On Saturday, January 21, I was one of the 60,000 empowered bodies to participate in the Women’s March on Washington in Toronto. 60,000 Canadian allies collectivized to demonstrate our solidarity with nearly 2.5 million women marching on a global scale. We came together to show our resistance against oppressive regimes creating unsafe spaces for women. We gathered to display our kinship with women everywhere who do not yet experience equality. For those critics who claim women today do experience equal rights, I only hope this movement can educate you and inform you of what is missing: visible minority rights are missing, reproductive rights are missing, gay and lesbian rights are missing, transsexual and transgender rights are missing, and Indigenous Canadian rights are missing. In such a precarious political era, it is imperative that we women fight as allies for the rights of all women.
However, no movement comes without criticism. Such a vast turnout following the election of president Donald Trump begs the questions: Where were these numbers on Election Day? Where were these numbers at #BlackLivesMatter marches? Where were these numbers during LGBTQ+ movements? While I find it regressive to criticize the feminist movement from within, I believe there is validity in these inquiries. It is not in our interest to criticize each other as women, but it is important that we progress in unison. In order to solidify and improve upon this revolution, we must amplify our scope and recognize intersectionality as a defining element of feminism. Critical race theorist Kimberlé W. Crenshaw defines the term intersectionality as the intersecting of oppressions and/or discriminations such as race, ethnicity, class, gender, age, and able-bodiness, to name a few. Crenshaw urges we abandon the single-axis framework of feminism and acknowledge the multiple sources of discrimination experienced by women.
The Women’s March on Washington initiated powerful, invigorating progress that transcended borders and infused our dominant society. The march paid tribute to those women that have fought voraciously for equality for centuries and illuminated why we must keep fighting. However, using Crenshaw’s framework of intersectional feminism, I wish to highlight how we can expand upon this past weekend, and better our efforts as the movement further progresses.
First of all, we must remember that the majority of white women in the United States voted for Donald Trump. Numbers show that 53 percent of white women voted for Trump, while 94 percent of African-American women and 68 percent of Latina women voted for Hillary Clinton. It would be ignorant to stand with one another and pretend that all women are united in this effort to promote minority, reproductive, lesbian, trans, and Indigenous rights. We need to acknowledge that merely identifying as a woman does not make one an ally to all women. There are cleavages within the women’s population, and not all women stand behind the movement.
Second, we must remember that white feminism is another form of white supremacy. For those that march beside African-American or African-Canadian women, Indigenous Canadian women, Latina women, or other women of a visible minority, we need to remind ourselves that ascribing to the framework of white feminism is ascribing to the colonial history of women’s rights. Do not forget that Susan B. Anthony was a racist who promoted her arguments for suffrage based on the notion that white women were more important than people of colour. Understanding the origins of women’s rights is just as important as advancing contemporary women’s rights claims.
Lastly, we cannot forget that TERFs (trans-exclusionary radical feminists) are still influencing women’s rights movements. Women who demonstrate this strand of feminism do not welcome trans women; they believe trans women do not deserve a position in the lesbian community, nor do they deserve to assert the same rights claims as straight cisgender women or lesbian cisgender women. In the postmodern era, it is vital that we recognize your genitalia does not define your gender. The vagina does not define all women. We need to create a safe space in which transsexual and transgender women feel comfortable and accepted. The number of protestors raising signs that supported only the opinions of women with vaginas and ovaries was naive. Phrases such as “No ovaries, no opinion” demonstrates trans-exclusionary language, which shapes regressive and restrictive elements of the women’s rights movement. If we are to move forward and gain credibility and more followers, we must account for all members of the women’s community.
While these are merely ways to improve upon our women’s rights movement, these remarks are not to discredit our hard work. These marches are raising awareness and informing the dominant society of what is at stake. Yes, this does feel like a battle fought once before. Yes, combating anti-abortion legislation resembles the years of Ronald Reagan’s presidency in 1984; Yes, fighting for the rights of Black women and men echoes the civil rights movement of the 1960s; And yes, fighting for the equality of women and men seems like a repeat of the women’s suffrage movement of the 1920s. But these issues are as pressing now as they were last century, and if another civil rights movement is what it takes, that is what we will do. Through movements like the Women’s March on Washington we can overcome these battles and more. Seven generations of women before us have put everything they know toward achieving equality. It is time for us to put what we know forward. We must use our awareness to remember that in order to initiate revolutionary change, we must be allies to all. We must demonstrate our understanding of intersectionality, just as the organizers of the Women’s March — Tamika Mallory, Bob Bland, Carmen Perez and Linda Sarsour — have done. One sign I noted at the Women’s March in Toronto read, “When you know better, you do better.” It is our job to broaden our range of knowledge and educate one another on how to be an ally, and how to show our kinship. This kinship was shown worldwide on Saturday, and it can only spread further. We must march forwards. Not backwards.