Thoughts on Women, Race and Class – Angela Davis (pt. 1)

Charu

2 min read

·

1 hour ago

--

Listen

Share

I have started reading this book a while ago and I am still not finished. It is taking some time because I often go back to older chapters to revise. This is one of the books that touches upon the history of selective feminism as well as other topics like the plight of black people even after the abolition of slavery. She also talks about the history of rape being used as a weapon of war against slave women or even against Vietnamese women during the Vietnam war, this pattern is true even in the current world, take examples of the Rwandan War in the 1990s or the ongoing conflict in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo. In her words “rape was an institutionalised ingredient. aggression….to put them in their place”.

Secondly, it reveals that the modern day tradwife movement was nonexistent before the Industrial Revolution took away female-dominated workplaces. Who were making all the clothing and baking all the bread if women were always at home being the obedient perfect wife? These people also often say that “feminists” who demand equal rights should do the same manual labour as the man – well they did, and not only just slave women in the farm, fields and railroads but also white “mill girls”.

The book draws a picture of selective activism and how most of the early Anti-Slavery or Suffrage organisations had mostly while male members and even when women or black people (even rare occasions) were present, they were mere spectators. Ironic, right?

This book truly draws an unbiased picture of activism. Davis talks about true solidarity of white sisters like the Grimke sisters who were the pioneers of inclusive feminism and the abolitionist movement. On the other hand there were women like Stanton who believed in white supremacy and selectively fought for the women’s rights to vote and not the “barbarians” (the black people and poor white immigrant workers).

I am still reading the book and I have not organised my thoughts yet, so I will keep this short but I look forward to take my time and finish the book as soon as I can.