White feminism

Sep 26, 20243 min read

By Gwen Carroll Sep. 25, 2024

From feminists flooding X (formerly Twitter) with #MeToo posts to marching against Roe v. Wade’s overturning, today’s feminist movements have evolved and adapted to the modern world. Nevertheless, feminism retains its original ideals: the pursuit of equality, desire to be heard and, unsurprisingly, racism.

The feminist movement has a long history of excluding marginalized women in a trend known as white feminism: the tendency of feminists to prioritize progress for white women while failing to consider the differing needs of women of color—although “failing to consider” can refer to anything from ignorance to outright animosity.

A prime historical example of white feminism would be the Seneca Falls Convention. Although widely regarded as a significant step towards gender equality and women’s suffrage, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, one of the most influential speakers at the convention, never intended to include women of color in the fight, nor was she shy about announcing so. To an audience of white men and women (women of color were excluded), Stanton declared that only white women deserved to vote, because other races were of “lower orders” than “educated, refined” white women, as History.com quoted. And yet, the racist overtones of the Seneca Falls convention are not properly taught in schools, buried in favor of promoting the white feminism the convention was based upon.

“I took both AP English Language and Composition and AP US History, both of which taught the Seneca Falls Convention as a significant milestone for the feminist movement. We were never taught the Convention’s promotion of racist ideas or the exclusion of women of color,” Senior Niharika Roy Choudhury said.

Although the Seneca Falls convention happened in 1848, white feminism persists. Modern political views in white-dominated countries reflect the white feminist idea that white women ought to hold decision-making power over women of color. France makes itself a notable example, with its bans on hijabs in schools and the Paris Olympics. For many Muslim women the hijab is a form of religious expression—not the tool of misogynistic oppression policymakers treat it as. The so-called “feminist” movement against hijabs is not done out of solidarity but ignorance and white saviorism, as they crowd out Muslim women from influencing these policy decisions. It is not feminist at all, as it only serves to oppress Muslim women further under the guise of freedom.

Indeed, white feminism was never about uplifting women out of a misogynistic system, but rather winning within it, a task that is significantly easier for white women than women of color. The #girlboss trend-turned-culture that swept social media highlights this disparity well, as the idea of a woman being the breadwinner is much less reasonable for women of color, who face extra discrimination in the workplace. It romanticizes the idea of conforming to traditional ideas of success that favor white people over people of color. Rather than focus on escaping the traditional misogynist system, aiming to “win” within it naturally means there must be losers as well—who end up being women of color.

“A “girlboss” does not have a certain appearance, instead it entails a woman who is self-confident and powerful. The most important part of a woman being strong is not her appearance or race but her mindset,” Freshman Ling Wei Li said.

Ultimately, white feminism is just another form of racism masquerading as an uplifting movement. What feminism needs is inclusivity, that which allows women to express their cultures instead of conforming to a white idea of acceptable womanhood. Women are no monolith, and feminism ought to fight the notion rather than continue to build one around the white experience.

About the Contributors

Gwen Carroll

page editor

Gwen Carroll is the page editor for community news and last word. it is her third year in journalism. she likes playing rhythm games and taking naps when it's warm out.