WOMEN’S RIGHTS MATTER

White American Women Are Not Powerless. So, How Did We Get Here?

Voting against their interest also sabotaged Black women’s rights

Photo by Shot by Cerqueira on Unsplash

White women are not powerless, damsels in distress. While rarely discussed, many White women have worked to undermine women’s rights. When Jeannette Rankin, the first woman elected to the House of Representatives in 1916, pursued voting rights for women, she threw Black women under the bus. When a White senator, John Sharp Williams, warned, “if we pass your amendment, then Negro women could vote.” Rankin’s response laid the schism bare: “But, couldn’t you keep them from voting the same way you keep the Negro man from voting?” For too long, White women have prioritized their rights, and in doing so, they caused long-term damage to the women’s movement.

If you will support women, you cannot exclude some based on race or nationality and walk away with your credibility intact. American women’s rights are under fire, and we’re not unified enough to overcome them. Amy Coney Barrett disregarding women’s rights is not an anomaly. Exit polling demonstrated the majority of White women voted for Trump in the last two elections.

Remember that Donald Trump was the Presidential Candidate who bragged about sexually assaulting…