them separately.¹ In this way, the multiple effects of several forms of inequalities are seen through a prism that yields different pictures; such a complex view is vital in the development of intersectional politics of alliance and coalition.²

The recognition that Roma women suffer oppression doubly – inside and outside their communities – first appeared in international institutions with the 5th report of the United Nations in December 2010, when a section was devoted to the forms of multiple discrimination suffered by Romnya.³ Conditions become more critical for disabled people and LGBT, as has been discussed by the European Roma Rights Center in a document titled Multiple Discrimination.⁴ Yet European laws remain foggy about how to contrast multiple discrimination. There are no penalty provisions about discriminations of gender, race, and sexual orientation – no control or sanctions in the case that member states lack mandatory directives to prevent or punish multiple discriminations. The latter is mentioned only in paragraph 14 of Directive 2000/43/CE issued by the European Council on June 29, 2000. The document states the principle of equal treatment and parity among people of different race and ethnic origins, without any explicit reference to age, sexual orientation, religious belief, or different abilities, whereas these are mentioned in the Charter of Nice, implemented in 2009 thanks to the Lisbon Treaties.

The clumsy attempts of European institutions to encourage Roma ‘inclusion’ are still based on the disputable concept of ‘integration,’⁵ and often their documents ooze with prejudice, as in the recent four-year Thematic Action Plan for Roma and Traveller Inclusion issued on March 7, 2016, by the Council of Europe.⁶ A letter signed by 93 members of the European Academic Network on Romani Studies⁷ explains the reasons why the document of the Council of Europe⁸ has to be considered inappropriate. The letter states that the document attributes the blame for the effects of marginalization to the Roma themselves, and calls for its correction. The signatories of the letter requested this change directly of Thorbjørn Jagland, the Council of Europe’s Secretary General.⁹

Despite European institutions’ struggle to create documents addressing multiple discrimination, in many places the situation is worsening, both in terms of the empowerment of girls and in contrast to Romaphobia, which is targeted especially to women. Racist and anti-Gypsy rhetoric pervades the whole society. It can be found in hospitals and schools, mainstream media, and the public discourse of politicians; some parliamentarians even incite the devastation of Gypsy camps.¹⁰ All this is done without contrition, reprimand by the legal system, or action by the public authorities responsible for the monitoring and prevention of hate crimes.

Roma communities have become accustomed to not trusting institutions. From top to bottom, they seem to expect nothing good of the state. On the other hand, some advances in Gypsy pride, self-organization, and enhancement of the positive processes of interculturality have taken place in fruitful, non-hierarchical relations between Gypsy and non-Gypsy grassroots activists, advocates, anti-racist groups, feminists, and educators who have supported endogenous processes of resilience in the Roma, Sinti, and Traveller communities, often with little or no financial support.¹¹

Since 2005, European Commission documents about the situation of Roma women¹² have underlined the gravity of their situation, the fact that they are primarily in charge of child-raising, and the mediation between communities and local institutions. The level of analysis in European documents is poor, however, and the proposed practical solutions are unconvincing. Financial resources do not trickle down to effective projects to the extent it would be expected. Angéla Kóczé was probably the first scholar to note the lack of an intersectional approach throughout European documents on Roma women in the last decade.¹³ The intersectional approach, as we will see, is crucial to understanding and contrasting multiple discrimination. By looking simultaneously at different forms of oppression, it can effectively address ethnic, gender and class issues in the Romani and Traveller communities and promote a more realistic picture of reality in the larger society. In fact, the prevalence of a stereotyping attitude among educators, social workers, administrators, and the medical profession tends to reinforce prejudices against Gypsy cultures, which are always represented as immutable, macho gerontocracies with women as helpless victims, especially when it comes to gendered forms of violence.

The Gypsy settlement context is often characterized by the hardship of economic survival. Social vexations and state violence toward communities are frequent. When combined with the persistence of patriarchal traditions, such circumstances explain the occurrence of domestic violence in the communities. Until recently, women have been silent about it. If your community is constantly under attack, gender oppression within families is not perceived as being so important. Besides the known forms of violence (physical, sexual, psychological, and economic), there are specific forms of violence related to the patri-local context. For example, a bride’s mother-in-law often exerts full authority over the newcomer, and it is not unusual in some areas for her to beat up her son’s young wife ‘for correction.’ The cultural pressure to behave traditionally – e.g., covering the head with a scarf, always wearing long skirts, looking down in front of males – represents an outdated set of behaviors, a ‘forced conformism’ perceived as unbearable by the younger generations. In some communities wearing trousers is not allowed for women, so wearing jeans becomes a conquest for girls struggling for freedom of expression within their culture. As an interviewee reported:

My idea is that there are women who let someone mistreat them, and women who react and think by themselves . . . I say they should react, don’t let the husband mistreat her – it is the women who have to react, as we are doing today. Now Roma women understand we have choices and here there are girls who have a job . . . we live in a Roma community where everybody wears a long skirt and, despite this, we wear trousers. Should we listen to what they say?¹⁴

Feminist research-action against domestic violence in Gypsy camps and communities has been carried out successfully. Women researchers have produced significant results by adopting participatory methodology, intersectionality, and non-Eurocentric approaches. Among them are the Segretariato Gitano in Spain, and the Fondazione Brodolini in Italy. Projects such as Empow-air look at violence as a structural element in male-dominated societies everywhere: ‘There is no country in the world where women are free from violence.’¹⁵ All societies tend to deny, legitimize, or minimize the occurrence of violence against women, and this contributes to keeping them in a subaltern position. This also happens in Gypsy communities, but culture can never be an explanation for patriarchy – culture only accounts for the specific ways in which patriarchy is articulated.¹⁶

One of the findings of Empow-air research-action is that gender activists and feminists need to focus on all types of violence Gypsy women face today, including state violence, police harassment, Romaphobic attacks, forced eviction from camps, and material and symbolic forms of institutional racism. A discursive practice around family violence should overcome resistances and defensive behaviors among both women and men of different ages and backgrounds. Talking about domestic abuse is still a taboo. A legal charge brought by a victim is seen as a violation of group solidarity; it means ruining the image of the whole community. In particular, Gadje (non-Gypsy) activists need to have cultural competence, skills, sensitivity, and an inclination for intercultural exchanges. They must be committed to constantly deconstructing their own privileges, assumptions, white attitudes, and the Weltanshauung (visions of the world) produced by the culture they live in, which are perceived as ‘natural’ and strongly influence the way other cultures are considered.¹⁷

While for the white feminist movement going public about gendered forms of violence was considered an important political step, for women of color and oppressed communities this has proved not to be the way in many cases.¹⁸ The creation of ethnically sensitive empowerment projects allows safe places for women and girls to talk about intimate issues, such as sexuality, virginity, early marriage, and harassment, to be established. New modes of confronting domestic and sexual violence have been produced, such as the formation of peer pressure groups among men to delegitimize machismo, domineering behaviors and the sexual stereotyping of women in male-only discourses and homosocial spaces. Participative theater is a tool Gypsy women are using to sensitize the community to gender violence. As reported in The Travellers’ Times, women took it to the stage in June 2016 to highlight issues around domestic abuse. The Travellers Movement was successful in getting funding for a woman’s drama group for a community theater production, ‘Never going to beat you,’ performed by Gypsy, Roma, and Traveller women. The play was written by playwright Jenny Buchman and draws attention to violence as it is experienced

by a large number of Gypsy and Traveller women in the UK: a 2007 study found that 81% of Irish Traveller women and 61% of English Gypsy women in married relationships had directly experienced domestic abuse. Discussing violence within marriage is far too often seen as a no-go subject.¹⁹

Cultural initiatives such as songs, movies, and plays produced within the community may have a greater impact than institutional plans to prevent violence in the family. In fact, in some gender projects Gadje women activists are often found to lack the background regarding traditions and ways of life necessary for dealing with sensitive issues.

Many Travellers hold traditional views on marriage, with divorce a rarity, and a woman leaving a marriage can be ostracized. A reluctance to deal with the police, coupled with a lack of knowledge about mainstream services, may also complicate the situation. For Gypsy and Traveller women who live a nomadic life, or who have lived in camp sites all their lives, moving into a refuge and leaving their life and family behind...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title
• Copyright
• Dedication
• Contents
• Preface
• Acknowledgments
• Terminological note: the politics of words
• Historical note: women, families, and communities from Porrajmos to anti-Gypsyism
• 1 Patriarchal traditions and feminist intersectional research
• 2 Twenty years of gender activism and feminism
• 3 A focus on Romani feminism
• 4 Decolonizing feminist theory and research
• 5 Gypsies as queer and the queer Gypsy
• 6 Academic invisibility, Gypsy epistemology, and the importance of ‘Halfies’
• 7 Body politics, media-activism, and the re-appropriation of signifiers
• 8 Conclusion: Gypsy springs, feminisms, and alliances
• 9 Further readings
• Index