User:Jordynederer/White feminism

the bolded words/sections are my own contribution

White Feminism

White feminism is a term which is used to describe expressions of

Kimberle Crenshaw, Columbia scholar and Professor of Law at the University of California, Los Angeles, has championed Black feminism movements and provided the foundational framework for the idea of intersectionality. In Crenshaw's words, intersectionality is "a lens through which you can see where power comes and collides, where it interlocks and intersects".^[1] In her 1989 article, "Demarginalizing the intersection of race and sex: a black feminist critique of antidiscrimination doctrine, feminist theory, and antiracist politics", Crenshaw illuminates the compounded nature of Black women's experience of discrimination and injustice.^[2] As race and gender intersect, Black women are subjected to racist and misogynistic treatment, simultaneously. This article serves as the foundational literature for implementing a multi-axis framework analysis of race and gender. Crenshaw argues that historically, Black women have been excluded from both the Civil Rights Movement as well as Feminist movements, despite their unique presence in both identities.^[2] The intersection of non-white ethnicity and female gender identity compounds the harmful, unjust, discriminatory actions against members of these groups; women of color. Applying a single-axis framework of analysis, Black women in the twentieth century were excluded from social justice campaigns as white women dominantly represented the feminist movements while Black men represented the Civil Rights Movement.

Crenshaw's application of an intersectional lens to analyze the experience of Black women remains relevant and useful in considering the presence of white feminism in activist movements today. Without this lens, women of color are "theoretically erased" from both feminist and antiracist analyses.^[2]

Origins

Prominent intersectional feminist activists

Sojourner Truth (1797-1883)

Born into slavery and escaping to freedom in 1826, Sojourner Truth was an influential human rights activist that critiqued the ostracism of Black women from social justice advocacy movements. One of her most famous speeches, "Ain't I a Woman?", brought attention to the compounded discrimination faced by Black women and the hypocrisy of exclusionary feminist and abolitionist crusades.

Ida B. Wells (1862-1931)

Ida B. Wells was an outspoken activist who consistently confronted white feminists regarding the lack of intersectionality in their calls for equality and social justice. Despite being repudiated from international women's suffragist movements, Wells continued her activism through the creation of the National Association of Colored Women's Club in 1896.

Angela Y. Davis (b. 1944)

Angela Davis practiced vigorous advocacy on behalf of Black women from a young age. One of the few Black students admitted to Brandeis University, she attributes her true passion for social justice advocacy to her time studying with philosopher Herbert Marcuse, who first introduced Davis to Marxist social theory. Fueling her work is the belief that capitalism is the root of oppression of minorities, and the belief that only when all oppressed groups are liberated that one oppressed group be liberated.

Gloria Jean Watkins A.K.A. bell hooks (1952-2021)

Kimberle Crenshaw (b. 1959)

The mother of

First-wave feminism (1848-1960s)

Second-wave feminism (1960s-1980s)

Third-wave feminism (1980s-2010)

21st century intersectional feminism, or fourth wave (2010-present)

White feminism in the American legal system

Women of color have historically made several attempts to bring the theory of intersectionality to the awareness of judicial courts in the United States. Following the Civil Rights Act of 1964, discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex or national origin was legally prohibited. However, scholar Virginia Wei observed that the Title VII addition to the Civil Rights Act--prohibiting employment discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, or national origin--"compartmentalizes discrimination into...discrete categories"^[3], making the claims brought by ethnic minority women extremely niche in relation to the Act. The lack of intersectionality present in white feminism is mirrored in the judicial system and has been used to withhold legal justice from non-white women.

1976: In DeGraffenreid v. GENERAL MOTORS ASSEMBLY , five Black women claimed to be discriminated as Black women by their employer, General Motors. Because the plaintiffs were representing the Black female employees and not simply women employees or Black employees, the court found that they could not compound the claims of racial and sexual discrimination due to the lack of scope of Title VII^[4].

1976: In Payne v. Travenol Laboratories Inc., two black women intended to file a suit against their employer as representatives for all Black employees. The defendant, Travenol Laboratories Inc., petitioned that the women shall not be able to represent Black men, and the court agreed in favor of Travenol's request^[4].

These similar cases, occurring in the same year, have vastly contradictory outcomes; in Degraffenreid, the Black women defendants were not allowed to represent only Black women, and in Payne, it was their only option ^[4]. These cases are prominent examples of the lack of legal protection of Black women and women of color on the basis of their intersecting identities.

It is not until 1998 that a judicial court recognized the compounded nature of discrimination based on intersectionality.

1998: In Lam v. University of Hawaii, Vietnamese woman Maivan Lam alleged that the University of Hawaii discriminated against her on the basis of her race, sex, and national origin^[5]. The court sided with Lam, acknowledging that "Asian women are subjected to...stereotypes that are not shared by Asian men or white women"^[6].

There are calls for reformation of Title VII to allow intersectional discrimination claims in an effort to protect marginalized populations, but this suggestion has not been acted on^[4]. Until Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 expands its understanding and inclusion of intersectional discrimination claims, there will continue to be more DeGraffenreids and Paynes.

References