These divisions among women are often dismissed by liberal feminists who want
women to be seen as individuals, and by radical feminists who believe that all
women face the same oppression as women.
Multicultural feminismargues that the experience as people of color cannot be
extracted from the experience as women and treated separately. “Where does the
‘Black’ start and the ‘woman’ end?” said one of my students. Multicultural feminists
emphasize the historical context of racial and class-based inequalities. For example,
sociologist Patricia Hill Collins (1998) shows how the treatment of slaves in the
antebellum South (before the Civil War) was also part of a differential treatment of
African women and African men. Slavery was not only racial inequality; it was also
gender inequality, woven into it and inextricable from it.
bell hooks (1989) argues that the focus on the family, the workplace, or
sexuality as the sites of gender inequality does not track perfectly for Black women.
For Black women, the family and sexuality may have been sources of power and
pride, not oppression, and the workplace may not be an arena of expressing your
highest aspirations.
The impact of multicultural feminism has been enormous. Today, most socio-
logists are following the lead of third-wave feminists and exploring the “intersections”
of gender, race, class, age, ethnic, and sexual dimensions of inequality. Each of these
forms of inequality shapes and modifies the others.
Recently, I was having a conversation with a Black lesbian. She told me that when
she is with other African American women, she always feels like an outsider because
she is lesbian. But when she is among other lesbians, she always feels like an outsider
because she is Black. “How can I shed one part of my identity in order to claim the
other part?” she asked.Gender Inequality in
the 21st Century
There is little doubt that around the world gender inequality is gradually being
reduced. The International Conference on Women sponsored by the United Nations
in 1985 proclaimed a universal declaration of women’s rights as human rights,
including the right to reproductive control and a strong condemnation of female
genital mutilation.
Living in times of great historical transformation, we often forget just how recent
are the changes we today take for granted. There are still women who remember when
women could not vote, drive a car, serve on a jury, become doctors or lawyers, serve
in the military, become firefighters or police officers, join a union, or go to certain
colleges. All these changes happened in the twentieth century. They have come a
long way, baby.
At the same time, today, there is significant backlash against gender equality (see
Faludi, 1991). Some people believe that women’s rights are simply morally wrong,
that gender equality violates some theological or eternal truth, or that it would vio-
late our biological natures. Many men have resorted to theological or biological argu-
ments to try and force women to return to their traditional positions of housewives
and mothers (Dobson, 1988, 2004).
The struggle for gender equality has a long history, filled with stunning successes
and anguishing setbacks. But for women (and their male allies) who believe in
gender equality, there is no going back.310 CHAPTER 9SEX AND GENDER