Can You Be A Feminist Without Being A Vegan?

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March 8th marks this year’s International Woman’s Day and the theme for this year is, “Gender equality today for a sustainable tomorrow. A key mission this year is to advance gender equality in the time of the climate crisis through women’s leadership.” With the theme being focused on sustainability I thought it would be important to highlight how veganism & feminism are intersectional. (International Woman’s Month is observed through the month of March)

What is Feminism?:

“feminism, the belief in social, economic, and political equality of the sexes. Although largely originating in the West, feminism is manifested worldwide and is represented by various institutions committed to activity on behalf of women’s rights and interests.” 

While feminism itself has had its flaws and deviations from its true purpose, modern feminists realize the intersectionality of all things. That feminism isn’t just about equality in the work force or equality in voting rights or equal access to education. Feminism is in fact tied to so many aspects of every day life for all different classes and statuses of women. 

What that means is that, women from lower socio-economic statuses, women of colour, gay women, trans women, housewives or homemakers, single mothers, immigrant women, all of these women and more deserve equal opportunities to an equal system. 

“Animals, black people, women, indigenous people, foreigners, homosexuals and transgender people are on the margins of the regulatory standards and, therefore, are part of the same systems of inequalities. As Butler notes in the form of questioning in her theory of “sex”, these bodies are not worth protecting, saving, and mourning. And even within the systems of inequalities, some bodies are worth more than others.”

– Marina Colerato

And this is where we have to take a step back and look at what we are doing to female animals in the animal agriculture industry. 

Let’s talk Animal Agriculture:

Animal Agriculture also known as Factory Farming, is “a system of rearing livestock using intensive methods, by which poultry, pigs, or cattle (and more) are confined indoors under strictly controlled conditions.”

If we look at animals in nature we can follow their natural lifespan as such; 

• Adult female cow finds mate & willingly engages in sexual intercourse.
• Adult female cow is pregnant with 1 calf for as long as human mothers are pregnant. Some species can remain pregnant for 11.5 months. (on rare occasions they can even have twins, just like us)
• Mother cow gives birth to her baby & raises her calf as any mother would. Nursing her baby for up to 1 year forming an incredible bond as a mother and child do. 
• Wild cows will then break off into herds (kind of like how we grow up & form our own families) and spend their days grazing and living freely.

If we look at animals stuck in captivity their lives look much different; 

• Female cows need to be impregnated in order to produce milk.
• Factory farmed cows are raped by humans as they inseminate them using what they call a “rape rack”.
• The female cow carries her calf for 9+ months, gives birth and after a few hours the calf is taken away.
• If the calf is male “he will be placed in a veal crate where he is tied at the neck and restrained to prohibit all movement. Because male cows will not grow up to produce milk, they are considered “waste” to a dairy farmer and usually sold to produce veal. The calf will live in the crate for up to 20 weeks, fed only a milk substitute that does not contain iron or fiber. This diet makes the calves anemic, which results in the pale, flesh coloring of veal cuts. Calves are only taken out of their crates when it is time to transport them to slaughter. Most cannot walk or support their own weight because their muscles are so underdeveloped. Around one million male calves meet this fate each year.”
• If the calf is female she “will be raised to become a dairy cow, just like her mother. But first, she has her tail docked, or cut short, at around six weeks of age, often without any pain medication. This can cause permanent nerve damage which will lead to chronic pain for the cow. At around six months old, the calf will be “de-budded” a process that involves burning out the bone that will grow into horns. Since cows are kept in such close quarters, horns can be dangerous!” Then they will succumb to the same rape, impregnation, confinement etc. 
• A few hours after giving birth the momma cow will then be hooked up to a milking machine where her baby’s milk will be taken for dairy production. 
• After a couple of months the childless momma cow will then be raped again to perpetuate her milk production. In reality, calves are just bi-product victims of the dairy industry. 

Female cows are pumped with all types of antibiotics & growth hormones. Infections & pus are commonly found in milk. In fact a litre of milk can have 400,000,000 pus cells. Hormones are used to ensure that female cows are producing as much milk as possible. This then leads to many dairy cows developing bovine mastitis. Bovine Mastitis is a very painful & unnatural infection. I can’t imagine how much pain these mothers must be in on a daily basis, every single moment of their lives.

For my momma friends that breast fed or had trouble breast feeding, imagine having your milk ducts blocked and the pain caused by the inflammation and swelling. Just imagine yourself in that situation but you also don’t have your child or your freedom. 

So how are veganism & feminism related?:

To be honest, I don’t even think I have to spell it out any more clearly than I have above. The life of a dairy cow is literally hell on earth. If we were to reverse the roles & put human women in this position, I think we would all agree that this type of treatment is beyond horrifying. 

When we purchase dairy products we are paying for women to be raped & impregnated. Our dollars are perpetuating to have their babies stolen from them, which leads to murdered babies, raped babies and so on. All so that we can enjoy some cheese? Are we really so stubborn that we can’t admit that what we are doing is wrong? 

We can’t change what we’ve done in the past but we certainly can make changes to our choices moving forward. Every time we make a purchase we are voting for certain causes, sometimes without even realizing what it is we are truly supporting.

As a vegan and as a feminist I know that the choice is very clear, I cannot and will not allow my hard earned dollars to contribute to an industry that functions on enslaving females & stealing/murdering their children. 

Once we begin to understand and see factory farming for what it truly is, we will then begin to have more compassion and empathy for other sentient beings. We will then begin to see that their purpose on this planet is not for our exploitation. 

Further Readings: 

Because this is just a small example of how veganism & feminism are interconnected through the dairy industry, I encourage you to check out some of these wonderful articles that shed more light on the complexities of feminism, animal agriculture, and more. 

1. Woman of Vegan
2. Feminism
3. One Green Planet
4. Sistah Vegan
5. How to Rape a Cow

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“It is already given throughout an extensive feminist theory and criticism that women and animals are part of the same systems of inequalities. The naturalisation of women as inferior to men does not differ from naturalisation of animals as inferior to humans. As the woman is an object to the service of man and the capitalist system, the animal is an object in the service of the human and capitalist system.”

– Marina Colerato

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