Womanism facts for kids

Womanism is about bringing people together, especially Black women.

Womanism is a way of thinking based on the history and daily lives of Black women. It aims to bring balance between people and nature. It also wants to connect human life with spiritual ideas. The writer Alice Walker first used the word "womanist" in a story in 1979. Since then, the term has grown to include many different ideas about challenges Black women face.

What Is Womanism?

Womanist ideas are varied, but they share a main belief. They think that mainstream feminism, which is a movement for women's rights, was mostly started by white women. It often focuses on white women's goals. Sometimes, it might not pay enough attention to Black women's needs. Or it might even go against them.

Feminism does not automatically make white women anti-racist. But womanism always puts fighting racism at its heart. For Black women, it is important to empower women and to support Black cultural values. Womanism believes we need to look at what "feminine" means in a new way. We must understand it within different cultures.

Womanism grew because the main feminist movement seemed to ignore Black women's concerns. Early feminist efforts, like fighting for the right to vote, often left out non-white women. This was because non-white women were not seen as "feminine" in the same way as white women. So, they were not fully included.

Later, a new wave of feminism tried to include more non-white women. However, white feminists often thought this meant ignoring race. They wanted to focus only on gender issues. This made it hard for white and non-white feminists to work together. Because of this, a newer type of feminism started. It began to include ideas like intersectionality and womanism.

Some womanists believe that feminists will not truly understand Black women's experiences. This is because of how some feminists treated Black people in the past. So, these womanists see womanism as a separate idea, not just part of feminism. This is different from Black feminists. Black feminists have found their own place within feminism through studies and activism.

However, not all womanists agree that it is completely separate. Alice Walker, who created the term, said: "womanism is to feminism as purple is to lavender." This means the ideas are closely linked. Womanism is like a big umbrella, and feminism is one part under it.

Who Started Womanism?

Alice Walker's Ideas

The author Alice Walker first used the word "womanist" in 1979. She used it again in her book In Search of our Mothers' Gardens: Womanist Prose (1983). Walker said a "womanist" is a Black feminist or a feminist of color. The word comes from an old saying Black mothers used for their daughters: "You acting womanish." This meant acting grown-up, strong, and sometimes a bit rebellious.

Walker also said a womanist is someone who:

• Loves other women.
• Likes women's culture, feelings, and strength.
• Wants all people, both male and female, to survive and be whole.
• Is not separate from others, except sometimes for their own health.
• Loves music, dance, the moon, and the Spirit.
• Loves to fight for what is right.
• Loves her community and herself, no matter what.

Walker's famous phrase, "womanist is to feminist as purple is to lavender," means that feminism is part of womanism. But womanism is a bigger idea. It is also about being pro-humanity. Womanism focuses on problems like racism and class differences, not just gender inequality. It is a movement for the survival of Black people. It considers the experiences of Black women, Black culture, and spiritual life.

Walker believed womanists are universalists. This means they care about everyone. She used the idea of a garden where all flowers grow equally. A womanist wants men and women to live together peacefully. They also want to keep their unique cultures. This idea of including men helps Black women address unfair gender treatment without directly attacking men.

Some people who follow Alice Walker's ideas say she did not always define "womanism" clearly. They say she sometimes changed her mind. At first, she saw womanism as a more inclusive form of Black feminism. It was not just for Black women and focused on the whole person. Later, she felt sad about this peaceful view. This was because Black women still faced a lot of prejudice from both white women and Black men.

Clenora Hudson-Weems's Ideas

Clenora Hudson-Weems created the term Africana womanism. In 1995, her book Africana Womanism: Reclaiming Ourselves made a big impact. Hudson-Weems believes feminism is not the right idea for Africana women (women of African descent). She says feminism is based on European ideas.

Hudson-Weems points out other differences. She says womanism focuses on family and includes race, class, and gender. Feminism, she says, focuses only on issues related to women and girls globally.

She also believes it is hard to mix African women's cultures with feminism. This is because of the history of slavery and racism in America. Weems also disagrees with feminism seeing men as the enemy. She says Africana women do not see Africana men as enemies. Instead, the enemy is the unfair system that hurts Africana men, women, and children. She thinks feminism's focus on men versus women comes from a lack of other struggles. Feminism was started for upper-class white women.

Hudson-Weems also separates Africana womanism from Black feminism. She says Black feminism is too focused on African-Americans and Western ideas. She also thinks Black feminism needs white feminists to accept their ideas. She believes feminism will never fully accept Black feminists. Instead, it will keep them on the sidelines.

She argues that the important Black feminist leaders will never be seen as equal to the main feminist leaders. A big part of her work is like Black Nationalist ideas. It focuses on the group rather than just the individual. Hudson-Weems says Africana womanism is not just an addition to feminism. She believes her ideas are different from Black feminism, Walker's womanism, and African womanism.

Chikwenye Okonjo Ogunyemi's Ideas

Chikwenye Okonjo Ogunyemi is a writer from Nigeria. In 1985, she wrote an article about her view of womanism. She believes womanism aims to find out how to share power fairly among different races and between men and women. She came up with her ideas on her own, separate from Alice Walker. But their ideas have many similarities. Like Walker, Ogunyemi focuses on Blackness and womanhood. She says, "black womanism is a philosophy that celebrates black roots, the ideals of black life, while giving a balanced presentation of black womandom."

Ogunyemi does not see gender inequality as the only cause of Black oppression. She believes, like Hudson-Weems, that white feminists and Black feminists cannot truly come together. This is because racism is so deeply rooted. She gives examples of how feminists write about Blackness. She shows why an African idea of womanism is needed. She points out that Western feminism sometimes uses Blackness to push its own goals without helping Black people. It also tries to apply Western ideas to African nations without understanding their cultures.

Ogunyemi's view on womanism's relationship with men is a mix of Walker's and Hudson-Weems's. Walker sees a chance for men and women to work together. But she also knows men can sometimes be harmful to the womanist community. Hudson-Weems refuses to see Africana men as enemies. She does not focus on the harm Africana men might have caused.

Womanist Identity and Beliefs

Womanism has many different meanings. At its simplest, it is a universal idea for all women, no matter their skin color.

Alice Walker's phrase, "womanist is to feminist as purple is to lavender," means that feminism is part of the bigger idea of womanism. It looks at the special experiences, struggles, and needs of Black women and all women of color. It also looks at the differences between mainstream feminism, Black feminism, African feminism, and Africana womanism. However, some womanist work includes ideas from Black nationalism. Because of this, scholars disagree if womanism is linked to ideas like Black feminism and Africana womanism, or if they are completely separate.

Black Feminism

The Black feminist movement started because women of color felt ignored by the Women's Movement. They also felt held back by the Black Liberation Movement. Black feminist thinkers say that African-American women face double challenges. They face unfair treatment because of both their race and their gender. Black women felt their needs were not being met by either movement. They struggled to fit in based on their race or gender. African-American women who use the term Black feminism have different ways of understanding it.

One idea is that Black feminism deals with the needs of African-American women that the main feminist movement often misses. Pearl Cleage, a Black feminist, says feminism is "the belief that women are full human beings capable of participation and leadership in the full range of human activities." With this idea, feminism can cover many issues, from political rights to education around the world. The Black feminist agenda tries to focus these issues on what matters most to African-American women.

Africana Womanism

Africana womanism was developed by Clenora Hudson-Weems. It came from a Africana studies idea. In her book, Hudson-Weems talks about the limits of feminist ideas. She explains the thoughts and actions of different African women who have helped shape womanist theory. At its core, Africana womanism rejects feminism. It believes feminism is set up to promote white women's issues over Black women's issues. Hudson-Weems argues that feminism will never be right for Black women. This is because of the history of slavery and prejudice.

Weems says womanism is different from other feminisms. It has different goals and priorities. It "focuses on the unique experiences, struggles, needs, and desires of Africana women." She also says the relationship between a Black man and a Black woman is very different from that between a white man and a white woman. A white woman might fight a white man for holding her back. But a Black woman fights all unfair forces that hold back her, her children, and the Black man.

She also says that racism forced African-American men and women into unusual gender roles. So, the main feminist idea of breaking down traditional gender roles does not apply to the Black experience. Africana womanism is an idea made especially for women of African descent. It is based on African culture. It focuses on the unique struggles and needs of African women. Because of this, Africana womanism believes that unfair treatment based on race and class is much more important than unfair treatment based on gender.

Womanism in Action

Literature and Activism

Womanist literature and activism are closely linked. They often influence each other. A main idea in womanist writing and action is that Black activists and writers should separate from feminist ideas. This comes from thinkers like Kalenda Eaton and Chikwenye Okonjo Ogunyemi. They believe a womanist's goal should be to help not just Black women, but also Black men and other groups who have faced unfair treatment. Chikwenye Okonjo Ogunyemi said that a white woman writer might be a feminist. But a Black woman writer is likely to be a womanist. This means she also includes race, money, culture, and politics in her ideas.

In Kalenda Eaton's book, Womanism, Literature and the Transformation of the Black Community, Black women writers are shown as activists and leaders for change. This was after the Civil Rights Movement. Eaton connects historical events in African-American history with the growth of Afro-Politico womanism. This creates a safe space for Black female activism within the Black community. This Afro-Politico womanism is different from the usual feminist goal of gender equality within a group. Instead, it fights for men and women whose civil rights are taken away. Eaton believes Black women were often left out of bigger roles in the Black Movement. But she argues that Black women activists had the biggest impact in small, local protests in their communities.

Eaton uses characters from books like Toni Morrison's Song of Solomon and Alice Walker's Meridian. These characters show the different political goals and issues during the Black Movement. Eaton uses their actions to show solutions to problems like unhappiness and disorganization in the movement. Often, the main job of these writers was to empower poor people, mostly Southern African-Americans. They used the Black middle class as an example of how people could improve their lives. A common idea in womanist literature is that Black women writers do not identify with feminist thought. Womanism is the idea that connects these writers.

Audre Lorde criticized an earlier wave of feminism. She said women were taught to ignore their differences. Or, their differences were used to divide them. Lorde never used the words "womanist" or "womanism" herself. But her work helped to develop the idea. She pointed out that traditional feminism often focused too much on white, straight women. The concerns of Black women were often ignored.

Spirituality

Womanist spirituality has six key features: it is varied, combines different ideas, looks at the whole person, is personal, has a vision, and is practical. It uses many sources to create a complete picture from different parts. While it is defined by each person, womanist spirituality looks at the bigger picture. It aims to solve problems and end unfairness. Emilie Townes, a womanist theologian, says womanist spirituality comes from thinking about African-American faith and life, both alone and with others. She explains it is not just a force, but a practice that is part of who we are every moment.

One main part of womanism is its religious side. It is often thought of as Christian. This idea shows spiritual Black womanists as "church going" women. They play an important role in how the church works. In William's article "Womanist Spirituality Defined," she says womanist spirituality is directly linked to a person's experiences with God. For example, Williams states, "the use of the term spirituality in this paper speaks of the everyday experiences of life and the way in which we relate to and interpret God at work in those experiences."

However, this idea is debated by Monica Coleman. In her "Roundtable Discussion: Must I Be a Womanist?", she talks about the limits of womanism. This is because of how people have described it in the past. Coleman explains why she prefers Black feminism over womanism. She also talks about how narrow womanist religious studies can be. Coleman gives a good idea of the spiritual side of womanism when she says, "Intentionally or not, womanists have created a Christian hegemonic discourse within the field."

Here, Coleman argues that most womanists have defined womanist spirituality as Christian. An example of this is in Walker's story "Everyday Use." The mother suddenly finds the courage to stand up to her daughter. She says, "When I looked at her like that something hit me in the top of my head and ran down to the soles of my feet. Just like when I'm in church and the spirit of God touches me and I get happy and shout."

But Coleman gives a different example. She asks: "How, for example, might a womanist interpret the strength Tina Turner finds in Buddhism and the role her faith played in helping her to leave a violent relationship?" Coleman believes that assuming Christianity is the only faith in womanism is a limited view. She says that womanist religious studies can include many different beliefs and traditions. It can support a broad womanist spirituality.

Ethics

Womanist ethics is a religious study. It looks at ideas about how people act, what they do, and how they relate to others. At the same time, it rejects social ideas that have ignored a group of women who have faced a lot of unfairness. Its view is shaped by the religious experiences of African-American women. It uses tools to look at how race, class, and gender affect individuals and communities. Womanist ethics offers a different way to think about Christian and other religious ethics. It uses criticism, description, and building new ideas to understand power imbalances and unfair systems that have hurt women of color and their communities.

Katie Cannon's "The Emergence of Black Feminist Consciousness" was the first writing to talk directly about womanist ethics. In this article, Cannon says that Black women's views are often ignored in religious and academic discussions. Jacquelyn Grant adds to this idea. She says Black women face three unfair forces at the same time: racism, sexism, and classism. Black feminist theory has been used by womanist ethics to explain why African-American women and men do not participate much in academic discussions. Patricia Collins says this happens because white men often decide what counts as important discussion. She asks for a new way of creating knowledge that includes the main ideas of Black female consciousness.

Challenges and Discussions

A big discussion about womanist studies is that many scholars do not talk enough about certain differences within the Black community. The book In Search of Our Mothers' Gardens says a womanist is "a woman who loves another woman." But despite this, there is little writing connecting womanism to issues faced by some women. Womanist theologian Renee Hill says Christian influences might be a reason for this lack of discussion.

Rev. Kelly Brown Douglas also thinks the Black church, with its male leaders, is a reason why the community does not pay much attention to certain women of color. Black feminist critic Barbara Smith blames this lack of support on the Black community's unwillingness to talk about these topics. On the other hand, there is also more discussion about these differences within womanist studies now.

Another challenge is that womanism can be unclear. In African womanism, the term is linked to Black nationalist ideas and movements that want to separate. Patricia Collins argues that this makes racial differences seem too big. It promotes one single identity. This is very different from the universal idea of womanism that Walker supports. The ongoing arguments and disagreements within the different ideas of womanism can take away from the main goal. That goal is to end unfair treatment based on race and gender.

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