What was touted as a debate, turned out to be a love-in as Judith Shulevitz and Rebecca Traister reviewed the gains and losses of the feminist movement. (We Are All Feminists Now,” by Judith Schulevitz and Rebecca Traister, New Republic, 9/28/14 pgs 14-23.) While the goal of total equality in terms of salaries has yet to be achieved, both writers agree women have succeeded in reaching greater parity with men in U. S. But what the debate also discloses is that while white, upper and middleclass women have gained ground thanks to feminism, their sisters who are poorer or belong to racial minorities have achieved little. Feminism, it appears, has failed to lift all boats.
For example, the movement has been remiss in helping low income women find affordable child care so they can work — a service the country willingly provided during World War II when female labor was needed to produce weapons and airplanes. (Lanham Act 1940). Nor has the movement succeeded in raising the minimum wage or securing paid sick leave for all working women. It has also remained silent about the fact that home healthcare workers, shift workers and domestic workers have been left out social benefits the rest of us take for granted. (Ibid pg 22)
White, middle class women may feel the feminist movement is passé, but I doubt they’d think that way if they saw the world through the eyes of their sisters of color or suffered their inconveniences – minimum access to clinics where they can exercise their rights with regard to unwanted pregnancies or where they can gain access to low cost birth control. What’s more, because they live in areas of poverty, these are the sisters most likely to be victims of violent crimes. 1 in 5 women in the United States are the targets of rape, the majority being women of color. (Ibid pg. 18.)
Sadly, the ignorance of upper and middleclass women helps keep poorer women in servitude. The indigent know they’ve been left behind but they’re too busy scraping to make ends meet to throw themselves into the women’s movement. Rebellions are shaped and led not by the downtrodden, but by moneyed classes with the leisure to bring attention to injustices. Unfortunately, too many educated women think feminism has lost its purpose, the plight of the invisible underclass falling below their line of vision. Women who do understand that a shameful disparity remains will have to help their complacent sisters rethink their position.