What are the differing concerns of white women vs the women of color in the women’s movement? Why do you think these differences evolved?
In the early 1920s, women of color had different concerns and issues and directed to racial issues then the concerns of the white women. White women always stood for equality in cultural differences leading to gender discrimination, whereas the women of color had more specific and deeper approach towards racial differences and usually being affected by socio-economic status (Smith, p. 264). White women had concerns regarding the mentality of that era where women were assumed of being born to follow one path, “serving the husband or the children”. It was difficult for them to stand for their right of living the kind of life they wanted or even if an individual woman had leadership, qualities would still only cook for the house and nothing more. The women of color had a different agenda as they struggled against the social, cultural and job inequalities. Their focus was majorly to be accepted in the society as equals but when they demanded for equality, they were held victims of violence and sexual harassments. The difference started evolving soon after the women of color realized that they are in need to stand for a different agenda then cultural and gender-based differences. The primary approach became focusing on the problem, which was different then of the white women and started focusing on the deeper aspect of the issues regarding gender discrimination.
How did women in the civil rights movement struggle with the limitation of gender roles?
The women in the civil rights movement were encouraged by the popular front culture in which, the black women played a major role. They had to struggle for jobs and leadership positions, which were all assigned to men of that era. The movement was to stand against the gender discrimination, which used to be sexual harassments, gender abuse, struggling against major participation roles towards jobs (Ferree, pp. 86-104). They had to make their way through in order for their stories and problems to be individually heard. Specifically the black women, who played a vital role in the movement, were given less or no credit to their participation. Because of their gender, black women were mostly given clerical or domestic roles in the time of civil rights. The time when they used to try to take a stand for it, they were often insulted by men. Later when encouraged by the front culture they stood ahead in the labor movement and by the end of the decade, they had moved into the leadership positions. They fought for the jobs and equal treatment and aimed to develop the idea that women can also be the breadwinners.
What was consciousness-raising? How was it different from the goals from the feminists’ movement of the 1920s and the 1960s?
The idea behind the consciousness raising was to indentify the steps women needed to take. A group was formed under the name of New York Radical Women (NYRW) who asked women to give some of the examples of their lives and explain what they suffered from and how were they oppressed (Ulrich, p. 45). The issues they used to focus on were different from the time of the feminist movement of the 1920s and the 1960s and were pointed towards the problems they faced concerning husbands, financial troubles, having children, and abortions. In this movement women were allowed to speak about their story individually without hesitation and were given full rights over what they wanted to speak about.
Work Cited
Ferree, Myra Marx. "Inequality, intersectionality and the politics of discourse." The discursive politics of gender equality. London: Routledge (2009): pp. 86-104.
Smith, Andrea. "Heteropatriarchy and the three pillars of white supremacy: Rethinking women of color organizing." Transformations: Feminist Pathways to Global Change (2015): p. 264.
Ulrich, Laurel Thatcher. "Mormon Women in the History of Second-Wave Feminism." Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought 43.2 (2010): p. 45.;-9
