Their sex is irrelevant
Their sex is irrelevant
The recent appointment of Madeleine Albright as the new US secretary of state was greeted with great fanfare by the establishment media the world over. And it's no wonder.
Albright's record while US ambassador to the United Nations was impeccable — from the point of view of imperialism, that is.
Albright defended and promoted the US invasions of Somalia and Iraq and the massive human and environmental devastation that resulted. She then led the charge to tighten the international blockades against Iraq and Cuba, blockades that violate international law and have caused untold suffering among millions of ordinary people.
Albright was central to legitimising, under the cover of the UN, the US's role as globocop in the 1990s. She was thereby central to assuring that human rights and environmental sustainability are, every day and everywhere, sacrificed to the interests of the imperialist powers in this New World (dis)Order.
Overlaid on the media hype about Albright's "achievements" in the UN were the accolades heaped on US President Bill Clinton for appointing a woman as secretary of state for the first time. This, we were told, was a great step forward for womankind, and for the "civilised" world.
Of course Albright is not the first women to represent imperialism at such a high level. To this day, former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher is applauded as the "iron lady" who uncompromisingly pursued imperialism's interests against the people of Argentina, Ireland and numerous other countries, and led the way in imperialism's ideological and economic project for the 1980s — economic rationalism.
Likewise, former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto did little to alleviate the institutionalised rape, persecution and murder of her own countrywomen. Her government actively supported the growth of one of the most anti-women religious fundamentalist movements to arise for decades.
Scores of prominent liberal feminists in the US applauded Albright's appointment. She, like Thatcher and Bhutto, is declared living proof that women are as smart and capable as men, and that they can be as ambitious, confident and successful as men, even in the main corridors of power.
This is the sort of living proof that women's liberationists do not need. In a world racked by environmental collapse, inequality, war and injustices of all kinds, these successful women are keys parts of the problem.
A woman making the decision to drop bombs on or cut off aid to Third World countries is not a step forward for women as a whole. A woman who implements policies to cut wages, social services and immigrants' rights is not a step forward for all women.
Such women are as much the enemies of the majority of women — still the main victims of war, poverty and inequality — as any man in the same position. Their sex is completely irrelevant. It is their policies and practices that count.
By Lisa Macdonald