{"id":5735,"date":"2013-03-10T21:51:03","date_gmt":"2013-03-11T02:51:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/girlwpen.com\/?p=5735"},"modified":"2013-03-10T21:51:03","modified_gmt":"2013-03-11T02:51:03","slug":"global-mama-songs-for-women","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/girlwpen\/2013\/03\/10\/global-mama-songs-for-women\/","title":{"rendered":"GLOBAL MAMA: Songs for Women"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"In celebration of International Women\u2019s Day, UN Women has released an English-language song, \u201cOne Woman<\/a>,\u201d featuring 25 female artists from 20 countries.<\/p>\n

Personally, I prefer \u201cBreak the Chain,\u201d the \u201cmass rising\u201d theme song for One Billion Rising, which I wrote about last month<\/a>. Partly because of the music itself (though I do love the roster of female vocalists who came together for \u201cOne Woman\u201d). Partly because of the catchy lyrics. \u201cBreak the Chain\u201d names the issues in the very beginning (rape, incest, abuse, ownership of women\u2019s bodies) and defies this violence in powerful lyrics that embrace dancing as an act of self-empowerment and connection. (The creators did such a good job that I\u2019ve witnessed elementary-age kids singing along, in a girl power kind of way: \u201cThis is my body, my body\u2019s holy\u2026.\u201d)<\/p>\n

Plus, \u201cBreak the Chain\u201d fits in nicely with the \u201cofficial theme\u201d of this year\u2019s International Women\u2019s Day: violence against women. As the UN website tag line puts it, \u201cA promise is a promise: Time for action to end violence against women.\u201d<\/p>\n

By contrast, \u201cOne Woman\u201d doesn\u2019t directly address rape or sexualized violence. While I very much like the different women\u2019s voices\u2014each artist sings a line about a different woman in a different part of the world\u2014it\u2019s not as catchy or as issue-based. Instead, it wades right into the fraught feminist territory of sameness and difference.<\/p>\n

Take, for example, the following line: \u201cWe are One Woman, your dreams are mine, and we shall shine.\u201d Last I checked, feminists had pretty roundly critiqued the notion of \u201cone woman,\u201d led by many women of color in the U.S. and globally (including Chandra Talpade Mohanty, M. Jacqui Alexander, and the members of the Combahee River Collective, to name only a few). These critiques of overly idealized notions of global sisterhood have pointed to the deeply significant differences of race, nation, and class in our capitalist world. Many feminists have theorized and acted upon alternative models of alliance and coalition-building that can allow for difference and disagreement even as solidarity can take shape around particular issues.<\/p>\n

To be fair, the song also contains examples of difference: it identifies many individual women living in particular locations (Kigali, Hanoi, Tangier, Kampala, Ju\u00e1rez, Jaipur, Manila, and so on) whose everyday lives are sources of inspiration and strength. And one line says, \u201cThough we\u2019re different as can be, we\u2019re connected, she with me.\u201d These elements of difference, however, are framed within the refrain of \u201cWe are One Woman\u201d\u2014which is, after all, the title of the song.<\/p>\n

So who is this song for, and what is it trying to do?<\/p>\n

The press materials<\/a> for UN Women state that \u201c\u2018One Woman\u2019 aims to become a rallying cry that inspires listeners about the mission of UN Women and engages them to join in the drive for women\u2019s empowerment and gender equality.\u201d This suggests that the song wasn\u2019t written for activists on the frontlines, but rather potential donors and women (primarily in the U.S.? across the \u201cdeveloped\u201d world? or throughout the entire world?) who aren\u2019t involved in struggles for gender justice.<\/p>\n

I do love the voices of each of these female artists, many of whom I was not familiar with before this song. And who knows? Perhaps some of their fans at home will listen to \u201cOne Woman,\u201d learn about International Women\u2019s Day, and experience heightened consciousness around gender-based violence.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s the thing about cultural productions like songs. You just never know how listeners will understand what they hear.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In celebration of International Women\u2019s Day, UN Women has released an English-language song, \u201cOne Woman,\u201d featuring 25 female artists from 20 countries. Personally, I prefer \u201cBreak the Chain,\u201d the \u201cmass rising\u201d theme song for One Billion Rising, which I wrote about last month. Partly because of the music itself (though I do love the roster […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1916,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[21105,1],"tags":[21213,21458,21669,21894],"class_list":["post-5735","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-global-mama","category-uncategorized","tag-break-the-chain","tag-international-womens-day","tag-one-woman","tag-un-women"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/girlwpen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5735","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/girlwpen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/girlwpen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/girlwpen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1916"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/girlwpen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5735"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/girlwpen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5735\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/girlwpen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5735"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/girlwpen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5735"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/girlwpen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5735"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}