Who are 'Women of Color'?

Several of the women feminist writers discuss ‘women of color.’ Kimberle Crenshaw discusses intersectionality regarding women of color. Barbara Ehrenreich discusses the roles as household workers for ‘women of color.’     However, there is an interesting article by Lindsey Yoo that is title: Feminism and Race: Just Who Counts As a ‘Woman of Color’? Yoo discusses that Asian-American women are often overlooked when it comes to discussing the problems and issues affecting women of color. 

When a student asked her professor why a Japanese-American activist, Yuri Kochiyama, was not mentioned in the civil rights movements, according to this article, the professor answered that ‘bringing an Asian into the discussion on civil rights would just confuse people.’  This is exactly the same feelings expressed in the film, Iron Jawed Angels, about black women when they asked to be part of Alice Paul’s fight for the right to vote-that they would ‘confuse’ the issue.

Lindsey Yoo, Anthea Butler, Audre Lorde, and others argue that feminism must focus on more than just the issues that matter to privileged, white women.  Yoo states, “Our community needs conversations that explicitly demonstrate how the struggles of Asian, Latina, and other women who fall outside the black-white binary are inextricably linked with the oppression of others.” Just like black women, Asian, Latina, Vietnamese, and Native American women are oppressed because they are women and ‘persons of color.’ Lorde’s statement that, “beyond sisterhood there is still racism” applies to ALL women of color. Feminism is a movement for all women and there are different struggles for different races and ethnicities which must be considered to be effective in changing society’s discrimination against women.    

Website reference:

http://www.npr.org/blogs/codeswitch/2013/09/12/221469077/feminism-and-race-just-who-counts-as-a-woman-of-color