Michelle Obama is living proof that feminism comes in many forms
OPINION - For too many feminists, past and present alike, the fight isn’t about access and choices. It’s about eating the pie they give you...
In the broader discussion of equal rights, the conversation around African-American women is often muted and lost. “We read them, but really, they do not read us,” said Pulitzer-Prize-winning author and black feminist Alice Walker. Pointedly, while white feminists were out burning their bras, black women were at home nursing somebody else’s baby. Our sisterhood has been historically tested and sometimes strained by the rigors of our collective and individual realities. Despite the myriad of intersectional issues, the road to feminism often meant taking separate buses. Too often trapped behind a drawbridge that rose too soon, the advancement of equal rights for women did not always mean “us” but rather “maybe you, too.”
In an extemporaneous speech before the 1851 Women’s Convention in Akron, Ohio, Sojourner Truth famously asked, “Ain’t I a woman?” You see, abolition was not on the agenda. Yet Truth, a Pentecostal preacher who was born a slave and named Isabella Van Wagenen in 1797, would not let that stand.
“What’s that got to do with women’s rights or Negroes’ rights? If my cup won’t hold but a pint and yours holds a quart, would you be mean not to let me have my little half measure full?”
Even today, the limits of traditional feminism sometimes overlook the vicious, misogynistic, hyper-sexualized imagery of black women in popular culture. A poll I conducted in 2007 on behalf of P&G and Essence magazine revealed that 71 percent of African-American women believe they are portrayed worse than any other racial group in popular media. And even as women generally earn 77 cents on the dollar compared to men, the constructs of race and poverty are further illuminated when one considers that black women earn just 64 cents when compared to white, non-Hispanic men.
Women like Auntie Killer lived well below that gap. Michelle Obama has spent her life defying those limits, lighting the way for other young women. She is, or should be, an inspiration for young women everywhere—no matter the color of their skin.
But for some, Obama is nothing more than a high value-target. Those unfortunate voices are dismissive of her choice to focus her attention on her daughters. They openly deride the notion that she would spend her time pursuing greater balance for them as they come of age in the White House. Clearly, they were expecting more than initiatives aimed at combating childhood obesity and promoting early childhood education—despite the tangible, positive implications those things have for public health and increased economic pathways for young girls.
Those same people see her as a submissive foil, who–rather than embrace her role as the second coming of former first lady Hilary Clinton– made a personal choice to support her husband in different ways. That alone, they believe, advances gender-based inequality. After all, what good is a Harvard Law degree if you’re going to spend your time picking vegetables? Shouldn’t she be out fighting for a bigger piece of the proverbial pie?
“Feminism has never been about getting a job for one woman. It’s about making life more fair for women everywhere,” Gloria Steinem said, rightly. “It’s not about a piece of the existing pie… It’s about baking a new pie.”
For too many feminists, past and present alike, the fight isn’t about access and choices. It’s about eating the pie they give you.
Editor’s Note: This has been a #breakingBLACK column. Goldie Taylor is a featured Grio columnist and her #breakingBlack columns will regularly appear every Monday. Follow Goldie Taylor on Twitter at @GoldieTaylor, and join the discussion at @theGrio with the hashtag#BreakingBlack.
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