Most people don’t realize or acknowledge that they have some sort of privilege in their lives. Privilege is defined as a right or benefit someone is given that others are not. These privileges can come from sex, gender, intelligence, athleticism, and often race.
Knowing what privilege is can help you identify what privileges you do or don’t have. The more times you answer “yes” to classify who you are, the more privilege you have. In American society, the most privileged are white, male, cisgender American citizens who are financially stable. The runner-up for who has the most privilege in our society are white females.
The struggle with white females comes from the fight for women’s rights and feminism. It is not the fight for feminism that is the problem, but the fact that white women only show up for issues of their gender and not for issues of race. Labeling has become a norm in our society and being a “white woman” or a “black woman” creates a power dynamic solely based on skin color.
The “white woman” only worries about the issues of her femininity – about equal rights and equal pay amongst the two biological genders. The “black woman,” on the other hand, not only deals with these issues, but with problems about the darkness of their skin as well. While black women show up, white women do not.
By white women not showing up for their black female counterparts, it expresses a divide between women; it shows that white women are not united with black women. While feminist movements are important in our society, advancements for minorities of all races – African-American, Asian, Native American, and more – are equally as important and need to be addressed now.
So let’s make sure we use the privileges we do have to help those who may not have as many as us. Our society makes it so that the more socialized privileges we have, the more likely we are to be listened to and taken seriously. If we use these to our advantage, we can help fight for the rights of others who are marginalized and less privileged. More rights for others does not mean fewer rights for you. In order to get those rights, we first need to show up.