In many ways, it seems a bit outdated to be discussing gender inequality - as if, all women experience the world in a shared 'womanly' way, and all women see themselves as naturally juxtaposed to men. Discussions of gender inequality are no longer simply about the things men have and women want. It has all become, thankfully, a bit more complicated.
Postmodernist thought, among other things, has found its way into popular culture where so many of us are quick to acknowledge our own individual uniqueness. Sure, we are a wife, a mother, a sister, a daughter, a worker, and much more but we are still not quite like everyone else. This may work just fine in our personal lives, however the widespread acknowledgment of 'uniqueness' has complicated 2nd wave feminist struggles for equality. When social change groups become divided, their capacity to challenge and change often falter. Certainly, popular liberal strategies for social liberation have been curtailed by the rightful suggestion that all women are not the same, need or want the same things, or define social equality in the same way.
Perhaps bell hooks book title Ain't I A Woman Too? said it best, by demonstrating many ways white feminist ideals exclude or misrepresent the lived realities of Black women. Indeed, Bell hook's pivotal question challenges the very foundations of group membership rooted in notions of 'sameness', where it is believed that similar people form groups that reflect and reify for their shared values and experiences. In reality, these groups are comprised of individuals and subgroups with many differing experiences and perspectives. Power dynamics that render certain differences invisible help create the illusion of unity and sameness. 'Woman' is an illusion, a social construction, a myth about who we are, and what we want.
In the USA, 2nd wave feminists have focused on extending basic human rights, and opportunities for education and improved healthcare to American women. These are the tools of the liberal state which supposedly enable individual women to maximize their life chances by creating opportunities for growth and wealth. But today, we know these opportunities are not equally distributed, and we know that this feminist agenda is not enough. We know that women - all women - need to experience equality from a place that recognizes difference and is not threatened by it.
So, what does this mean? How do we expand our postmodernist group consciousness to embrace difference, to find strength in variation? How do we leave behind our 'if you are not like me, then you can't be in my group' mentality?
One practical solution might be to actively form strategic alliances between groups. This offers a structural strategy for maintaining political presence while avoiding reductionist tendencies. Perhaps this is easier said then done, since today's opponent might be tomorrow's ally. Some have called this approach 'the rainbow coalition'.
A more radical solution however, addresses the very nature of liberal group membership and suggests the importance of shifting our consciousness about the individual within community. Quite simply, it is to acknowledge as real, and positive, and downright inspirational the wonderful reality that all groups are comprised of unique individuals, and that group membership brings with it a great responsibility. Group members are called to use their collective voice to make visible those who have been hidden, to bring lived equality to others, and to know that all of us, regardless of our body parts, are diminished when another's voice is silenced.
