When I came across this article in The Daily Mail, I hadn’t thought about “fatwa girl” Ayaan Hirsi Ali for a very long time – and never in this context.

Back then, I had been picking my way through The Lonely Planet guide to Amsterdam, noting sights that I might want to see, and generally finding out more about The Netherlands and its history.

At the bottom of page 36, in the Arts section, was a piece on the artist and director Theo Van Gogh, who had been murdered in 2004, shot off his bike by a member of the alleged Islamist organisation The Hofstad Network for his short film ‘Submission: Part 1’, which showed how verses from the Qur’an could be used to justify violence against women.

Right or wrong, it was a bold piece by an already controversial figure, and that boldness ultimately had its price. Pinned to his chest was a letter, promising among other vengeances the destruction of Hirsi Ali, with whom he had made the film. She has been under constant police protection in the US, where she now lives, ever since.

I wanted to find out more, so I did a bit more research. A brave, if polemical figure, Ayaan Hirsi Ali was born in Somalia in 1969, the daughter of a prominent member of the Somali Salvation Democratic Front. Hirsi Magan Isse, who had studied abroad in his youth, was opposed to female genital cutting, but during a period of imprisonment, Hirsi Ali’s grandmother had the procedure performed on her.

She was five years old.

But she did not become the atheist and outspoken critic of Islam that she was to become until much later.

As a student in The Netherlands at the time of 9/11, her faith was rocked when she heard Osama Bin Laden using the book that had defined her life up until that point being used to justify those attacks. She became an atheist in 2002, and started to formulate her critique of Islam and Islamic culture, rising to national prominence as she did so.

Up until this point, she had been a member of the Dutch Labour Party, but the events caused her to switch allegiance to the centre-right Party for Freedom and Democracy, and to stand for Parliament.

Her tenure was characterised by controversy, and often saw her incorrectly blur the lines between devout Muslims and extremists, dividing opinion and making her plenty of enemies.

As such, it is no small wonder that she caught the eye of Theo Van Gogh, who, in the words of political writer Ian Buruma in his book ‘Murder in Amsterdam’, was drawn not so much by what she said, but “the fact that people wished to prevent her from saying it.” She wrote the script for and narrated ‘Submission: Part 1’, Van Gogh directed. She had wanted “to get a discussion going and needle people into thinking” by confronting them with “dilemmas” and Van Gogh, thriving as he did on controversy, was a willing partner. Neither of them anticipated the consequences.

In light of her life, its rights, wrongs, abuses and achievements –I found the Daily Mail article strange, incongruous. True or not, it reads like just another sensationalised sex story, throwaway and tawdry, small fry compared to the death of a man, a fatwa, a clash of cultures.

You can probably surmise which is more important to the editors of The Daily Mail.

I’m sure they weren’t the first to take such an approach, and they probably won’t be the last. But it wasn’t without value, and reminded me of what she gave up to stand up for the values she held, to try and change the world she saw for the better, and that as much as she is a symbol, a fascinating narrative, a cautionary tale, a heroine, a threat – she is also human, and comes complete with everything that entails.

So on International Women’s Day, I urge you to take a look at Ayaan Hirsi Ali, who demonstrates that morality is highly subjective, and never straightforward.

This blog was originally posted on Though Cowards Flinch.

Categories: Women
Tags: 9/11, amsterdam, atheism, ayaan hirsi ali, hirsi magan isse, hofstad network, ian buruma, international women's day, islam, netherlands, newspapers, osama bin laden, qu'ran, somalia, theo van gogh

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On Friday, I chaired an excellent meeting of the Birmingham Fabian Society – we had invited Seema Malhotra (pictured), director of the Fabian Women’s Network and former Chair of the Fabian Society, to talk to us about how Labour can win (or keep) the women’s vote. Her speech and the ensuing discussion were everything that I love about the Fabian Society – vibrant, insightful, illuminating – but with the added bonus of a highly diverse set of people.

Part of New Labour’s success was the way in which they captured the female vote – a vote which had, traditionally, belonged predominantly to the Conservatives. This was notable among younger women – in the last three General Elections, these women were far more likely to vote Labour than Tory, and more likely to vote Labour than men of a similar age. This was for a number of reasons – and not least because the number of female MPs doubled to 120 in 1997 – 101 of these being Labour. It wasn’t enough, but it was an important leap.

But since the early months of Gordon Brown’s leadership, there has been reason to believe that we may be at risk from losing that resonance with female voters, but to assume that Gordon Brown is less appealing to female voters than Tony Blair may be to oversimplify a trend which is as complex as women (i.e. people) are. It is worth asking whether there is really a golden issue, or set of issues, that will draw in the vote from the majority of women. Indeed, do women voters have drastically different priorities to male voters? Certainly, the gender gap has always been of electoral importance, and parties have been obsessive with regards to trying to capture that elusive, typical example of the gender profile that they must win over to win the election – recent examples include the hollow cardboard cut-outs Holby City Woman, and more recently, Motorway Man. If nothing else, the manner in which politicians have been falling over themselves to be grilled on Mumsnet is testament to that.

Research from the Fabian Society emphasises that public services are of particular concern to the female voter. For example, the YouGov polling highlighted above indicates that women are twice as likely as men to say they do not know which party cares the most about public services. But why? In a blog post last year, Seema noted that there has been “a failure to explain what has been delivered for the amount spent, which has become even more significant at a time of economic instability.” More generally, she highlighted in her speech that when Blair became leader of the Labour Party, he moved the party away from linking values to politics, and doing so became deeply unfashionable. Even the best of deeds become impersonal when you do not make the political case for them – so in spite of record investment in schools, health services, education and communities, women, who vote as much with their values as their pragmatism, seem to trust the Conservatives more. In Seema’s words, “Labour has failed to maintain a relationship with the public whereby they believe Labour does not just pay for care, but actually cares.” Without the values, without the heart, the policies aren’t connecting with women, people – even if they are helping them.

During their time in power, Labour have changed expectations of what is normal, standard, both in terms of equality and the quality of many areas of public services. This is a great achievement – but it’s harder to brag about achievements when they have become… normal. However, I wouldn’t change that better normal for the world, we need to build on those achievements, we need to honestly address our failures, we need to win over the women who feel that politicians don’t represent them and policies don’t speak to them. I think we’re actually getting there – quite aside from some promising recent polling figures, the Equality Bill and the pledge to provide one-to-one home care for cancer patients show that Labour cares about people and equality, and is putting that at the heart of its manifesto.

This blog was originally posted on House of Twits.

Categories: Policy Review, Women
Tags: birmingham, fabian society, fabian women's network, gordon brown, nhs, seema malhotra, tony blair

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