Feminism: An Exclusionary Movement?

“What woman here is so enamoured of her own oppression that she cannot see her heel print upon another woman’s face?”

Audre Lorde

The importance of the third wave of feminism is that it is meant to cater to every different conception of what it means to be a woman, attending to issues of race and the experiences of non-Anglo women. The entire premise is that people should not have to conform to the exclusionary narratives and social constructs that prioritise the powerful. However in order to garner mainstream support, the movement has divulged into one representative of ‘popular’ struggle, to become the voice for a certain group of women and certain types of oppression. While attempting to be all encompassing, it has become a tool of limitation.

The central issue is that of white feminism crowding out the voices and issues of minorities. The narrative of oppression broadcasted on the news and in books is not that of ­the women of colour who live pay cheque to pay cheque, but rather of affluent white women combatting the wage gap. While this form of discrimination is still pertinent, there is an issue with one homogenising voice that leaves those who do not conform to this archetype without an avenue to convey their struggles. It is particularly damaging when it is the voice of the most marginalised and most severely oppressed who find themselves abandoned.

While often inadvertent, there is a tendency for people to generalise their experiences and transplant them onto others under the impression that their experiences of suffering are applicable to all. Adrienne Rich has referred to this as ‘white solipsism’ – the tunnel vision through which white women universalise their oppression by being blind to non-white experience.[i] The issue is not that of intentional belittling, but rather it is one of a faith in one’s own experience and a lack of actual understanding. The consequence is that instead of filling the gaps of knowledge through questions or investigations, people tend to simplify, invent, or project a specific reality. As Mariana Ortega puts it:

“She sees herself as someone who really understands women of colour, who is putting the voices of these women on the map, who is “giving” them a voice. She constructs a reality that is in fact closer to what she wants it to be rather than what it is – a reality in which the voices of women of colour are still taken seriously only if well-known white feminists quote them, in which white feminists who read the work of one woman of colour think they understand the experience of all women of colour, in which the words of women of colour are quoted briefly rather than analysed in depth, in which the experience of women of colour are homogenized”. [ii]

Once, it could have been claimed that the goals of the feminist movement transcended cultural difference, since they sought such basic and fundamental rights that they were common to all women, things like freedom and autonomy. However now issues have diverged to become unique to the specific struggles of particular groups. In the essay, ‘Thoughts on Indian Feminism’ Native American Feminist Kate Shanley notes the issues the majority of women encounter – equal pay, children’s health and welfare, reproductive rights and domestic violence. Yet the problem is there are other, specific issues affecting minorities which are discounted and pushed to the peripheries:

“The Indian women’s movement seeks equality in two ways that do not concern mainstream women: (1) on the individual level, the Indian woman struggles to promote the survival of a social structure whose organizational principles represents notions of family different from those of the mainstream, and (2) on the societal level, the People seek sovereignty as a people in order to maintain a vital legal and spiritual connection to the land, in order to survive as a people.” [iii]

The issues unique to Indian women are just one example indicative of the plethora of differences facing non-white women. Amy McQuire talks about how Aboriginal Women are “not just combatting gender, but also climbing the barriers put in front of us because of our Aboriginality. The fact is, there is a deafening silence around the issues facing Aboriginal women.”[iv] While issues of race and gender are often seen as separate spheres, it has become evident that they actually intersect, leading to obstacles that are inherently personal and unique to people within these cultural groups. It is often hard for people to grasp from the outside, a proper understanding and as a result no single woman’s movement can be said to speak for all of women. It seems logical then that we should celebrate the diversity of voices and channel our energy into getting each group a platform to spread their own distinct message.

However this ideal is far from the reality. Instead, the movement continues to appeal to the majority by voicing only shared struggle. In order to harness the majority of potential support, the movement prioritizes voicing the struggles that the most people can relate to and emphasise with. In order to benefit from public sympathy, many minorities groups are forced to jump on the bandwagon for public support and ‘popularize’ their oppression and generalize it to the experience of others in order to maintain support. It is not a deliberate attempt to shut out diversity, but rather the prioritisation of what feminists believe will get the most results.

We have accepted mainstream female suffering, but this has allowed us to turn a blind eye to the struggles of the peripheries as if we have already exhausted our quota for compassion. The consequence of this is that people feel shut out of the feminist movement as they feel abandoned on the issues where they are in most need of support. In the blog of Arielle Newton, an African American University student, she writes of the inability to identify with the movement as it currently exists:

“I struggle calling myself a feminist. As an African American woman, it’s hard to unify around a vague cause seemingly dominated by the white female elite … I expected prejudice from the small town suburban male, but not from the enlightened female well-versed in feminist scripture. I was disillusioned and frustrated. I actively avoided the feminist crowd out of fear of tokenism. I did not want to be their “Black girlfriend” to help assuage their white guilt.”[v]

For a movement founded in oppression, feminism has become a source of oppression itself. Our original goals were to combat the injustice of men arbitrarily gaining unequal amounts of power. However now that same arbitrary prioritisation exists within the movement, as it has become a hierarchy based on ethnicity. Feminism has become more widely accepted, however at the expense of becoming disentangled with its original vision.

A large contributor to the white-washing of the movement is its emphasis on trying to garner the support of powerful men and thus concerns are voiced in a way that attempts to appeal to them. Consequently matters like wanting equality in the workplace are prioritized since it is a goal that is easy for men to get behind. It stresses the commonalities rather than the divisions. However in terms of the struggles of ethnic minority, these are seen as more polarising and unfamiliar, since it can at times be so personal and radically different that people from the outside cannot understand. Instead of attempting to change this norm, we play to the demands of men and advocate through sameness. This necessitates prioritising certain issues at the expense of others, and, worse than that, it entrenches the power dynamics that we are attempting to combat. When you are reliant on your oppressors to grant you concessions or achieve equality through that means, is it really equality you are achieving or does it reinforce your reliance and inferior position?

“For the master’s tools will never dismantle the master’s house. They may allow us temporarily to beat him at his own game but they will never enable us to bring about genuine change. And this fact is only threatening to those women who still define the master’s house as their only source of support.”

– Audre Lord

Until as a movement, we are not constrained by the very oppressive forces we are attempting to combat, we cannot hope to achieve real change. Already important progress has been made as campaigns have emerged to dissolve the dichotomy that has begun to form between the pursuit of women’s rights and racial equality. The rising acknowledgment of the different forms of oppression has led to the emergence of women who define themselves as intersectional feminists.

This wave is aware of the hierarchies that exist even within the oppressed and encourages a level of self-awareness of people’s own positions in society. It calls on women to step aside in order to make space for the voices of the marginalised and recognise how class, race, age, sexuality and other issues combine to affect women’s experience of discrimination. Organisations such as Southall Black Sisters, Catalyst and Imkaan now exist to provide support services and education from within the communities. These groups are created for and run by minority ethnic women. Within Australia there are initiatives aimed specifically at the issues facing indigenous Australians, including the National Indigenous Women’s Conference, which emphasises health programs and networking opportunities. Women at ANU have also recently created an autonomous space for “solidarity, collaboration and friendship” through the Women of Colour Collective. These projects embody the important progress feminism has made towards understanding that women of colour are not a monolithic group and instead their unique experiences demand unique solutions

While it is evident that progress has been made on the peripheries, it is time for mainstream feminism to catch up as gross inequality within the group remains. It is time for the fourth wave of intersectional feminists to emerge. As people who have benefited the most from the feminist movement, it is our job to now return that favour. We need to stop tailoring and censoring our message in order to ensure it is the most appealing to men when this necessitates the white-washing and generalising of that message. We should not gloss over the worst oppression in order to make marginal gains in the centre. It is those who suffer the most whose voices we should broadcast the loudest. It is time for the feminist movement to become intersectional. Instead of attempting to speak out on behalf of someone else, it is time to let them speak for themselves.