Women's Day is commemorated worldwide on March 8, a date that is often celebrated by many as a tribute to the female gender; however, it is also a day in which many people call attention to problems of inequality and of injustice, because although it is important to remain positive, the reality that is known must not be ignored. The world needs more activists like you! Because there are already many observers.
That is why today we want to tell you about the close relationship that exists between veganism and women's rights, so that luckily at the end of your reading you will discover that they go completely hand in hand and that it is almost impossible to call yourself a feminist or an advocate of the rights of women without being vegan, and in the opposite sense too.
Feminism, is defined as a social and political movement that seeks to end the oppression, domination and exploitation to which women have been subjected by men in the bosom of patriarchy during history, however, what unites this struggle With animal liberation are two factors primarily, the first is the similarity in the purpose of both causes and the second is the obvious presence of cruelty and exploitation towards females in most industries where it is marketed with the lives of animals.
Two different causes, the same purpose:
You might think that Feminism and Veganism, are two completely different causes, however, both seek similar purposes, both people who fight for women, as those who fight for animals, seek to be recognized basic rights, both groups raise the voice in favor of vulnerable groups, both disagree with the inequalities and inequities that are established under arbitrary arguments such as sex or the species and both seek to end oppression, domination, exploitation and mistreatment towards these vulnerable groups.
Animal exploitation towards females:
- Dairy industry:
In the dairy industry, cows often experience prolonged abuse, including a continuous cycle of artificial insemination (mechanical or manual violation), physical abuse of their mammary glands, and forced separation of their calfs.
Artificial insemination occurs through a mechanism usually called "rape-rack", used even in many small farms. The inseminators invade the body of the animal, placing the arm by its rectum, to push the cervix, while inseminating the cow with the other hand. To "Bobby calves", unwanted male calves, which are an inevitable by-product of the dairy industry, are generally separated from their mother shortly after birth (both organic and non-organic farms) and are often sold to be meat beef. In some countries, male calves are shot at birth.
A "dairy cow" will go from six to seven months a year producing milk while pregnant, since they are again inseminated when they are still nursing from the previous pregnancy. This applies to organic farms and free distribution as well. A calf would naturally feed five to six times a day, so that the maximum amount of milk in his mother's udder would be around two liters at a time. But in modern dairy farms, a cow is only milked twice a day, allowing milk to accumulate in the udder; Forcing her to carry around 20 liters of milk or more. This very enlarged udder leads to lameness in its hind legs and predisposes it to mastitis (a painful infection of the udder). Her only rest from this terrible existence is during the last two months of her pregnancy when she is not being milked in preparation for giving birth. Then the horrible cycle begins again.
The "dairy cow", plagued by painful ailments as a result of its exploitation, and physically devastated by the sexual abuse she has experienced, is finally killed when it no longer produces, to be turned into concentrate for pets or cheap meat; Typically when they have completed five years of their life, when in normal conditions they would live between 20-25 years.
- Egg Industry:
The chickens are cut with a burning blade without anesthesia or analgesics, feeling a pain equivalent to that felt by humans being mutilated a finger, so many birds can not eat because of the pain, die from dehydration and for their weak immune systems.
After being mutilated, the chickens are tucked into tiny cages that measure approximately 18 by 20 inches and hold five to 11 chickens, spreading their wings, each hen has a wingspan of 32 inches; what leaves them incapacitated even to lift only one of their wings.
Due to overcrowding, these animals are usually forced to defecate and urinate on their companions, producing a dirty and sickly environment in which many chickens die while those that survive must live together with the decomposing corpses.
In order to increase the production of eggs, the light in the sheds is manipulated every two weeks, while the hens are fed only with low-calorie food. This process forces the hens to lay many eggs that they would naturally put.
After two years the bodies of the hens end up exhausted and their egg production falls. These "spent" hens are sent to slaughterhouses, where their fragile legs are chained to shackles and their necks are cut. At the time they are sent to the slaughterhouse, approximately 29 percent of the chickens suffer from broken bones due to negligence and rough handling.
- Swine Industry:
When sows reach the age of being mothers, they are inseminated artificially in a process similar to that of cows, subsequently they are imprisoned during their gestation in "cages of calving", cages with only 61 cm of amplitude too small to turn or throwing themselves so they are forced to remain in the same position all the time, often developing ulcers because of lack of movement.
After giving birth, the mother sows are taken to "lactation cages", places similar to the calving cages, with only a small concrete area where the piglets can drink their mother's milk.
Intensive confinement, loneliness and deprivation are often the cause of dementia among mothers, and this is manifested in their repetitive behavior such as neurotic chewing of cage bars or excessive pressure on their water bottles. After three or four years when their bodies end exhausted (still young) they are sent to the slaughterhouse.
- Sale of puppies:
In order to sell as many puppies as possible, the dogs are pregnant again and again until they can no longer become pregnant, at which point they are auctioned or killed. These mothers often suffer from malnutrition, exposure to the weather and lack of adequate veterinary attention.
Thus, these mothers are used only for the purpose of generating profits, depriving them of space, freedom and a family that loves them, while their puppies are snatched from them repeatedly, forced to live in a continuous state of solitude.
Sources:
Care2. 2012. To be a feminist is to be a vegan. http://www.care2.com/causes/to-be-a-feminist-is-to-be-a-vegan.html
Filosofía Vegana. 2011. Feminismo y Veganismo. http://filosofiavegana.blogspot.com.co/2011/12/feminismo-y-veganismo.html
Diagonal. 2016. Feminismo y Antiespecismo: Dos luchas con mucho en común. https://www.diagonalperiodico.net/libertades/29659-veganismo-y-lucha-social.html
El Diario. 2015. Feminismo y Antiespecismo. http://www.eldiario.es/caballodenietzsche/Feminismo-antiespecismo_6_441365860.html
Mente Vegana. 2010. Los lázteos, una cuestión feminista. http://www.mentevegana.com/los-lacteos-una-cuestion-feminista/
Mujeres en red. 2008. ¿Qué es el feminismo? http://www.mujeresenred.net/spip.php?article1308
Especismo Cero. ¿Qué es especismo? http://www.especismocero.org/que-es-especismo
The Vegan Society. Definition of Veganism. https://www.vegansociety.com/go-vegan/definition-veganism
Peta Latino. La industria del huevo. http://www.petalatino.com/los-animales-no-son-nuestros-para-usar-como-comida/la-industria-del-huevo/
Peta Latino. La industria del puerco. http://www.petalatino.com/los-animales-no-son-nuestros-para-usar-como-comida/la-industria-de-puerco/
Peta Latino. Fábricas de cachorros. http://www.petalatino.com/los-animales-no-son-nuestros-para-abusar-de-ninguna-forma/fabricas-de-cachorros/