All Eyes on Transnational Feminism | COMMENTARY

written by Maura Flynn

Do you believe in gender-centric equity? Would you categorize your support and allyship to women as active or conceptual? Have you ever faced anti-inclusivity from the feminist movement? How can we all embed this pursuit for equality into our daily lives?

This crusade is an undeniably complex one– for children to grasp, for instructors to teach, for scholars to examine, for journalists to cover– and for feminists to keep up and identify with, too. Feminism isn’t a one-size-fits-all stance on equality; in fact, the feminist spectrum is just as intricate as the ever-growing gender spectrum itself.

Follow this “track” to see where your ideologies on feminism lead you!

Sunday, March 8 marks International Women’s Day and it’s an incredible opportunity to check in with the progress, obstacles and voices facing the intersectional feminist movement today. It’s also the perfect time to thank, acknowledge and show love for your leading ladies at home, work, school and beyond.

First, let’s start with a brief overview of what feminism really is.

Actual definition: Oxford defines feminism as “the advocacy of women’s rights on the basis of the equality of the sexes.”

Conceptual definition: According to CA Water/Gender, “Feminism involves political and sociological theories and philosophies concerned with issues of gender difference, as well as a movement that advocates gender equality for women and campaigns for women’s rights and interests. Although the terms ‘feminism’ and ‘feminist’ did not gain widespread use until the 1970s, they were already being used in public parlance much earlier; for instance, Katherine Hepburn speaks of the ‘feminist movement’ in the 1942 film Woman of the Year.”

Major issues feminists are concerned with: Sally Ann Drucker in Ohio Humanities writes, “over time, feminist activists have campaigned for issues such as women’s legal rights, especially in regard to contracts, property, and voting; body integrity and autonomy; abortion and reproductive rights, including contraception and prenatal care; protection from domestic violence, sexual harassment, and rape; workplace rights, including maternity leave and equal pay; and against all forms of discrimination women encounter.”

Waves of feminism: From the 19th and early 20th century, first-wave feminist efforts were centered strongly around fighting for the right to vote. In America, this happened for white women in 1920 and (legally, not always in voting practice) for Native Americans in 1924. For Black, Latinx and other racial and language minorities, it wasn’t until 1965 that the Voting Rights Act of 1965 was passed. However, to this day the U.S. electoral processes do not work in favor of the marginalized and disenfranchised– something the Supreme Court seriously failed to solve since the 2016 election.

Black voters in TX who spent *hours* in line on Super Tuesday tell local station, "The way it was going it's like it was set up for me to walk away, walk away, don't worry about it." Republicans have worked to cut polling places in black, latino and college areas in the state. pic.twitter.com/qm8YIVKqTr — Oliver Willis (@owillis) March 4, 2020

The second-wave, dating from the 1960s to the 1980s, redirected attention to discrimination. Drucker explains that “the second-wave slogan, ‘The Personal is Political,’ identified women’s cultural and political inequalities as inextricably linked and encouraged women to understand how their personal lives reflected sexist power structures.” Betty Friedan was a critical voice in this discussion, going harshly against the grain of women’s worth relying solely on homemaking and raising children.

Since the 1990s marking the third-wave transition, feminists have largely turned against the history of the movement to challenge a “norm” of feminity and womanhood. It’s abundantly clear that upper/middle-class white women have dominated the feminist discourse– not only hindering the success of the equality pursuit but enforcing a Westernized and whitewashed view that alienates allies and blocks progress, as well.

So, where do we find ourselves now? Things have certainly changed a lot since the beginning of the third-wave and “modern” ideology. I couldn’t have said it better than Vox writer Constance Grady, whose 2018 article holds very true and timely to this day:

“As the #MeToo movement barrels forward, as record numbers of women seek office, and as the Women’s March drives the resistance against the Trump administration, feminism is reaching a level of cultural relevance it hasn’t enjoyed in years. It’s now a major object of cultural discourse — which has led to some very confusing conversations because not everyone is familiar with or agrees on the basic terminology of feminism. And one of the most basic and most confusing terms has to do with waves of feminism.”

(This is an incredible piece examining intergenerational clashes within the feminist movement– I highly encourage you to spend a few minutes reading and pass it along, too!)

Now, onto intersectional equality.

Cate Young from BattyMamzelle explains, “white feminism is a set of beliefs that allows for the exclusion of issues that specifically affect women of color… where middle-class white women are the mold that others must fit. It is a method of practicing feminism, not an indictment of every individual white feminist, everywhere, always.

The term “intersectionality” comes from lawyer and theorist Kimberlé Crenshaw’s highly-renowned 1989 piece, “Demarginalizing the Intersection of Race and Sex: A Black Feminist Critique of Antidiscrimination Doctrine, Feminist Theory, and Antiracist Politics.”

Crenshaw argues that exclusion “cannot be solved simply by including Black women in an already established analytical structure. Because the intersectional experience is greater than the sum of racism and sexism, any analysis that does not take intersectionality into account cannot sufficiently address the particular manner in which Black women are subordinated.”

Intersectionality incorporates all aspects of one’s social, cultural, physical and ideological makeup: race, class, language, culture, ethnicity, gender, age, ability, sexuality and education; and, intersectional theory is (finally) extending past feminism into all aspects of critical, inclusive studies.

Here’s an unbelievably amazing TedTalk that Crenshaw gave in 2016 on the topic:

Our coalition is focused entirely around creativity– and the organization behind International Women’s Day is supporting that, too.

On the International Women’s Day (IWD) website, the organization shares that its mission is “to increase the visibility of women creatives and promote their work for commercial projects.” This year, IWD hosted a worldwide typography competition that “[celebrates] the awesome work of talented women typographers to help raise visibility and increase the volume of commissioned work for female lettering artists worldwide.” They are also holding street art and rap competitions– you can keep up with the results and future opportunities here.

These are the winners of the 2020 competition.

How can you sustain this day of recognition beyond March 8?

Here are some ideas, based on the major problems facing feminists today:

1. Check yourself and educate yourself– feminism is dependent on fighting ignorance and listening to more voices than those just like our own. Your biases and blind spots aren’t something to be ignored, and you are responsible for them. Listen to the voice in your head, especially when an unsavory/less-than-PC thought strikes. We all may be guilty at some point, but we do have the agency to investigate our partialities and alter our mindsets as a result.

2. Be vocal thanking your family, teachers, colleagues and mentors who are women or who have fought for women’s rights– publically, if possible. The key to driving a fringe movement to mainstream commonality is participation and engagement by supporters. Although a handwritten note or private text can absolutely carry the right sentiments, it can’t spark further conversation with those who may not know the importance of today. Particularly with using “endorsements” on LinkedIn, you have the power to share your support to a huge professional network where women are still fighting for equal opportunity, equal pay and equal programming.

3. Educate yourself and your people. Google Scholar, in particular, is an incredible resource for delving deep into topics like feminism. But also, keep in mind the intersectional standing of whose work you’re reading– find authors that are women of color, find authors of a different ethnic or cultural background than you and don’t just click on the first article that pops up.

Follow along with @WVUStudentMedia to see our coverage of International Women’s Day! Tag us in your posts on the topic and keep the comments coming– the more voices in this feminist movement, the better.

Maura Flynn studies critical leadership outside of her journalism training. Follow her @maurughh.