Chimamanda Adichie and Taylor Swift are a few of the many women that have shaped the voice and face of feminism, and female empowerment. They speak of women’s suffrage, the effect of the patriarchy, and how double standards have been a contributing factor to each industry domain. However, what if there was something more dangerous that lies in the movement that affects it as much as misogyny? A problem called white feminism.

What is white feminism?

While the term “white feminism” has been coined in recent times, this expression of feminism has been present throughout the waves of the movement. It has been especially prominent since the beginning of the first wave, where the main topics revolved around the equality of political and economical rights, such as the right to vote. This wave of feminism has started in 1848, and lasted all the way to the 1920s. Many protests broke out in the streets, countless women—and some men—fighting for equal rights, and although some women of colour were able to participate in these collective behaviours, they were the outlier of the movement. They were constantly excluded due to these suffrage movements being fixated on middle-classed, white, and married women. More specifically, in the last decades of the 19th century, the women’s suffrage movement had been brought up in Canada. In this timeframe, these protests mainly consisted of the right to vote, with the target geared towards middle-class white women. In 1918, the government appealed the Great Reform Act, which gave women the right to vote. However, the issue still stands; racism against WOC. if you were an Indigenous woman with the intent to vote, your Indian Status would have been revoked. The common pattern that shaped white feminism is that the main target that benefits from this is white women. 

Stop simping for your average white woman.

With the uprising of the other waves, especially modern (fourth-wave) feminism, it has been more inclusive with BIPOC women. However, there are still underlying issues in regards to white feminism. 

The issues of white feminism in modern day society is not only the blindsidedness of international issues, but as well as quantifying oppression by separation. A lot of white feminists tend to separate the different types of oppression that WOC face. They like to separate it by race, gender, and sexuality rather than looking at it intersectional. With that, they see oppressive structures as separate entities. For instance, you cannot face oppression as a Black person and then a woman; you face it as a Black woman. If you separate them, then you cannot quantify their experiences living in this world. 

Another controversy with white feminism is the blindsidedness of international issues. With the Islamic scarf controversy, in France, feminists have argued that hijabs, burqs, and niqabs rid of women’s autonomy. However, they completely ignore the importance of religious practices to them and how they speak over Muslim women’s experiences.

Whitewashed feminism has been a toxic issue within the feminist movement. Despite its recent behaviours in trying to change that, feminism will always benefit white women. However, that doesn’t stop people from being feminists; as a collective, feminists can come together and shape new discussions that can bring forward a better target for the next wave.