inferior to men. This is a little known but exceedingly important
aspect of fascism.
This fact is recognizable in words and statementsof 20th century
fascist leaders. For instance, Mussolini's statement to Maurice de
Valeffe, a reporter for the French publication Journal , on Nov. 12,
1922, openly belittled women:
There are those who say that I intend to limit the right to vote. No!
Every citizen will keep his right to vote for the Rome Parliament...
Let me also admit to you that I am not thinking ofextending the vote
to women. There would be no point. My blood opposes all kinds of
feminism when it comes to women participating in state affairs.
Naturally a woman shouldn't be a slave, but if I conceded her the
vote, I'd be laughed at. In our state, she must not count. [i]
During the serious economic crisis beginning in 1930, Mussolini
ordered that women should leave their places of work. Because he saw
women as "thieves who reach out to steal men's bread,and responsible
for men's unproductiveness." [ii]
Through various measures, restrictions onwomen in the workplacewere
also imposed in education. For instance, a decree of Jan. 30, 1927
forbade women in high school from taking classes in literature and
philosophy. A decree passed in 1928 resorted to legal measures to
oppose women's education, and women were prevented from becoming
directors of middle schools. Female students were required to pay
double the fees inschools and universities.
A decree which Mussoliniput before Parliament on Nov. 28, 1933
declared, "State bodies are empowered to impose conditions excluding
women in advertisements for exams to take on new employees... They
must impose limits against a rise in the number of female workers in
publicoffices..." [iii]
These decrees did not just represent a social ideology or merely
imposed regulations to foster a division of labor,they were actually
the implementation of the biological dogma of Nazism.
The Darwinist Roots of the Hostility to Women
The root of this prejudice among fasciststowards women was, as in so
many other matters, Darwinism. Fascists did not merely appropriate the
idea of the inequality between the races from Darwinism, they also
adopted the idea that men were superior to women.
In The Descent of Man, Darwin wrote that women some of whose "powers
of intuition, of rapid perception, and perhaps of imitation are
characteristic of the lower races, and therefore of a past and lower
state of civilisation." [iv]
In the Descent , Darwin also wrote, "Man is more powerful in body and
mind than woman, and in the savage state he keeps her in a far more
abject state of bondage than does the male of any other animal;
therefore it is not surprising that he shouldhave gained the power of
selection." [v]
Darwin's views could also be recognized in hispersonal outlook towards
women. He described a woman's role in marriage as "constant companion,
(friend in old age) who will feel interested in one, object to be
beloved and played with—better than a dog anyhow—Home, and someone to
take care of house..." [vi] It is evident that Darwin looked at women
and the institution of the family from a materialistic standpoint.
There was not a trace of love, respect, loyalty, affectionor
compassion in his outlook.
The evolutionist and materialist Carl Vogt, a contemporary of
Darwinand a Geneva scholar of the mid nineteenth century, also held
disparaging views regarding women. "We may be sure that wherever we
perceive an approach to the animal type the female isnearer to it than
the male" he wrote. "Hence we should discover a greater [apelike]
resemblance if we were to take a female as our standard." [vii]
Another follower of Darwin, the evolutionist social psychologist
Gustave Le Bon, wrote;
In the most intelligent races... are a large number of women whose
brains are closer in size to those of gorillas than to the most
developed male brains. This inferiority is so obvious that no one can
contest it for a moment; only its degree is worth discussion...
Women... represent the most inferior forms of human evolution and...
are closer to children and savages than to an adult,civilized man.
[viii]
Therefore, at the basis offascism's disparagement of and contempt for
women lies the theory ofDarwinism. Mussolini's taking away of
women'ssocial rights, and Hitler's building of "breeding farms" to
reproduce the superior race and obliging young girls to sleep with SS
officers, are all reflections of fascists' attitudes to women. Both
Darwinists and fascists are enemies of women. They see them as an
inferior and backward species, and both despise them, as well as
employing discriminatory and oppressive methods against them.
This fascist perspective iscompletely at odds with the ethics of the
Koran. God has commanded in the Koran that women should be cherished,
respected, and protected. In addition, He has shown examples of women
with superior morals, such as Mary andthe wife of Pharaoh. In the eyes
of God, superiority does not lie in race, sex or rank, but in
closeness to Him and strength of belief. In a number of verses of the
Koran, God has revealed that all believers will receive their reward
without discrimination between men and women.
Their Lord responds to them: "I will not let the deeds of any doer
among you go to waste, male or female—you areboth the same in that
respect..." (Surah Al 'Imran, 195)
Anyone, male or female, who does right actions and is a believer, will
enter the Garden. They will not be wronged by so much as the tiniest
speck. (Surah an Nisa, 124)
Anyone who acts rightly,male or female, being a believer, We will give
them a good life and Wewill recompense them according to the best of
what they did. (Surah anNahl, 97)
However, as religion wasabandoned, these truths were abandoned with
it,and in their place were provided superstitions such as fascism and
Darwinism, in which all forms of discrimination based on sex or race
are seen as justified.
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