There are two propositions, one religious and one civil, often voiced about the equality of women, but not fully observed by those expressing the propositions.

Many people of faith and church leaders note the radical dignity of women made in the image and likeness of God. Yet religion, including Christianity, is a great bastion of patriarchal dominance and sexism, with women locked out of ordained ministry, church governance and polity at the highest level.

For millennia, male religious leaders have, with condescension and contempt, controlled and characterized women's intellects, ambitions and especially their bodies. Female sexuality and natural body functions were often classified as impure.

Even today, in some religious and cultural contexts, a woman who has been raped is seen to have shamed her family because she has supposedly been defiled. It is a glaring example of a woman as victim of violence being blamed for the assault on her body.

In the twisted logic of this misogyny, the female victim has to be killed to remove shame and restore honor to her family, yet the male perpetrator does not have to be similarly punished.

A female religion writer once famously observed that she was less concerned about what her church said about women and more disturbed about what her church suggests that God supposedly ordains about the equality or inequality of women.

Scriptures and religious doctrines and dogma, as well as various traditions, all controlled by men, are collectively used to justify male dominance and the inequality of women.

In the interest of power, men continue to defend all manner of theological gobbledygook and tortured arguments that women cannot become church leaders.

There is an entrenched view in many religions and denominations that the superiority of men is ordained by God as is the inferior position of women. This is typically dressed up in the conceit that the supposed roles of women and men in church and society make for a necessary inequality.

The other proposition about women, expressed mostly in democratic societies, is of the constitutional and legal equality of women.

There are tremendous advances in the human, social and economic rights of women, including here in The Bahamas. By example, there is equality of pay in the public service. During its terms in office the FNM enacted groundbreaking legislation to enhance gender equality.

Yet in many democracies, women remain unequal in terms of social practices, attitudes and treatment in the workplace. The belief by many Bahamians that a man has a right to control his wife's body prevents the passage of a marital rape law.

The logic: My wife cannot deny me sex, and if she does I will force her to have sex because her body belongs to me. In 2016, sexual harassment and assault are rife in even the most advanced societies. Women lag behind in holding political office at the highest levels of executive and legislative power.

In the PLP and the FNM men are still the major powerbrokers in the respective parties and in government. The dearth so far of female candidates for the FNM in the upcoming election is telling and embarrassing for the party, which first saw the appointment of a record number of women to the Cabinet.

Given the FNMs record on women's rights and the election of an FNM as the first woman to the House of Assembly, the possibility of the FNM having less women running for the House than the PLP suggests the sad state and direction of the FNM, which is regressing under Dr. Hubert Minnis in the advancement of women.

In its most recent annual gender gap index, the Swiss-based World Economic Forum (WEF) noted the pronounced political empowerment gap even in the United States, which seems set to elect its first female president.

The Thomson Reuters Foundation reported on the forum's findings: "The United States ranked 73rd in political empowerment, which measured the ratio of men to women in the highest levels of political decision-making... It ranked 45th in the global list overall.

"Nations with significant political gender gaps stand to lose out, the WEF said in a 391-page report accompanying the index.

"In the political sphere, women's engagement in public life has a positive impact on inequality across society at large... In addition, there is a range of evidence to suggest that women's political leadership and wider economic participation are correlated."

Chillingly, the story noted: "But closing the gap in political empowerment, at current rates, could take 82 years..."

Frightened
The male-dominated political culture in The Bahamas remains very strong. Many of those who dominate party offices are frightened by ambitious and intelligent women.

They often prefer to promote a less intelligent man to a smarter woman in terms of leadership and prospective candidates. The mantra of many Bahamian men: "No woman can lead me."

Quite a number of women also do not support other women because they are indoctrinated to believe that a Bahamian woman cannot or should not lead a party or the country.

If Hillary Clinton wins in the U.S. it will be a milestone. But similar to the venomous racial backlash against Barack Obama, Clinton will have to endure even more vicious and vile misogyny than she has already endured.

Clinton, like any politician is disfavored on various grounds of politics, policy and personality. But it is clear that many of the attacks on her are because she is a woman who had the audacity to pursue her ambitions and to demonstrate her prodigious intellect.

Those long-dominated by others often tend to internalize and justify their position in society as well as the discrimination meted out to them. Women are no different. At home and abroad many women view as normal their treatment as unequal.

This year's gender referendum was lost because women, the largest share of voters in the country, rejected constitutional equality for a second time in 15 years.

In reaction to the vulgar misogyny of U.S. Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump, First Lady Michelle Obama offered this compelling rejoinder and defense of the dignity of women: "I feel it so personally. And I'm sure that many of you do too. Particularly the women. The shameful comments about our bodies.

"The disrespect of our ambitions and intellect. The belief that you can do anything you want to a woman. It is cruel. It is frightening. And the truth is, it hurts. It hurts.

"It's like that sick sinking feeling you get when you're walking down the street minding your own business. Some guy yells out vulgar words about your body. Or when you see that guy at work that stands just a little too close, stares just a little too long, you feel uncomfortable in your own skin."

Harassed
Before there were bleachers at the annual Junkanoo parades, many women were afraid to attend for fear of being harassed, inappropriately touched or sexually assaulted by men. Many complained of groups of men using coarse language and hands to demean them.

A dear friend who rose to become an executive in a private company, offers the lament of many Bahamian women when she recalls being told by a male colleague that if she wore a certain type of bra or dressed in certain way that she might help to advance her career.

Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari recently dismissed criticism by his wife of his government with this misogynistic reply: "I don't know which party my wife belongs to, but she belongs to my kitchen and my living room and the other room." In other words, shut up and know your place, woman.

The vulgar language, outright sexism, and charges of sexual assault against Donald Trump has helped to draw out the puss of misogyny in the U.S. The possible silver lining is a greater awareness of the depth of misogyny and sexual harassment in our neighbor, though not necessarily in The Bahamas.

Many women have been more open about the attacks on their bodies, intellects and ambitions by men, especially powerful men like former Fox New head Roger Ailes, who recently settled a lawsuit with a former female employee of the network.

The Ailes case is an example of a powerful man who reportedly sought sexual favors from a slew of women, whose careers he would not help to advance or seek to upend if they did not comply with his advances.

Here at home, the misogyny is as deep and as poisonous. In both the public and private sectors women have quite often been subjected to sexual harassment and told that advancement required submitting to sexual advances.

While there is progress in women's rights in The Bahamas, sexism and misogyny remain deep-seated in the church, in the upper echelons of political life, in the sexual harassment many women endure, in domestic violence, in career advancement and in other areas of society.

Respect for the radical dignity of women made in the image and likeness of God and the constitutional equality of women remain aspirations that are still much further in the future.

o frontporchguardian@gmail.com, www.bahamapundit.com.

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