Right at sea on affirmative action
By Kath Gelber
The fight to retain the Coogee women's pool in Sydney for women only is not over. The salt-water rock pool has been used exclusively by women and children for over 70 years, including elderly and disabled women, nuns and Muslim women. Two years ago, a local resident lodged a complaint with the Anti-Discrimination Board, saying he wanted to be able to swim there. A beach is located next to the pool, as are other rock pools open to both men and women.
The resident claims he is making the complaint as a matter of principle. In fact, many of the attacks against affirmative action programs in various forms in recent years have relied on this logic.
An ideological bulwark of these right-wing attacks has been the claim that such programs represent "special rights", not "equal rights". The right-wing ideologues reclaim the language of the progressive movements, and demand that all people should be treated equally, with no special treatment for specific social groups. Superimposed on this language is their version of equality — leave things as they are, it's an individual's responsibility to make their own way in life and overcome the difficulties they face.
Fundamental to this outlook is a deliberate and complete obscuring of systematic, institutionalised inequality. There is no recognition of the fact that people are discriminated against and divided against each other on the basis of class, gender, race and sexuality. This has been the case historically and remains fundamental to the way society is organised today.
Instead, the right-wing ideologues imply that it is affirmative action programs and the recognition of institutionalised inequality which cause discrimination. These "special rights" programs divide us, instead of treating us all the same. And that discriminates against the so-called normal, everyday citizen.
Such arguments were used in Oregon, USA, where conservatives attempted to roll back legislation preventing discrimination against gays and lesbians on the basis that it gave them "special rights", more rights than the average heterosexual citizen. This is the reasoning behind the discrimination claim against the Coogee women's pool. And it's also the message behind the new Hollywood backlash film, Disclosure, which slickly puts the case against affirmative action for women on the basis that it's unfair to men.
The progressive reasoning behind affirmative action is very different from the right-wing interpretation. It rests on an understanding that inequalities already exist in society, and that affirmative action is needed to redress the balance, and to attempt to raise consciousness about systematic, institutionalised inequality.
In and of itself, affirmative action is not enough. A more fundamental restructuring of the way society is organised is required to eliminate the causes of historical and structural inequality. But in the meantime, affirmative action programs and education around them are crucial to combating the right-wing backlash.