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women Race and Gender

In Women, Race & Class, Davis expands on the white man’s dominance in all aspects of society during the slavery era. Men made every decision in the household. Women were mostly illiterate and hence incompetent in the male-governed society. Their roles primarily consisted of cooking and cleaning, childbearing and attending to their husbands’ every need.                                                                                                                      Davis highlights the significance of the women’s conference from which ironically women were excluded. Although slavery had not been abolished during the period in which the conference took place, former male slaves who had earned their freedom were also in attendance. The men did not care to hear the opinions of their spouses or the opinions of any women for that matter. Davis uses this conference to demonstrate the low state of intellect that women inhabited during that period; one so low that even a former slave, who was not allowed an education during his enslavement, was allowed attendance into women’s meeting that a woman was not.

The “freedom” that existed for women in the north was almost laughable. Women could not engage in men’s conversations and could not give advice to their husbands. Female factory workers were paid less than their male counterparts. They had little to no control over the wages they received and when and how that money would be paid to them. At times wages could be taken before they could even see them. The lack of education among women vastly decreased the amount of jobs available to them, they mostly worked industry jobs and were met with deep sexism when they tried to venture into other fields. Most women were forced to be homemakers which further solidified their position in the lowest economic strata in society.

Even though the white women in the north experienced sexism and in the south, black women experienced sexism and racism, both groups of women were slaves to their husbands and to the system that very determinately kept them tethered to their masters. Davis clearly shows that in a white male dominated society, race, color and gender would continue to manifest themselves and be used as a force to keep down those marked as “inferior”.

Although great strides have been made with the Feminist movement and with sexism along with other types of discrimination being illegal in most establishments, there are still great forms of inequality in the modern era. For one, we still live in a patriarchal society. Women who work just as hard as men still receive significantly less pay. Women who work hard to reach position of authority, are disrespected by their male subordinates and often we hear insults and slurs that used primarily to describe women, by men who do not respect them despite their authority. A woman’s sexuality, much like in the era Davis describes, is still used as a way to shame her or worse yet as a means to certify the manhood of any particular man. Madam Secretary Hillary Clinton’s failure to succeed President Barack Obama can be contrasted with the women’s conference and the attendance of the former male slave yet the exclusion of the women. Some countries still do not allow their female citizens access to quality education. Instead, they are trained to be wives and mothers. Many of these women become slaves to their husbands.

Women are far stronger than society makes them look. Davis uses Sojourner Truth’s story to express the interdependent of the two genders. Sojourner is quoted as saying, “‘I am faster than a man. I bred and raised 13 children, which a man cannot do.’”She did not appear weak or vulnerable despite her womanhood which society attempted to force her to believe was the source of such feelings. She did not need a man to provide for her and she did not need a man to rescue her. There were many things that women could do that a man cannot. Neither a person’s gender not their race could give him or her authority over another. Sojourner Truth’s spirit of strength, perseverance and determination to prove that womanhood did not make one weak nor did it signal subordination, is the strength that I believe Davis wants all women to embody