The issue of gender equality can be discussed in many cultures and societies without references to the possible racial and ethnic differences, but it is important to note that these differences influence the development of the discussion significantly. Thus, the second part of the 20th century is characterized by significant changes in the public’s approaches and visions about the problem of gender equality. Researchers pay attention to the fact that women seem to have a voice about many social spheres, and their roles are changed with references to global progress.
However, it is important to focus more on the ethnic differences while discussing the issue because the role of black woman in the African diaspora can be described as still controversial regarding the issues of oppression, problem of distributing duties and responsibilities within the family or society, and regarding the opportunity to receive good education or job position. In spite of the fact that black women struggle for stating their equal rights with men within the African diaspora even more intensively than the female representatives of the other races and ethnicities, the question of the gender equality remains to be urgent, and it is necessary to discuss it while concentrating on the concepts of racism and gender oppression, womanism, mothers, and black women’s ‘otherness’.
Although the historic and social events and changes in the USA typical for the period of the 1960s-1980s contribute to the stating the ideals of civil rights and gender and racial equality, black women in the African diaspora still suffer from the unequal distribution of roles between black women and men in the family and community and from the racial discrimination at the larger social level. The era of civil rights reforms brought many changes and improvements in the community of black women, but the cases of the sexual, social, national, and religious oppression are still obvious. If black men received the opportunity to state their equality within American society, black women have to state their rights within the African diaspora.
Thus, they have to struggle with black men for their rights. In her work, Walker states, “Black women are called… ‘the mule of the world,’ because we have been handed the burdens that everyone else… refused to carry” (Walker 405). From this point, to receive the opportunity to fight for the equality in the American society to cope with the racial discrimination, it is necessary to win the right for equality in the community of black men while rejecting the principles of unequal distribution of duties and the obvious isolation from the active social life.
To analyze the current position of black women in the African diaspora, it is necessary to refer to the concepts of womanism and motherism. Having focused on the ideas of the social and gender equality, black women began to act as socially conscious and responsible persons during the 1970s, and their movement resulted in identifying the voice of black women among the other women struggling for equality. Nevertheless, Collins pays attention to the fact that “black women appear to have a voice, and with this new-found voice comes a new series of concerns” (Collins 9). As a result, only illusions of change were observed during the period, and many women expressed their ideas with references to womanism and motherism.
The signs of sexism and racism in the society of the African diaspora led to the development of womanism. However, black women are inclined to discuss the problem of equality in the larger context, and “womanism seemingly supplies a way for black women to address gender oppression without attacking black men” (Collins 11). Black women identify the problems of gender inequality typical for all the types of relations between men and women without references to the race.
The concept of motherism differs from the idea of womanism because motherism is used to discuss the position and activities of only black women in opposition to the roles performed by men in the community. In spite of the fact that mothers is based on stating the natural basics of the family, and black women as mothers keep significant powers, the idea of mothers reveals the true nature of the gender inequality in the African diaspora because women are expected to perform the roles determined traditionally, as the result of the historic development of the community (Acholonu 28; Hurston 111-115). Referring to the ideals of womanism and feminism, black women use their differences in culture and ethnicity to contribute to advantage and overcome the man-made boundaries in the spheres of art and education as well as social fields (Wilentz 387). Hoping to cope with the issues of inequality, black women try to use their ‘otherness’ as the strength or advantage.
Thus, the challenges associated with black womanhood within the African diaspora are closely connected with the concept of gender inequality. That is why active black women focus on overcoming gender oppression with the help of proclaiming their rights and principles based on the theory of womanism and accentuated self-definition.
Works Cited
Acholonu, Catherine Obianuju. Motherism: The Afrocentric Alternative to Feminism. USA: Afa Publications, 1995. Print.
Collins, Patricia Hill. “What’s in a Name? Womanism, Black Feminism, and Beyond”. The Black Scholar 26.1 (1996): 9-17. Print.
Hurston, Zora Neale. Their Eyes Were Watching God. USA: Harper Perennial Modern Classics, 2013. Print.
Walker, Alice. “In Search of Our Mothers’ Gardens”. Within the Circle: An Anthology of African American Literary Criticism from the Harlem Renaissance to the Present. Ed. Angelyn Mitchell. USA: Duke University Press, 1994. 401-409. Print.
Wilentz, Gay. “Toward a Diaspora Literature: Black Women Writers from Africa, the Caribbean, and the United States”. College English 54.4 (1992): 385-405. Print.