Comparing The Condition Of Slavery To Women's Conditions In Society

One of the first philosophers I saw actually address race was Simone de Beauvoir. Often I noticed that she would compare the condition of slavery to women’s conditions in society, which is a pretty accurate comparison for a number of reasons. “but women are not a minority, like the American Negroes or the Jews; there are as many women as men on earth” (p 20) Although women were not minorities, I myself believe that the treatment of female slaves especially and the hate against Jews slowly but surely spilled into the way that non slave women or Jews were treated. When a male feels that much power over woman, he eventually is going to want more power over more women, even a white one. A sense of entitlement to that power brewed more and more
throughout the years. Ironically, a white woman could easily make herself comfortable with her conditions by comparing her life to the negro woman, failing to realize that the way the negro woman is treated also hurt her as a woman in the long run. “a ‘poor white’ in the south can console himself with the thought that he is not a “dirty n*gger” – and the more prosperous whites cleverly exploit this pride.” (P 22) Sadly, this is something that is still occurring in today’s society. How can you expect to gain anything true from feminist movements if you are incapable or even addressing the fact that race plays a key factor in feminist thinking? You cannot make any substantial gain until you being to fairly analyze the conditions of all women.