Sept 10-15 –

3rd wave
feminism
& Black
feminisms
 3rd-Wave feminism (1990s-??)

Rebecca Walker, “becoming the 3rd wave”

“To be a feminist is to integrate an ideology of equality and female

empowerment into the very fiber of my life. It is to search for personal
clarity in the midst of systemic destruction, to join in sisterhood with
women when often we are divided, to understand power structures
with the intention of challenging them.”
 Moving into the 3rd wave
Third-wave feminism develops out of critiques like that of Rich and Lorde—
perhaps more than anything, through Kimberly Crenshaw’s “intersectionality”
(though, of course, the 3rd wave also owes a lot to many others, not least
including Rebecca Walker, who coined that phrase, the first time a “wave” of
feminism was named as such while it was actually happening).

Intersectionality: “a metaphor for understanding the ways that multiple forms of

inequality or disadvantage sometimes compound themselves and create
obstacles that often are not understood among conventional ways of thinking.”
(Crenshaw)

To oversimplify, 3rd wave feminism began with a conscious effort to be inclusive

of different voices, perspectives, and experiences.
 Intersectionality

“The interaction and cumulative effects of multiple forms

of discrimination affecting the daily lives of individuals,
particularly women of color. The term also refers more
broadly to an intellectual framework for understanding how
various aspects of individual identity—including race,
gender, social class, and sexuality—interact to create unique
experiences of privilege or oppression.”

https://www.britannica.com/topic/intersectionality
 3rd-Wave feminism (1990s-??)

Kimberle Crenshaw, “Why Intersectionality Can’t Wait”

- What strategies does Crenshaw use to make her point?

- And what is this point—what’s the main argument of her piece?

 Kimberle Crenshaw, “Why Intersectionality Can’t Wait”

“According to the plaintiffs’ experiences, women were welcome to apply for some jobs, while only
men were suitable for others. This was of course a problem in and of itself, but for black women the
consequences were compounded. You see, the black jobs were men’s jobs, and the women’s jobs
were only for whites. Thus, while a black applicant might get hired to work on the floor of the factory
if he were male, if she were a black female she would not be considered. Similarly, a woman might be
hired as a secretary if she were white, but wouldn’t have a chance at that job if she were black.
Neither the black jobs nor the women’s jobs were appropriate for black women, since they were
neither male nor white. Wasn’t this clearly discrimination, even if some blacks and some women
were hired? Unfortunately for DeGraffenreid and millions of other black women, the court dismissed
their claims. Why? Because the court believed that black women should not be permitted to combine
their race and gender claims into one. Because they could not prove that what happened to them
was just like what happened to white women or black men, the discrimination that happened to
these black women fell through the cracks.” (57)
 Kimberle Crenshaw, “Why Intersectionality Can’t Wait”

“Intersectionality is an analytic sensibility, a way of thinking about identity and its

relationship to power. Originally articulated on behalf of black women, the term brought
to light the invisibility of many constituents within groups that claim them as members,
but often fail to represent them. Intersectional erasures are not exclusive to black women.
People of color within LGBTQ movements, girls of color in the fight against the school-to-
prison pipeline, women within immigration movements, trans women within feminist
movements, and people with disabilities fighting police abuse—all face vulnerabilities that
reflect the intersections of racism, sexism, class oppression, transphobia, able-ism and
more. Intersectionality has given many advocates a way to frame their circumstances and
to fight for their visibility and inclusion.” (58)
 Anita Hill on Clarence Thomas (1991)

- If you had to guess–why did we watch this? There are multiple reasons—
what connections can you make?

- How is Hill’s testimony related to 3rd-wave feminism? To intersectionality?

- Do Hills words and actions remind you of any more recent movements?
 Mia McKenzie,
“The Myth of Shared Womanhood and How it Perpetuates Inequality”

“Let’s take for example a well-known issue that affects women—the

issue of “equal pay.” We’ve all heard the statistic: in the US, women
make 77 cents for every dollar a man makes on average. That sucks. But
it’s not quite the shared experience it seems. A recent report by the
National Partnership for Women & Families shows that black women
only make 70 cents for every dollar a man makes on average, and only
64 cents compared to every dollar paid to a white, non-Hispanic man.
And Latinas make only 55 cents for every dollar made by a white, non-
Hispanic man. Well, damn. That 77 cents never looked so good.” (62)
 Zane Schwartz and Janaya Khan,
“How a Black Lives Matter Toronto Co-Founder Sees Canada

“We see two very different streams here than you find in the United States. A lot of how anti-black
racism manifests here is in conjunction with anti-immigration sentiment because of the Somali
community and also because of Islamophobia. The majority of black people in Canada actually
don’t identify as black Canadians. Our experience of being racialized in Canada is: “Where are you
from?” “But where are you really from?” You know? You don’t see that narrative in the States
where it’s like: “You don’t belong here,” “This isn’t where you’re from.” African Americans and black
Americans have been terms that people have used for decades, but the mainstream media doesn’t
refer to us as black Canadians. We don’t refer to ourselves as that. So in a way you have the
Canadian identity and you have the black identity and they’ve been separated. […]

Racialized people are not often allowed to identify as Canadian, are not believed to be Canadian
here. That type of nationality, I think that’s reserved for white Canadians and I think white
Canadians reserve that for themselves.” (690)
 Zane Schwartz and Janaya Khan,
“How a Black Lives Matter Toronto Co-Founder Sees Canada

“Carding”: when police officers stop, question, and

document individuals without any evidence that they
have been involved in, or have any knowledge of, an
offence. Also known as “racial profiling.”
 Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, “The Dangers of a Single Story”

What’s this idea of the “single story” all

about? Do we see reflections of Adichie’s
argument in our other readings?
 Marika Morris,
“Women’s Experience of Racism: How Race and Gender Interact”

“The purpose of this fact sheet is to provide easy-tounderstand statistical information and
research on how women experience racism, and to provide suggestions for resources and
action. We hope it will serve as a basic introduction for people with no knowledge of how
race and gender affect women’s lives.

Anti-racism does not mean pretending that race doesn’t exist. It means recognizing racism;
effectively and constructively challenging racism in yourself and others; and eliminating
racism embedded in public policy, workplaces, and every other area of life.” (272)

“[Race can interact with] class, income, occupation, social status, language, physical
appearance, culture, religion, ability, sexual orientation, age, immigration status, Indian
status, personal background, and experience.” (279)
 Afua Cooper, “The Secret of Slavery in Canada”

Slavery is Canada’s best-kept secret, locked within the national closet. And because it is a
secret it is written out of official history. But slavery was an institutionalized practice for over two hundred
years. Canada also engaged in the nefarious business of slaving. Stephen Behrendt, a historian and
demographer of slavery, reveals that the shipyards of several of the older Canadian colonies constructed
ships for use in the British slave trade. Canada might not have been a slave society—that is, a society
whose economy was based on slavery—but it was a society with slaves. It shared this feature with
virtually all other New World societies. Contrary to popular belief, slavery was common in Canada.
The reluctance to discuss and accept Canada as a place where slavery was institutionalized for
206 years is understandable. In North America, we associate the word slavery with the United States, not
Canada, because the American economy, especially the southern portion, was fuelled by the labour of
millions of African slave captives. In the story of North American slavery, we associate Canada with
“freedom” or “refuge,” because during the nineteenth century, especially between 1830 and 1860, the
period known as the Underground Railroad era, thousands of American runaway slaves escaped to and
found refuge in the British territories to the north. Therefore, the image of Canada as “freedom’s land”
has lodged itself in the national psyche and become part of our national identity. One result is the
assumption that Canada is different from and morally superior to that “slave-holding republic,” the United
States. (291)