TheWomen's Movement in the United States: Confronting Racism and Sexism
Leslie R.Wolfe
At the risk of seeming ridiculous, let me say that thc true revolution ary is guided by great feelings of love che Guevara
Preface: A Personal Note
This chapter presents some verbal snapshots of the U.S. women's movement in the context of gender and race relations. This has been central to my work and life since 1972-when I flrst went to work at the National Welfare Rights Organization and then to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights; and today it is in full flower in the work of the Center for Women Policy Studies. In all of these years, I have shared with many other feminists the mission to speak out about racism-plus-sexism as having a unique quality of oppression for women of color. We have talked about the importance of "doing our homework" about other sisters' origins, cul- tures, and histories. We have encouraged white feminists to be outspo- ken against racism and not to leave that task solely to women of color. We have insisted on our responsibility to root out the vestiges of racism in ourselves, in our organizations, and in our feminist theory and policy priorities. And we have talked to women of color as well about multiethnic visions of feminism and the importance of doing the hard work to break down racial. ethnic, and cultural barriers both to sisterhood and to the institutional change that will foreshadow an egal- itarian future.
231 232 Counvy Pottroits fheWomen's Movement in the United Stotes 255
Setting the Stager Defining premises Our Central sex. and condition are sccn rs accidents. and nol the substance of Iile; not till the universal title of humaDity to Iile. Iibcrty. and thc pursult ot In a very 1(.) inalienable to all: not till thcn is woman's significant corner of the women's movement, we have srrug- happiness is concedcd be gled unJ nomrn s r'lu\c \ r)n lhc $hitc !\')mrn \ lror for many years to build a feminism that confionts both sexisrn le\son l,lu!hl -nol and blirck woman's, not the red woman's but the causc ol every mar racism, that is truly a multiracial and egalitarian partnership. the For whrte of evcry woman who has writhed silently under a mighty wrong women, this means understanding and their skin privilege in the conrext of Woman's wrongs are thus indissolr'rbly linked with all undclinded gender oppression-and then rejecting it outspokenly. Together, white woe. and thc acquirement of her "rights will mean the linal triumPl- women tbrccs ol-reason, and women of color can bridge the great divide of racial domi- of all right ovcr mi8ht, the suprcmacy of the molal nance justice. and lo\e in thc governmcnt of the nations oi earlh (Citec that has been our shared but silent legacy throughout our histories and in the United States. in hooks l9ll I ) Seven central premises shape this chapterl they also should gurde Since the days of Anna Julia Cooper and her colleagues, thc our contlnuing conversations and strategies to confront racism and scx_ been struggle against ism simultaneously. women's movement in the united States has in both racism and sexism.l As a fourth prcmise. it is cssential that we The first premise characterizcs both our diversity and connecreo_ women's movement-that it is more ness in a understand this truth about the single image: we who believe in freedom are in the same boat. than what some have called "the white women's movement" or "main Some of us by virtue of our race, class, gender, sexuai orientation, women's organizations." Feminism in the United States is won- marital status, immigration status, or language_are stream in first-class cab_ communities throughout the country ins, and some derfully diverse and embedded in of us are in the cargo hold. We are not the captain. The is a kaleidoscope of many faces and many voices; that most have not boat is stratified by race, class, and gender; It it is often brutai and it is not deny their existence or governed by patriarchal been heard or seen by the "mainstream" does assumptions.If we remain isolated in our sepa- their strength. rate cabins and cargo holds, we cannot transform this society, this boat. The women's movement lr these many rLnd diverse scholars, We need to open our doors wide to each other. activists, and organizations many ol which are led by women of color But to do so, we must recognize that there is always a gendcr - dimenrion j\ who carry on the brave tradition of Africln-American feminists of the to race relalions: this premij,e number ruo. a Appiying nineteenth and early twentieth centuries-Anna Julia Cooper' Maria gender lens to all of our work helps us see race ,elations moi. clearlu Stewart. Soiourner Truth. and countless other foremothers And the and understand the inextricable links between racism and sexism. whire women's movemcnt is also their white f-eminist sisters who share this supremacy and male supremacy! as they play out in increasingly com mission and struggle and who have said to both white wonlcn and men plex and destructive ways. of color that ending one oppression ts not enough. Third, we who believe in freedom must place at the center of our So. when we talk about the women's movement in the I990s. analysis and activism an undersranding of the combined imoact of "inclusiveness" is an inappropriate term and strategy because it implies racism-plus-sexism on women of color-who have bravely faced these that the "real" movement is a white and middle-class one; to persist in dual systems of dominance that still shape our society. An understand_ using term "inclusiveness" is to pcrsist in the errors of the past by ing of this particular reality thc enriches our understancling of both racrsm thinking feminists of and making invisible the feminist organizing and of sexism and thus of the realilies faced by both men and of color color (Wolfe and Tucker 1995). white women. As African-American t'eminist Anna Julia Cooner said in As Beverly Guy-shctiall notes. "Thc history of American feminirm a speech lo an rudience of women in lg92: has been primarily I narrative about thc heroic deeds of white women" histo- We (Guy-shctiall 1995: p. xiii). The act of reclaiming the submerged take our stand on the solidarity oi humanity, the oneness of life, and ry of Atiican-Amcrican feminism should also ensure that the leadership the unnaturalness and injustice of alt speciil favoritism. whether sex. is not submerged by the assumption of race. country or condition. . . . The colored woman feels thar of women-of-color feminists today woman s cause is one and universal: and that . . . not till race, color that they must be "included" in other grouPs. 234 Country Portroits Thewomen's Movement in the United Stotes 235
The women's movement is with those white men who rule our world And then, the unex- discourse-orien -^,,,lirv :Lt;"1IJ::.p:;:',','fflt:,flffij j; tife uf *nlte sLin privilege will continue to infect our movement' our movement. ";;';;;;; lLined"gut Indeed. this remains a central issue for the women.s "" ,tti. is changing. in large mer"urc because lhe mo\ement it so moyement as we struggle with the ways in which encompassing women's groups organ- racism and classrsm wonderfully diverse and diffuse, intersect with sexism to oppress all the women's movement ln fact' women. For all our failures, the iJJ this is the strength of women's movement is a model of the struggle "u"ty*tt"t". "news" of the women's movement to address these inrcrre- ,1n"" ttt. tut" 1970s' the unrepofied lated oppressions based in assumptions of dominance, women-of-color organizations with avowedly g.ound"O-in t!o, t u, U""n tt.t" building of and hatred of differentness. More than the flourishing of hlack any other progres'sive movement. feminist ugendut and feminist discourse and the women's movement has struggled with these issues in every reatm. feminist theory and multiethnic women's studies' We have not always called been successful by any means, but wc have Today, what some have called "mainstream" and others have engaged in this transformational debate since the nineteenth ceorury. "white" women's organizations acknowledge that talking about We have made enormous progress fails to capture in knitting a seamless web of anaty_ "women" and "people of color" as separate categories sis and activism that confronts biases of sex, race, class, and sexual ori- reality as it renders women of color invisible While these organizations entation. Sadly, these struggles not yet have been and remain virtually invisible continue their worthy struggle for sel f-transformation , most do to most people through public the media. reflect the diversity in their boards and senior staffs that their And by "we," I do mean feminists, because feminism demands both Dronouncements on issues would anticipate. personal ard institutional one change_by women and men of all back_ However, in this post-Beijing era, women worldwide sPeak in grounds and by the institutions that govern our lives. But many wonten voice: women's rights are human rights. The continuing development of are not feminists, many white women remain tied to their white skrn antiracist feminist ideology anrl organizing by African-Americr n, privilege, and many otherwise progressive and egalitarian men remain Latina, Asian-American, white' and Native American feminists is a tied to patriarchal assumptions. Dromise that the women's movement in the United States will win its The fifth premise points agenda for to the future: we have different histories rn itruggle for racial and ethnic solidarity and build a common the United States, but our futures are entwined. As Chicana scholar our shared struggle against both sexist and racist social' political, eco- Aida Hurtado ..white reminds us: men use different forms of enfcrrcrng nomic, and personal structures. oppression of white women and of women of color. As a consequcnce. these groups of women have clifferent political responses and skiils, and at times these differences cause the two groupi to clash,,(Hurtado Origins of Multiethnic Feminism 1989: p.843). And while African -A merican women have historically been The nineteenth-century women's movement emerged into an era ol enslaved and brutalized by white men, white women have, as patrrcra intlustrial tlevelopment and the restructuring of work and family lives' Hill Collins reminds ,,been us, offered a share of white male power but the growth of social reform movements and intellectual ferment that only if rhey agree to be subordinate', (Collins 1990: p. 189j. Colljns emphasized individual freedom and-quite literally the "rights of speaks of slavery days with But the first both rage and generosity. She suggests ttrat -un" (Hol" and Levine lgTllWolfe and Tucker 1995) perhaps white women wouid have saved black women from sline of the half of the nineteenth century also was a time in the United States when horrors of slavery if they hacl had the power to do so, or perhaDs wnrre Native Americans were being forcibly driven from their ancestral lands women were simply grateful they had escaped the brutal rcajities of by Anglo "settlers" living out an ideology of Manifest Destiny to con- slavery by virtue of their race. quer the continent for European Americans lt was a time when the Without a doubt, this conversation about the persistence of that legd_ descendants of Africans who had been kidnapped tiom their ancestral cy remains an essential one for the women's movement. Otherwrse. Iands still were legally enslaved as chattel throughout the South, fbrbid- white women will not examine its impact on them and will not seek to den by law and custom to be educated. to marry. and to maintain thelr end skin privilege with the necessary passion, but rather willseek to sarn own families (Wolf'e and Tucker 1995). These were the brutal realities zJb 237 Country Portroits TheWoment Movement in the United Stotes
that shaped the lives of African_American women be simultaneously focused on the libera- and Native Anrerrc.- ---,,ed that the struggle must women and that most of their while \ omen' white sisters could not imagine or cu'rll ufu.tt -both men and uomen -and prehend-or experience t'""i;;;;;;l,.i,iof and black as central concerns in their own liv"es. progre'sive white men' feminist white women' And so, while the movement for not hear this truth And very few lhe abolition of slavery. launched ."""ri.ggrl"g r"? race equality could in the 1830s, was the birthplace of the women,s as leaders in either the earlier interracial right, _o'ue,i.nt to1. Lr-^L women were welcomeo both white and African_American feminist movement These women, they followed parallei but l"lir'"tit, societies or in the emerging otten segregated - movements to paths. Though undervalued by their white race and class D persist in liberation sisters, as Dainful issues of 'ias Paula Giddings reminds us,,.all Black women abolitionists lunO ,r,nr, o1 daY' the leading Black 9u1own top priority alter male abolitionists) were feminisrs,, (cid;in;; t9s4: ""' wh"n iuffrage became the women's movement's p.5s). pro- .L- aivil War-when their struggle to win the franchise and equal But, like their white male abolitionist failed-feminism suffered Facing ever counterparts, virtually no l"i,ai the law for women white abolitionist/feminist women_save "t cluring the next half century' Sarah and Angelina Grimtc_ ,ior" po*"tfuf and vicious opposition understood the potential racist and con- power of a coalition betweeniuhite and black *hit" iuff.ugitt. became more willing to accommodate women. Thus, though woman suffrage among the the early white feminists recognized the irrrpact ,"ruutiu. ul"*.' to gain "respectability" for of sexist oppression on women,s g.-4g or withhold it These single- lives (see the l S"n".o t-"11, *fri* rn"n who hal the power to grant Declaration of Sentiments expressed racist and nativlst [Women,s Rights Convention 1969]). rr was mi'Jed *trlte suffragists, then' often left to the African-American safely give the vote to feminists to bring it all together (see hooks ui"*r- tugg".ting th;t white men would more l98l ; Collins 1990; and dark-skinned men cuy-sheftall 1995). tt ao o*n Jit"tt unO wives than to immigrant That the early tactics-including the white feminists could not and did not transcend race Tragically, these and other white suffragists' and class.is _ white members of disappointing even infuriating_to us as we look oacr. strateg;ot eipediency to avoid alienating southern but it is hardly women by race And surprising given the race relations and patriarchal tt" nit'ionut suffrage association further divided assumptions - Black women's of their time. So too, black women,s suspicion of white iui.r,,tt" ttug" sufirage march of 1913 was segregated women's motives. Sigma Theta and black men's bel ief_ expre ssej even by early groupr-iniuaing Mary Church Terrell and the Delta feminist and the Frederick Douglass-that suffrage for biack men must jrecede iorori,y *orn"n oi Howa,d University and Ida Wells-Barnett suffrage for women, "bring up the rear" black and white, is hardly surprising. But one hun_ alpha Suffrage Club-were told they must dred^years later, such thinking is inexcusable ona .ount.riro,lu.ilu.. tGiddings 1984). Sojourner own campaign tor Truth spoke for many Afiican_American feminists of the But Atiican-Amerlcan women organized their day when she by the 1900s' black expressed the fear that if black men won the vote and nol t"ff*;;; ensure their own future equality, and black women, 1984)' they would dominate black women as white men domr_ suffraie clubs were active in every part of the country- {Giddings, nated white I92(l'r the women. In 1867, during the debate over whether women When"woman's suffrage was finally won on August 26' should of feminism^when step aside in favor of black male suffrage, she said: lgth Amendment joinJd the Constitution, the earlier vision and dwindled' as a movement to end women's subjugation had faded Ther€ is a great stir about and early 1970s colored men getting their rights, but not a not revived in full force until the late 1960s word to be about colored women; and if coloied .l"n g"t thii. iirf,,. white and African-American women built nol colored women Separately, therefore, theirs. you see the colored men will be-masters"nu support the revived women's o\ er lhe women. strong organizations that survived to lnd it will be just as bad as it was before. So I am for bitter- (eeprnB latera but also perpetuated and solidified the the.thrng going lrhe \truggle for women.s suffragel while mou.irl.ni d""ud"s rnrngs are srrrnng: because if we wait tilt it is still. ir will tai" a s.er, nessanddistrustofthelattelyearsofthesuffrageStluggle.Thiswasthe while to ger women at the ir going again. (Cuy_sheftail 1995: p. 3?) shared but silent legacy of white and African-American and dawn of the n.* .iu of activism for social change in the 1960s Indeed, African-American feminists throughout the nineteenth cenrurv 1970s. 238 Country 239 Portroits TheWomen's Movement in the Un,ted Stotes
The Third Way_Building a New Feminism to bring the two movements together began much But the struggle women aclivists in radical social-change move- Indeed, the race Oy y*ng and class divisions of U.S. society infected -,aii"'f"a the llour_ . ; ;' ;.- ; r ishing women's movement during the 1970s. I I r ! :.'l: i il ; Thus, while wonl,." f:il'^ and white women actli i.1,' i; J:fi ,'J.'3,'; *T i ilffi color were among the founders ^" and lea(lers of femi;is; --'ican and^ Students for a Democratic Society came most actlvlsts ;.;;;,;;r;l Committee and members were white. Like their fbremothi., .,r'r,,*,.^ il""ot"i,"t for suffrage, women of color t-"^,'?.".'*"t.".,^.oethatintheabsenceorremlnistcontent'thesexualrevolutiondid experienced racism _,n,;";;';;;i;;';:"1,: black power did not free women from male chauvin- scrous and unintended_from -*f,it. of lheir white sisters. And f.rr-linirtrl Lt-'*unt" rh. toutttnt, and the New Left's radical analysis otten assumed that the similarities of gender abroad' the would overcome tne dif.- society that opposed.racism at home' imperialism ferences of race and class, if only ,,recruitcd,, ir.;i;;" that women of color could be Wa, and capitalism did not address the sex caste system into their organizations and ,,incrusiuen.sJl. ii",""a their ideology that nutinn and perpetuated their subordinate slatu5 in society' again. - *rUiutu"O uomen reflecled even in lhese progressive rocial movements' When white feminists ,Jii'.n-*u. rhou.ght they were being antiracjst ""'tutuny feel that this remains true of progressive male-dom- attempting to by feminists be.'color blind,'and ignore iacial/ethni. it is likely that their failure to under- inJ.fus u,ri"r_ inut"J lrgunirutions today lndeed, ences. women of color understood 1980s the insult of this invisibility.-io But .ign,'s agenda well enough to confront it in the early some white feminists also ,ii"a-,ft""f". under-stood that expecting rvor"n ,l.ny i"J.r.",ttiti," do *ith ttteir refusal to acknowledge that the assault their differences and submerge them :."1,i"g be at the into a discrediiecl p", in f"rninltrn ias the right's central focus How could women model of an Anglo-dominant sociery was uhimately J.rrru.iiu. n, center rather than on the marginst unified feminist vision and mc " follow- Women-of-color feminist groups achieved greater visibility over issues of race and .,.,,.;:"#:':rYfixllif Women's Yeal ;'ilTll,:T:;:1 ing their successful mobilization at the U s lnternational nists for whom these issues were key_turned away from\I/t tn.y CJnf"r"n." in 1977 to insist on a more forceful statement in the called "white women's organizations,: "r issues an. defined,i.,.i, o*n i..n,n,,,, National Plan of Action about women of color and the combined vrsron and built their own organizations. Thus, the public image o1-tire of racism and sexrsm women's movement portrayed in _ for the media ref.lected in the lJaOersnip To a large extent' the conference was an "explosive moment" and membership of many national organizations _ helped launch wa, tf,"-i,rr"g. nr a the U.S. worien's movement (Wolfe and Tucker 1995) It whrte women's movement, which further alienated *urn"n_,ri_au,u. new organizations, such as the Black Women's Agenda' and brought feminists. policy and much oT the feminist agenda into the mainstream of federal Yet many women-of_color and white f.eminists began early on ro popular discourse. lndeed' the fact that the conference adopted a twen- build a multicultural feminist movement. Confronting tli.,l.,nona tin, iy-iiu"-point National PIan of Action that addressed the full range of men of color and fiom white ot women that they must choose whether womenis issues and specifically spoke of race bias in the context racism or sexism is more oppre:rive. that some feminist. ,,t .nlur lnd * t ,r" women's struggles helped shape new coalitions and strategies remtnrst theoflst\ began to devclop the.,third way...con\idering rilii\nt helped preservi the movement during the backlash years to come and sexism as the twin and inseparable con- evils of caste and *3rnen nt (W;lfe;nd Tucker 1995). And many women came away from the color as the experts both on their femi- impact and on creation of theo.cs or ference newly aware of the need to build a national' multicultural oppression and strategies for charrge. nist (Bunch 1987) Surprisingly, movement some of this ,,,rk *rs done in I federal govcrnmenl agency, rhe U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, *t i.t Women's Rights program in 1973 that fo.ur.A.ntir"ty u""rioUti.fr.,f j.ti"i"g ,n. " Facing Backlash intersection of racjsm and sexism and its impact on *urn.n of cotor as tr[,borh cir il righr: rnd we,men.\ i1.,1"]lTllO rirhrs uort. The sprrrrl The women's movement's success during the 1970s in building f .,/4 fssue of lhe ( /lil Ri.qltt: Diq(:,t. enlitled .S,.trVl ,tttJ R,tL.tsrtt women's rights law and policy at the federal level5-largely to add Feminist Perspectr'r,t s, was a landmark that has not O..n r"ffil",",f "sex" to th; prohibitions of race discrimination and create federally 240 241 Country Portroits TheWomen's Movement in the United Stotes
funded programs to attack sex bias and discrimination_also broughl f.'ninistdemandsfortherealtrirnstbrmationofu,orkplaccculturcStO issues of combined race and sex bias t-'^',i^--oOu,a tamily valucs and to cousidcr thc to the fore desfite tt o, trr" our traditional. fe minist constitutional ilr!v'_ guarantee of the Equat Rights Amendment. "'ior. """"0, tn. vast majority of working women who do not ha\e the However, feminist initiatives that would "f reach more deeply rnto the to oPt out' social and economic bases of women,s option lower status ond .onfruu, tn" combined impact of racism and sexism on *o_an aoa. ,,1ir..,,y_ addressing women's poverty, for instance_have been far less Facing Our Dilemma ful. success_ Helce, our sixth premise is hampered by our either/or . points to future struggles by rrrst ln the 1990s, the progressive agenda still acknowledging that ways We still our success inevitably engendered ii ontii"rrnirr irri"tlg, tr-r"n shope-' uu' wotk and thought in too many and racist backlash that linked,,respectabl",, that "all the ."nnr".uutiu. gro"pij *,,f1 ."""f tf "*orn.n't and "people of color"-assuming old-rime hate groups arc brave" and newer miliiia and other hate groupi. enO .1n.. -J.t"n white' rll lhe blacks are mcn' but some of us the Reagan administration. -hu, "ta the far right,s ug.n,lu in.r"osngty (Hull. Scott. and Smith 1982)' sh^aped federal policy-with the progrcsstvc comnunlty' its overt hostility to women,s rights, to It remains a powerful dilemma that in affirmative action, to gay and tbcused on race or gender' lesbian rights, ana tu *.lt_..ig'n,. ,n,r with a few excepiions' organizations remain programs to alleviate their poverty. t"t"iy U*tt lt is teft to oiganizations led by wonren of color and This is connected to what I colleagues in both the have been calling, since the early 1980s. uiil". ro.ut" these links and demand that their the "You've Come a Long respond to the self- Way, Baby,, backt-ash, *fri.t _pi*.oy.a iot"n'r -ou"rn.nt and the civil rights movement throughout the mass media (see Faludi l99l ) un,t no_ in'tfr."uo,.., n, defined needs and strategies of women of color' more soph i\t Tucker icaled itntifem Hence the dilemma of what my sister-colleague Jennifer rndepenrrent women,s of our recent .";;;l lil::,i.",T;i;: i:"JJ":, T:lJ:"ir,: calls "sexist multicultural education " Hence the dilemma both dangerous qnd ,,post_feminist; white women dead, that in this un.f'1Jrt .iuif struggles to save affirmative action because it "helps" rights" era we have "women ot achievecl equality ior those women uni-ln.n ut rnorl""thun "minorities" read "men of color" but rarely color who. are capable - of having it, that civil rights and feminist ieaacrs color." are over the hill and of welfare out of touch, that femini.sm has caused women.s Hence, the willingness of many liberal proponents problems and made women guise of helping their victims, thar affirmative action is Dretcren reform to ignore its ossiult on poor women in thc tral.treatmenl of the unqualified. poor womcn' partrcu and thar *.f tor. frngro"rrr, t..p "innocent" chiklren-thus effectively punishing African Americans - rnd in poverty that is tantamount to slavery. larly African-American and Latina women, for their poverl) The second phase on poveltf ir of the'.you've Come a Long Way Baby,, back deualuing their motherhoocl. Indeed, the recent discourse lash tries_ to speak wclfare is bank- to upper_income working *orrr* *ho are pushing a classici'blame the victim" strategy that suggests that through the glass vic- ceiling and thus rhrearenirig rhe ,rarus qr" ,frji'f.*p, rupting the nation, that poor women are the villains rather than the white men at punrtrve rhe very top. This backlash thus,rgg"rir1hu,"lJonr.n, tims of economic dislocations and discrimination' and that career success is meaningless weltare to worklng poor and dangerous bothlo thernselves and welfare reform proposals to force women tionl their families; it seeks rccovery to restore the culi of domesticity, poprfor-i" ,fr. status-but still in poverty will help the nation's economic Victorian era and Aiter Roc r' rhe t950s (see Faludi l99l). ,"gg"riiigif,* *fri". Hence the dilemma of the reproductive-rights agenda upper-income women to choose are tlropping out of the work iJrce. h'avins flnattl, Wade, women of color, active supporters ol the right come to their senses and realized that true joy and fulfiiim.nt'ls rn t.,. abortion,6builtstrategiesforexpandingthedcfinitionofrcProductive had only in the women of kitchen and the nurserv. rights to address issues of forceJ sterilization of low incomc But the underlying theme of this subtle brckjash, und of many pro colorandlackofaccesstoreproductivehealthcare'includingprenati'rl gressrve workplace as well and programs, is that working women must roti.,n. care and "choice" regarding contraception and pregnancy problems of "balancing social work and famiiy,, theitselves, thus subierrinc to link women's reproductive rights to an expanded agenda fbr 242 Countty Portroits TheWomen's Movement in the United Stotes 243
righrs focuscd on low income women support of "a strong women s ::lr;.."r-t. and women ol rd Dercent of white women expressed to push Ior changes thrt benelit uomen" rNe.' Yorl' l-imtt Yet some white fem in istr A;;;"", rs89) ri ghts sore r y ',;'] t'"Th" to mean abortion I fi ii:"1 :H[:ll ff ;J ;::::i.*:,.jJ: d.",h of feminism has been reported in the media virtually ol women of color (Davis 19.9l). j,r "Co,.o wishtul thinking' The Uf.f .;nf.r"'n.., rne binh ol lhe \ umen s mo\ement' perhapt as Beijing, however, n"U ^,-"" have made the reproductive ,igt ,. rnJ l.uf-tl 'o,,ilO"t,,n. movement is stronger and more diversei a powertul mass formulared by women of cotorthe traitmart of ri'ir fr;;;;I.r."' "g.n,tu of women is growing throughout the country' led in large Hence the djtemma ;;;;;.;, rhar borh academic o"d i;;;;il;;, *.'n"n by low-income women' by women of color' and by younger focused think tanks ancl research -"asure "leminist (see lqq5\' centers poli.y-r.,."nn, \,,ot"n *ttu are shrping our lutures" Findlen research on issues atfecting women-but "on.fr., are rarely l"a by,*onran nt color in partnership with white women; nor is ir the rop priority ot their agendrs to lbcus erplicitly trn eonlronting raci:m ani r'a^irn.,'.,r,,f ,a_ Feminist Futures neousty. And hence rhe simitar dilemma th-at virtualty no;" ;f ;;; ,rrnJor progressive think tanks or research institutes the Beijing Platform that study urtrrn uttuir.. For the women's movement in the United States, civil rights' or poverry focus exp]icitry the Seneca Falls on the inextricabie'iint rr.,*..n for ActionT cloes for the twenty-first century what race and sex bias, with women of International color at the (cntet. nf tleir-unury..r. Declaration dirl for the nineteenth and the Houston their agendas, or their Jeadership. Wonen's Year conference did for the late twentieth' Women's organizing at the local in the United States - and state levels pointr tswiuq thg In the post-Beijing era, the women's movement forms of feminism that continue movements to flourish. Vu"y *i."";r'"g..upr' ," more than ever before sees itself as part of global women's communities of color lead the f'rrms combining advocacy fbr systernic and is moving to make its centerpiece the confrontation with all change with provision of ."rui,toY' of oppression based on a system of dominance-sex, race/ethnlclty' and to respond,o dis- .r,r., in *o;#rT:.-;T:::fi:ii;T:;::1: class.'sexual orientation' national origin' language' marital status' oppression rape, woman abuse women's and domestic uioten.i, p'nu.r,1, ,,no ability, and age. We are building our kaleidoscopic vision of wellare, AIDS, access to health white care, denials of reprod uctive' right", ,.*_ many p.rsp.ctiues ancl ex periences women of color and and workplace - :al .harlslslnent discriminarion, to, if.ioir.. _d women. low-income women and middle/upper-lncome women' lmml- Tucker 1995). "^".pf. grant women of many generations' younger and older women' women with disabilities, straight, lesbian. and bisexual women' Indeed, the partiiipants in the Center for Women Policy Studies' Transformation of Consciousness Think Tank nn ih. Futut" of the Women's Movement in 1993 were unanimous in understanding that solutions to the problems that women Perhaps the most powerful male vro- success of feminism has been in its transtor_ will confront-as both their poverty and their vulnerability to mation of public consciousness that and rewriting of the public dir.ourr. un lence continue to increase req uire structural and societal changes women's equality and - move- the changing.oles of *um.n onOrn.n-in r. only a mass multiracial, multiethnic' and multicultural feminist workplace. the lamJly. build and in public life. This nrtiunat c.,ns.ior.u"r, ."nt of *n..n can bring. Finally, as feminists define issues and rarsrng ha\ chan!:ed our to the uorrd rnd brought haI a revorution to fruitron. strategies. wc will confront the politics of ditTerence and respond The rspirations lnd , experiences or counfless women_and men_ various chatlenges of language that our ethnocentricity and monolin- na\ e been trrnsformed: giris womcn in itnd their parents and teachers clo not scofl gurli'm impos.: upun non EnSlish-\pcakinS lnd immigranl qulte so otten at the notion of women in the Senate, in sports, and jt the lhe U n itcd States. space program. And women of color are visible in ail ofihese. As we learn new ways to value our diversity, we must also create Public opinion polls consistenrly reveal that _or, uJulir rrppur, new images. For many years,I have used the image of the kaleidoscope women's rights. g5 By 1989, percent of Afiican_Arnerico" *.,rr." because.'unlike the iraditional images of mosaics and tapestries and ""c, 244 Country Portroits TheWomen's Movement in the United Stotes 245
quilts w,hich suggest needs in the context oi something fixed. static, anci inflexibte_15. r,'st as the early leminist: defined women's kaleidoscope is a collection in the post-Beijing era' the-power- of exquisite and unique pieces that are tot.t of discrimination, so con\ltnl in --..iiJ the con- mo\ entcnt. Erch fun\ lpl'-'"."^""I'r-E that "\romen's rights are human rights" provides r arge w h o r r tul and human r e.,, * ," i e theorv to shape both women's movements "r.' ", "s ilJll Xiil,if , ii: and changing place_and no one11,i,i111"i can ri"lli",il,lll, tt.l,lrl'^ii mouements worldwide Finally' therefore' the exist or function without the oth- r"." *rotion" crs: change is the nature of the kaleidoscope. t't'i-,]i. the united states will continue to expand its And the kaleicloscope tnat -.ru"."nt in is the wontcn s movement fbr women' if we are to confront the is enlarging, as more and *n.a *uaan .u,a. l"lill''i" ir,'r"* und act globallv to addrcss heterosexism- their shared personal struggres to overcome institutionat,.ed :,:;:i ;ff.".." of serism rnd racism' classism and sex. racc. and class bias and discrimination reprorluctive freedom' and the persistence in their own lives and com- lli"ji* AIDS, the lack of munrties (Woltc and Tuckcr 1995). ;i;;ffi. against wtrmen The tI.S women's movement must address ntany ways. thc Beijing platform country even as we make common cause with .ln guitles our forward movement i1r"r. aria"a in our own to.the twenty first century. Despite and movement' globally our progress in changing law and .i.ter organizrti.tns policy dLrring the past twenty_flve years. rnd cultures devalue women' accept our multiethnic feminist iisrons do All;f our lovernments not vet shape society nor violation of our human rights' and seek to do all women partake of its benefits equally. ,".ond-.lus staius, allow the Whilc the "glass that women's move- ceiling" is a real barrier ior muny *orhng *o..n *i,n .oni.ot ou. lives. These are the patriarchal values are climbing ladders ..the of our feminist future into white male club,,it the top]fo, e*ampl., ments must confront. It is the challenge the vast majority of working womer premise is a call to action As women and men com- in the United Stat". aretrafpeo on Thus, our final the "sticky we have floor" at the bottom of the economic ladder. mitted to this vision in our own countries and communities' Yet when ()thers spaces to contln- Ll)unt our \ucce\se\ r* h^uamAn, ir"^,, ^ more to do together. And for this, we must create safe rhe increased n umbers or wome;fiil:1ff,#Jililj;'fi1,1::ffi: u" .o.ing tolether to share our truths in an atmosphere of reconcilia- inated profcssions. to build this egalitarlan who have climbed the corporate luOa.r, ,to nuu. tion and ;lidarity. We must ttanscentl ourselves becorne college professors by Che Guevara's words: "The and presidents, who have become visible in future. Perhaps we shoulcl be guided the media, who have feelings of love" (Guevara 2000: beconte successful business owners, and who have true revolutionary is guided by great becn clected to public who believe in freedom cannot rest officc. In short, despite feminist irleology to the p. 158). And by Ella Baker's: "We contrary, we llnd 2000)' our success measured by the number of woiten wno until it comes" (Baker/SNCC Conference make it close to thc top in a rigidty hierarchical structure. While issucs violence, _ of economic justice, and opportunity have lon-q been hallmiirks of the feminist agenda, in the tuture'the ,*rl"_"n, Notes musr.measure lts success by how well it changes the lives of women who have becn relegated to the bottom, whether by race poverry L Also see Wolfc and Tucker 1995' or or book' lVorls r'tl Filr" in which Ianguage or disability or sexual orientation_or 2. See the monunrental ancl exquisite by u .ornbinut,on ur (1995) restored to a new generation much ol our pre- these factors-our sisters who Beverly Guy-sheftall has are the most opp.esred. O"rpir"j, ona femini'r thought-from the l8-10\ to the present disadvantaged (Wolfe uiou.rty toriet ican-American ancl Tucker 1995). Aof.,i.iiuitt in the carly 1990s includes thc 199'1 eonferenee of Atrican- As we honor the l99l women at the top, we also hold them accountable to American feminists held aithe Massachusetts Institute ofTechnology Ourselves' and the womcn who are less privileged: we expect them declaration of African American women in Det'ense of to make common causc its result- with the women ug"ndu ;i ,h" ,Af.iaon American women and the Law confcrence and who answer their phones. clean their homes and ofl'ices, ing National Network. makc thcir clothes. and serye their lunch. We lg32: tsabel expect women ' 3. Wo."n in Puerto Rico did not gain the rrght to \ote until elected otficials to use their positions Ricun legis to transfbrm the public debare on An groups; Latina and Native Ame \tomen oreaniTed ties as \relt. bur ,il" withih 'A-i' Unitcd ot Culiiornit lgSg Making Wates: An Anthologr oJ ;;;';";"ii''t'n . -:-n Women Pre's *'' - ; J' l :'J ;"'3':'"' "' Attul,),,i,,' n, ura Ah,nr A'i,tu Anttri' dtt w"nrctt Boslon: Beecon :' l f #;'-l'l " 'i Rate'Gender'and the Potirics of i lii', l"l,Ti i"" Ti "' "'J ...,"5u1i:'i; iil;' DifJerentc: o g se A"^ Universil\ .'l Chi':r8o Pres' x d i s l,].u,nrrf;,t Chi\'iPo:",r",,';;,;', ""#: l"n' "' " contlrence zuro 'w" who Believe in Freedom cannot ru; ::l a;iy;ii;.itl#^*. """1* rl#li ^ ,.i""lii"isrlcc Non- ti-.in rt'. g,uJ,'n;ffiil,]j:i$,Je74' prohibiting sex discrimina. nar"t !J"ii1f1. e"1", t N4ltt Baker') and thc Birth of the student - li.ii".t"i."r..ti"",ins Commirtec " Alrican American cultural center' j:':il:,' i;1; b;ii".r Stlrte- University' http://www ncsu edu/ncsu/chass/mds/ .ri:i;T',:'.';r1 html h{ii'tri"::til'+}:#'ifj*1 from pre'chool ;i:) etlahome Murtism and Anti' uate-and professionr, ,.nTi,ln "outut'on rhr,-rugh gr.'.t. *""*.ii, U lgg5 Tltinkint Tl r'a\lt: Essats on Fenrinisnt' . Ihe wnmen rres\ lq72 amendment ro Trrle, Vll Rdai\r/ Toronto: ' of the.Civil Rights t'l It^'rl ltmtni\nt:wontentLlt'\'cme'tt\in Act ol 196,1 lhar u^1i]o....J oqis t h, Ct,ull."x( :;Jit9:"H:;liii..l Lii'"'l' Ct,,h.tl P(t\Pfil/rl^ Bouldcl.( U: Wcstric\ Prts' ' ::{:r"":'farr Housrng " "o*'u ""li' "i' \cti:nt Acl lo prohibit sex dis.rrrrri. Blumentcld.ed' leq5 n\'r'iin?i'c Ra'ttnt attJ .- :u,,o:r ,n ror,gug. t.n,t,n'f,t t.fflt. o.. -J'O the R:rpe prerention and'Control Lanham. MD: RL'wman unJ Littlelicld Act of 1q75. lhe first to 1e,c6g.,r. ERA Ftilett: Politics wonen s Rights and the i:.sue F. f 98b wr) ;:ffi ancr ro esrabrirh u'otru,'i,',.0",.,,. "'"""";:'M. p,orrrr t/tr' C" \titutiotl Bloomington: lndiana University "1',:,:::ff ;ij:licl i'n,,i,r,airy 'y' ' the Comprehensire Press. i{ea/rh Manoower Tr.i.;-^ , . Report to the ,::l{$.*[,,"**1,,hy.":l*l;fl ^^. - gita, C.. al lg'79. What Wo e.n Want: Fron the OfJitial "-'-bres;ident, New York: ff i,,Jf f ;i:Jl*'l;.,T:;: ", the Congress antl the People of the Llnite'l Sr'r/t'i Simon & Schu'ter. ffi :l1l:::*Tj :l#il:: q ji .}T T i." [;H,ji"".T11'; g-"".;. i. 1993 -The Best of Times, the worst of Times: US Feminism ",,,, Today." Nex'Lt'li R?r'leu (July-August): l0l- 159' York: St' gun;. Cl 1981. Pussionate Politics: Feninist Thaot)- it1 Actiott New TTri I r,* liry''$ii i# HiHfil; :::.::: Martin's Press. uguin* ::p"giun' i: l Sign^et' ;':1:Tiliiil,:':'# o'll1'-'1::11'-""" p""on'" Cade,i., e Shah, S. 1994. ..presenting ,n" U,::, Toward a Narionat pan-Asia1 S:0.0":":s"" r,"". ;;:,t;;'*:;xgu,l;1 fui"J,l:' "j . ri.'\"ii)[,, 0,,,,,, 9 )nurt.^ 1.. s. Searrng. and U ,".1::_Ii::r,1". eds. lsql. Wumen. Rr,c. M a,,,1 rdi son : Un i r ersi,y or wi,.:nn,i i1i;:;11 r,1r1 !,! :,y,:::i n's1,,r. n _robach. of Racial E.. and B. Ro\off. The Social Construction "0.:.lll''o Rttt isn ,tnt 5ctr:nt. tcri,'rE r :hat!:n.cin! rt'tnariLtnt ' New York: r".,ni''i Jf;::,1';";l'":; e,"l'. 1, ,r,. c,,1 Privilege tn the United States: *",'i.i"" tack tttathLt tntt A1r,,iJi;f rhe Myth (t.the Superwoman.New york: t-1"ri.."ilr.. An Asset PersPective O 1988. On the Mote; Anteritan Women in the /970j. Boslon: *-ir":*,,iJj.r* manpot et.; The Moventent tVonletl,s for Liberqtion. Ne\\l Melvin LOliver Wilson. M.. und K. Russell. 1996. G a p B e p B t a;. L o nt e n a * i r u, a n ..,. .w * i;.,; ;; K!( i:'L,i;."i if *' "?.: iilf r i" States is n o, r i of racial inequality in the United "rr.l, i i,.,,.t. i;;#;."ii"* york DlscouRSE ABour rHE causes f"l,lo,., lro?X"S,ra " " ^ : New are no ,,'part disjointed Many people believe that there Witt, S. H. t positives iiorltu t u"tu..a and l9g . and presenr. problems,.. limit the in Ohoyo Resource encumbrance" related to race that constrain and 'for'dur"t Ametit'tn tnrt'tn w"ne'n':"o'i"lr)',i'r" i;;;;;;t in con- l"lll'ii,ii,;.1ilf ,, ;;;i;".;;", of economic and social status for racial minorities *o,,r.;-l;.* Bobo 1985) Others con- Women and Feminism...in LInpotuty U.s society (Schuman' Steeh, and ,tq8,t...tndian A. Ander:on and s white people t;i1UJ" A m e r innumerable obstacles that i, a n I n,t i a n wo m.', :'il ),,'," ii"iih",'p*pr. of cior face ilii|i; Ti,. f"',Xl I i i), "good life" *""i;.t;.|.:.lX|*#;l:;,,1,:',j";;::ti1j.m.Lives:*Buirdrng ^,,.,, ;;;;;;;" to think about or face in their pursuit of the chapter a Murricurru.r 2001). Can both of these perspectives be.true? This il4.l"*h to cJeate a uu".par,o go beyond these highly polarized viewpoints and :;i,"ii,:"!!i:y:i:i;::. of racial E"$:ll",f iliail)""iliii,i,)#ii;,::"f rnor" nuun""d view of how we can understand the continuation *rl:i:IlgL,: of racial inequality q:l:€nrion. tq69 Women,s Rights Conyentions, privilege in the absence of systematic rules hestcr. /84A. Ne\r york: Seneca r.u s ' of racial , ,& -Kot Arno. t Jant to develop the notion that even with the scaffolding ti.,j,l3f, Ratetser Their sameness, ""t ,ft Dffirences and Interptu;-. New discriminationdismantlerl'thepasthastlappedusinalegacyofracial on our inequality and privilege that is a powerful constraint or limit different lev- senie of possiUilities for economic and social equality At or els and in diflerent contexts' white racial privilege economically and socially continues to be reproduced Using the United States way to black/white racial inequality as a case study' I want to propose a and' rn so Iook at how that racial privilege has been socially constructed doing, provide a framework for moving past these inequalities Moving Beyond the Polarities of Race and Class The desperate economic and social situation of many African Americans is without question. 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