By Pâmela Carvalho
March 8th is known as the International Women's Day. It is a highly significant date that recognizes the women's movements fighting around the world. Demands for better working conditions and political rights, such as the right to vote, were some of the important issues that marked the emergence and imagery surrounding March 8th. Today, we realize that this struggle is important for women in general, but we also understand that there are still social gaps between black women and white women.
In the United States, in 1851, activist Sojourner Truth delivered a speech known as "Ain't I a Woman?"
"That man over there says that women need to be helped into carriages, and lifted over ditches, and to have the best place everywhere. Nobody ever helped me into carriages, or over mud-puddles, or gives me any best place! And ain't I a woman? Look at me! Look at my arm! I have plowed and planted, and gathered into barns, and no man could head me!And ain't I a woman? I could work as much and eat as much as a man - when I could get it - and bear the lash as well! And ain't I a woman?I have borne thirteen children, and seen most all sold off to slavery, and when I cried out with my mother's grief, none but Jesus heard me! And ain't I a woman?"
Sojourner experienced the horrors of slavery firsthand, and her words, endorsed by different black intellectuals around the world, raise an important question when we think about rights and womanhood: What image is created when we say the word "woman"? Can race and gender oppressions intersect? Aren't black women women? Sojourner can help us reflect on the living conditions of black women in Brazil in 2022.
Non-white authors like Grada Kilomba ("Plantation Memories," 2019) and Gayatri Spivak ("Can the Subaltern Speak?," 2010) emphasize that voice is an instrument of power. And in the case of black women, the problem is not the absence of a voice. We have a voice. What has historically been lacking is ears to listen to us.
In an attempt to address these questions and combat racism and sexism in general, a series of movements led by black women have emerged in Brazil and around the world.
In 1950, Lourdes Vale Nascimento founded the National Council of Black Women. In the 1970s, black women affected by the dual oppression of sexism and racism came together to form the Black Women's Movement (MMN). Within the Black Movement, the role of women was crucial, and they even formed the majority in groups like the Brazilian Black Front. Notable movements in this context include "Cruzada Feminina" and "Rosas Negras." In 1978, the Meeting of Black Women Aqualtune (REMUNEA) was created in Rio de Janeiro, with the participation of black intellectuals such as Pedrina de Deus, Irani Maria Pedreira, and Azoilda Loretto da Trindade. Inspired by Lélia Gonzalez and Zezé Motta, the Luiza Mahin group was born in 1980. In 1986, the Center for Women from Favelas and Peripheries of Rio de Janeiro (CEMUFP) emerged. In 1987, Elza de Souza founded the Domestic Workers Association, and in 1992, Criola was born, a civil society organization that promotes the rights of black women. In 2010, the Odara Institute for Black Women emerged in Bahia, becoming a landmark in black feminist struggle and drawing on the legacy of African femininity.
There are numerous movements led by black women. It reinforces that they have always been organized, even if they were often excluded from the hegemonic concepts of "being a woman." The movements of black women demonstrate that we are not all the same and that it is important to find ourselves in our differences. Many achievements throughout history have been made as a result of these movements, which not only break the silences created by sexism and racism but also create alternative policies and spaces within society. May we all be women.
Pâmela Carvalho, activist for racial and gender relations and the rights of favela populations. She holds a Master's degree in Education from the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ). She is the coordinator of Art, Culture, Memories, and Identities axis of Redes da Maré and a resident of Parque União.
Rio de Janeiro, March 8, 2022.
