Why White Feminists Need To Understand Ellen Pence’s 1982 Essay

Racism is not a “black problem” but a white issue

If I told you that recently a white feminist got very aggressive with me, and could not understand that other groups of women have their own experiences within their community, different from white women’s experiences and assumptions of what it means to be a woman, would you be surprised? Depends on who you are, I guess. I imagine the white woman who reads this tries to look as innocent as possible, while the black, brown, or minority woman who reads it smirks with a ‘I told you so’ look on her face.

I got into a spat with this white feminist, and in the end I had to side glance her, then end my interaction by telling her clearly, ‘I said what I said, that’s it.’ I then left her and her “fierce-white-feminist” attitude and issues alone. Sadly, it’s not the first time I’ve had this experience. This is one of the main reasons I don’t call myself a “feminist.” I’m a “womanist” according to the definition the black women before me who coined this term meant it — in response to white feminism’s exclusion of black, brown, and other minority women and the issues they face that are different from a white woman’s.

After the spat, I was browsing through the second edition of All The Women Are White, All The Blacks Are Men, But Some Of Us Are Brave (1982) when I came upon an eye-opening essay by Ellen Pence. It’s titled Racism — A White Issue. Ellen Pence was a (white) American social activist, who founded an organisation for abused women using the Duluth model. The essay itself is an interesting read from the perspective of a white woman, asserting that racism is not really a “black problem” but a white issue. Also, how white feminism can clearly disadvantage black, brown, and minority women.

“Mainstream” Feminism’s Gatekeepers Need an Education

Today, we are going through the fourth wave of feminism which includes intersectionality and incorporates the needs of black, brown, and minority women in “mainstream” feminism. But historically, mainstream feminism has been run by white women who excluded other races of women. That’s why Pence’s essay is essential reading for any white feminist of today, or any white woman who does not like the term ‘feminist’ but is an advocate for women’s rights. It might open their eyes and minds to what Kimberle Crenshaw, a black civil rights activist, was talking about way back in 1989 when she came up with the concept of intersectionality which is part of the foundation of the fourth wave of feminism. Understanding Pence’s essay could help shape integration by informing the “gatekeepers” of movements for women’s rights.

Intersectionality Means Black, Brown, and Minority Women are Women

I’ve already written about how historically, including with the use of laws, black, brown, and minority women were not seen as women in the essay How We Take Back Control of Black Women’s Femininity (2023). Today, for intersectionality to work, there needs to be recognition that the term “woman” does not have a race attached to it. Also, that women outside the white community who are black, brown, or another minority have their own needs, views, and issues of oppression via the men in their community. This is important, as the male oppression for a black, brown, or minority woman could and often does look very different to a white woman’s oppression from the men in her community. It also needs to be remembered that intersectionality includes not just race, but also class, disability, religion, sexuality, and multiple ways that a woman/person can be oppressed outside of being a woman.

Today, for intersectionality to work there needs to be recognition that the term ‘woman’ does not have a race attached to it.

Pence’s Learning Points:

Despite being a woman of her time and a white woman herself, Pence surprisingly was able to understand the frustrations of women of colour with white women. She asserts in her 1982 essay that:

‘I began to see how white women ignored the need to re-examine the rigid traditional white methods of decision making, priority setting, and implementing decisions. Our idea of including women of colour was to send out notices. We never came to the business table as equals. Women of colour joined us on our terms.’

Pence’s insight came when she “started to talk to a black friend” about how “sick she was of racism.” Her black female friend pointed out that she may be sick of it, yet “she never tried to adjust her ways.”

This is just as important, as the male oppression for a black, brown, or minority woman could and often does look very different to a white woman’s oppression.

What this shows is that “adjustment” is needed. Sympathy is not enough. Feminists must look at women’s issues through the eyes of a black, brown, or minority woman and their experiences, not just a white woman’s experience. I wrote more about this in Is the CRC’s Fight For Black and Brown Women’s Rights Needed Today? (2023).

Pence goes on to say that:

‘As white women, we continually expect women of colour to bring us to an understanding of our own racism.’

Her essay was written around 1982, yet when putting it into today’s context and intersectionality as a whole, the statement still applies. Failure to recognise the different ways that women outside of the white community are oppressed feeds right into what Pence described more than forty years ago. And failure to see how other discrimination is faced, including disability, religion, sexuality etc., also feeds into Pence’s point. “Others” who are facing hardship are still being asked to “continually bring an understanding” to the movement of how they are excluded or oppressed, based on their own needs, culture, race, etc,.

If white women were fighting against the oppression of white men when feminism kicked off and started to progress, it could be argued that the lack of inclusion in the movement was a similar fight that black, brown, and minority women were facing with feminism itself: they had to fight against white feminist oppressors with a narrow view on what women’s issues were. A wonderful read around this is White Tears, Brown Scars: How White Feminism Betrays Women of Colour (2020) by Ruby Hamad. Also Hood Feminism: Notes From The Women That The Movement Forgot (2021) by Mikki Kendall.

In her 1982 essay, Pence spoke on this topic of the position black, brown, and minority women were placed in by saying:

‘The same anger and frustration we have in dealing with men, whose sexism is subtle not blatant, are the same frustrations and anger women of colour must feel to us.’

Today’s Movement for Women

In conclusion, many, many, studies have shown how black, brown, and minority women have been excluded from women’s movements and rights. This could be why there was and sometimes still is reluctance from black, brown, and minority women to associate with mainstream (aka white) feminism. In Michelle Wallace's essay A Black Feminist’s Search For Sisterhood (1975) she makes reference to this by stating:

‘When I first became a feminist, my Black friends used to cast pitying eyes upon me and say, “That’s whitey’s thing.” I used to laugh it off, thinking, yes there are some slight problems, a few things white women don’t completely understand, but we can work them out. In Ebony, Jet, and Encore, and even in The New York Times, various Black writers cautioned Black women to be wary of smiling white feminists. The women’s movement enlists the support of Black women only to lend credibility to an essentially middle-class, irrelevant movement, they asserted.’

Reluctance on the black, brown, or minority woman’s part to see herself as wanting to be part of the cause is unfair to say the least, as after all they are women, and they do face gender discrimination as well as racism in a kind of “double jeopardy,” as Frances Beal called it in Double Jeopardy: To Be Black and Female (1969).

In order for intersectionality to really have an impact, and not just be a trendy word to use, talk about, or feel associated with as a white feminist, it must start with the white feminist herself. She must change her outdated and distorted views on who and what is a woman, and what exactly a woman’s oppression looks like, and she must deeply consider how oppression looks different for women who don’t look like her. This is why any white feminist of today would benefit from reading her own foremother’s words and trying to understand what Ellen Pence meant. When it comes to women’s empowerment and advocating for women’s rights, racism was a white issue back in the eighties, and it still is today.

Thanks for your readership, I hope my writing gave you something to think about. If I’ve caught you in a good mood or you’re feeling kind, you can buy me a coffee here: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/MeAndMyMuse. Why not follow me for more of my thought-provoking muse?

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