Feminism

It was only a few years ago that I learned the term intersectional feminism, I want to give credit where credit is due and I believe I came across the term via interviews with Laverne Cox and Janet Mock, two exceptional Black, trans women. I had no idea what it meant at the time or how large the gaps were in my own feminism....how much education and work I had ahead of me. Education and work that I know is a life-long commitment and essential to growth and understanding. A life-long commitment to empathy, to speaking up, to active listening. Because as I have come to learn, white feminism is often exclusionary and filled with the kind of gaps I alluded to.

Intersectional feminism as I understand it, is feminism that includes all perspectives of women. It is inclusive, all-encompassing and sees women as a united force with a common goal of equality. It includes all women - cis or trans. It includes all socioeconomic backgrounds (seeking of course to lift up those women with less). It includes all skin colors. It includes all ethnic backgrounds. It includes all sexual orientations., religions, abilities. Essentially, it includes all women and it acknowledges how many women have an intersectional identity that combines more than one (or several) identities at once. For instance, a gay, Black woman, or an Asian trans woman.

In no way do I mean to sound like I am an expert on intersectional feminism, or that I have authority to speak on any identity beyond my own. I am a cis, white woman in a heterosexual marriage and I would describe our lifestyle as middle class. But I want to talk about this because I want to talk about why feminism is important to me, and particularly why it is really important to me that my feminism be inclusive.

Anecdotally speaking - white women speaking to other white women often leave women of color (also, trans, gay...there are many gaps) out of the conversation, and we have to change that. For every upsetting statistic that we see about gender imbalance, the statistics further marginalize women of color. We have levels of discrimination within our gender and we need to make sure we are aware of this. White women need to be listening to women from different backgrounds and adding that layer of the conversation into every conversation we have about gender equality. It is not enough for women to get a seat at the table, we need women with all different lived experiences getting through those doors, and busting those glass ceilings. Equality for all women needs to be personal to everyone.

I am fortunate to be raising two daughters. Part of the next generation of young women. The language I use and the example I set for them matters. It will be a part of what informs their ideology, their sense of the world, and their own feminism. Their generation will be change makers and I take the responsibility of whatever role I have in shaping them very seriously. It is important they know their privilege so that they can help be a part of dismantling the inequalities that they come across.

My own feminism has been ignorant and flawed and likely will continue to be as I grow and learn. But isn't that the point? To own your mistakes, but to keep trying? I cringe looking back on some of the things I have said or even just thought about things I didn't understand. I am sure just given all of the layers of privilege I have been surrounded by my whole life, that I still have many blind spots that I need to address, unpack, even unlearn. I will never claim to be perfect. But I will never stop trying to learn.

When you have been cloaked in privilege your entire life it can be hard to understand what the intersections of some women's identities add to their experience with gender imbalance; likely impossible to fully understand. But speaking from experience...learning stories of women with different backgrounds is so fulfilling, and inspiring and it only makes me want to speak up more, learn more, and do more. We are so much stronger together, we need to stand together with our sisters and bolster each other.

This is a call to action - white women: learn! Learn what our white privilege means...learn how the systems that seek to oppress women still seek to oppress some women even further. The information is out there, women of color have been doing this work. Trans women have been doing this work. Gay women have been doing this work. When women support other women we all win.

-Amanda