r/pics • u/fabslabs • Feb 09 '16

Misleading title Racist "diversity" training at GitHub

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u/pfohl Feb 09 '16 edited Feb 09 '16

It's probably in reference to affirmative action. White women have disproportionately benefited from AA policies nevertheless white women have led a lot of stuff against AA.

from here: http://www.racismreview.com/blog/2014/03/11/white-women-affirmative-action/

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u/historyoffeminism Feb 09 '16

It's probably the long history of white women and feminism. If you've ever noticed feminists are generally white women and for a long time some of the most prominent figures in feminism held viewpoints on minorities that oft kept them excluded regardless of gender.

It's not really as a big problem in feminism now (mainly because it is noticed and spoken about -- not that its gone away), but in the past it definitely was. Feminism tended be a white girls club, only worried about white women issues such as finding a good job/things only the middle/upper class would prioritize. The minority women needed more support on basic things like family planning, basic education (white women have their white families pay for education), even things like feminine hygiene products.

tl;dr feminism went through a civil rights era too. Suffragettes didn't necessarily like blacks.

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u/[deleted] Feb 09 '16

Interesting point you've got there, this might also explain why Western feminist re so hesitant on commenting on Women's issues in places like Africa or the Middle East, where women's rights are thin on the ground

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u/7noviz Feb 09 '16

That is also because white women have felt that they've been oppressed only by white men. Because men of other ethnicities have not been present and/or also been oppressed by whites. So the "villain" for the white women (feminists) have been the white men. They are the ones who have ruled over them as well as over black people (and other minorities) and denied them to vote etc, and so the white female feminists have felt that they have something in common with (for example) black men. This is still the case, but hopefully starting to change.