What Does Feminism Mean to Me?
by Jiselle Pugh
I am a Black feminist. The reason the “Black” is first is because, as much as I love feminism, it is designed for white women. They talk about “us” making 77¢ on the male dollar, but WE don’t. BIPOC women make less than that. They talk about us gaining the right to vote in 1920, but WE didn’t. We had to wait until 1968. That’s 45 more years, or about 11 presidential terms.
The fact that when talking about women’s rights they only use white numbers basically tells Black women and girls that they aren’t “real” women and that it doesn’t matter when we get rights as long as white women get theirs.
This is why, for me, feminism means that everybody gets equal rights, because if everybody doesn’t have equal rights, then nobody does. If BIPOC women have fewer rights than white women, then women don’t have equal rights. If BIPOC men have fewer rights than white women, then women don’t have equal rights.
Feminism only works if it’s for everybody; women, men, Black, white, other, because if we all don’t have equal rights, none of us do.
