Fascism has an inimical attitude towards women and sees them as inferior to men. This is a little known but exceedingly important aspect of fascism.

This fact is recognizable in words and statements of 20th century fascist leaders. For instance, Mussolini's statement to Maurice de Valeffe, a reporter for the French publication Journal, on Nov. 12, 1922, openly belittled women:

There are those who say that I intend to limit the right to vote. No! Every citizen will keep his right to vote for the Rome Parliament… Let me also admit to you that I am not thinking of extending the vote to women. There would be no point. My blood opposes all kinds of feminism when it comes to women participating in state affairs. Naturally a woman shouldn't be a slave, but if I conceded her the vote, I'd be laughed at. In our state, she must not count. [1]

During the serious economic crisis beginning in 1930, Mussolini ordered that women should leave their places of work. Because he saw women as "thieves who reach out to steal men's bread, and responsible for men's unproductiveness." [2]

Through various measures, restrictions on women in the workplace were also imposed in education. For instance, a decree of Jan. 30, 1927 forbade women in high school from taking classes in literature and philosophy. A decree passed in 1928 resorted to legal measures to oppose women's education, and women were prevented from becoming directors of middle schools. Female students were required to pay double the fees in schools and universities.

A decree which Mussolini put before Parliament on Nov. 28, 1933 declared, "State bodies are empowered to impose conditions excluding women in advertisements for exams to take on new employees.. They must impose limits against a rise in the number of female workers in public offices…" [3]

These decrees did not just represent a social ideology or merely imposed regulations to foster a division of labor, they were actually the implementation of the biological dogma of Nazism.

The root of this prejudice among fascists towards women was, as in so many other matters, Darwinism. Fascists did not merely appropriate the idea of the inequality between the races from Darwinism, they also adopted the idea that men were superior to women.

In The Descent of Man, Darwin wrote that women some of whose "powers of intuition, of rapid perception, and perhaps of imitation are characteristic of the lower races, and therefore of a past and lower state of civilisation." [4]

In the Descent, Darwin also wrote, "Man is more powerful in body and mind than woman, and in the savage state he keeps her in a far more abject state of bondage than does the male of any other animal; therefore it is not surprising that he should have gained the power of selection." [5]

Darwin's views could also be recognized in his personal outlook towards women. He described a woman's role in marriage as "constant companion, (friend in old age) who will feel interested in one, object to be beloved and played with—better than a dog anyhow—Home, and someone to take care of house ..." [6] It is evident that Darwin looked at women and the institution of the family from a materialistic standpoint. There was not a trace of love, respect, loyalty, affection or compassion in his outlook.

The evolutionist and materialist Carl Vogt, a contemporary of Darwin and a Geneva scholar of the mid nineteenth century, also held disparaging views regarding women. "We may be sure that wherever we perceive an approach to the animal type the female is nearer to it than the male" he wrote. "Hence we should discover a greater [apelike] resemblance if we were to take a female as our standard." [7]

Another follower of Darwin, the evolutionist social psychologist Gustave Le Bon, wrote;

In the most intelligent races ... are a large number of women whose brains are closer in size to those of gorillas than to the most developed male brains. This inferiority is so obvious that no one can contest it for a moment; only its degree is worth discussion. ... Women ... represent the most inferior forms of human evolution and ... are closer to children and savages than to an adult, civilized man.. [8]

Therefore, at the basis of fascism's disparagement of and contempt for women lies the theory of Darwinism. Mussolini's taking away of women's social rights, and Hitler's building of "breeding farms" to reproduce the superior race and obliging young girls to sleep with SS officers, are all reflections of fascists' attitudes to women. Both Darwinists and fascists are enemies of women. They see them as an inferior and backward species, and both despise them, as well as employing discriminatory and oppressive methods against them.

This fascist perspective is completely at odds with the ethics of the Koran. God has commanded in the Koran that women should be cherished, respected, and protected. In addition, He has shown examples of women with superior morals, such as Mary and the wife of Pharaoh. In the eyes of God, superiority does not lie in race, sex or rank, but in closeness to Him and strength of belief. In a number of verses of the Koran, God has revealed that all believers will receive their reward without discrimination between men and women.

Their Lord responds to them: "I will not let the deeds of any doer among you go to waste, male or female—you are both the same in that respect…"       (Qur'an, 3:195)

Anyone, male or female, who does right actions and is a believer, will enter the Garden. They will not be wronged by so much as the tiniest speck.            (Qur'an, 4:124)

Anyone who acts rightly, male or female, being a believer, We will give them a good life and We will recompense them according to the best of what they did.                                                      (Qur'an, 16:97)

However, as religion was abandoned, these truths were abandoned with it, and in their place were provided superstitions such as fascism and Darwinism, in which all forms of discrimination based on sex or race are seen as justified.

Notes:

[1]  Maria A. Macciocchi, "Eléments Pour Une Analyse du Fascisme", Paris, UGE, 1976, p.108

[2]  Maria A. Macciocchi, "Eléments Pour Une Analyse du Fascisme", Paris, UGE, 1976, p.126-127.

[3]  Maria A. Macciocchi, "Eléments Pour Une Analyse du Fascisme", Paris, UGE, 1976, p. 128-129.

[4]  Charles Darwin, "The Descent of Man", The Modern Library, New York, p. 873.

[5]  Charles Darwin, "The Descent of Man", The Modern Library, New York, p. 901.

[6]  Charles Darwin, "The Autobiography of Charles Darwin 1809-1882 (Edited by Nora Barlow)", W. W. Norton & Company Inc., New York, 1958, pp. 232-233.

[7]  Roger Lewin, "Bones of Contention: Controversies in the Search for Human Origins", Simon and Shuster, New York, 1987, p. 305.

[8]  Stephen Jay Gould, "The Mismeasure of Man", W. W. Norton & Company, New York, 1981, p.104, 105.