The language of gender justice can be tricky even for those who are deeply committed. As with all other aspects of language, the terms used to express the support of equal rights for women+ individuals have evolved over time.
We at the UU Women’s Federation have worked to be explicit in our language, and to sometimes overexplain when we want to make it crystal clear what we mean. You took that walk with us when we changed our language in 2023 from women to women+, which allowed grace on all sides as we worked to live into this new understanding.
We were recently asked a new question that made us stop and reassess what kind of organization we could be.
Is UUWF a womanist organization?
Do we mean the same thing when we say feminist and womanist?
If you are unfamiliar with the term womanist, you might assume that it is simply a synonym for feminist: someone who is working and advocating for the equal rights of women. But the history and implications of womanism and womanist theory are much deeper than that.
Coined in 1982 by Alice Walker in her book, In Search of Our Mothers’ Garden, the larger context was to distinguish womanism as a type of feminism that also viewed life through the lens of sexism, racism, and class. White women were happy to demand equal rights for themselves, but saw women of color, and especially Black women, as less than their equals. White women were content to deny Black women the same opportunities they were demanding of white men.
Womanist theory asks white women to consider the needs of ALL women, not despite their racial or social status, but because of it. Black, Indigenous, and other Women of Color face different levels of discrimination because they are not white, elevating white women above their BIPOC counterparts.
Womanism asks, what does an irresistible feminist future look like for all of us?
Since joining UUWF in 2022, our staff has continued to examine our biases, our status, and our advocacy. We always want to make sure we are working towards a world where ALL women+ individuals have equal access to the things that they need. We’ve tried to right the wrongs of an organization that, like the world at its inception, was determined to work only for a select few.
This year, as we examine what an Irresistible Feminist Future looks like, we will take the time to dig deeper into womanist practice and theology. This is to ensure that when we say who we are, it is with confidence and conviction.
UUWF honors the work of feminists, womanists, women’s rights activists, gender justice warriors, and everyone in between. We are working towards collective liberation, and that includes everyone.
Join us in our newest season of Imagining an Irresistible Feminist Future that includes all of us. Be part of the conversation in these next few months as we lean into this beautiful transformation.
written by Antoinette Scully Hollamon, UUWF Membership and Community Engagement Specialist
Movement Reflections from Rev. Denise Graves