Questions about equality and opportunity at the intersection of race and sex.
This week, the staff of Washington Area Women’s Foundation had the opportunity to see an exhibit at the National Museum of Natural History called “RACE: Are We So Different?” RACE is the first nationally traveling exhibition that tells the story of race in the United States from biological, cultural and historical points of view. It was developed by the American Anthropological Association and the Science Museum of Minnesota.
After exploring the exhibit, the staff sat down for a discussion with David LaCroix, the training and programming coordinator for RACE. We talked about the most compelling aspects of the experience as well as the implications it might have on our future work at The Women’s Foundation.
One day later, it’s Women’s Equality Day and the wheels in my head are already turning. The RACE exhibition asks “are we so different?” and the simple answer to that is: yes, of course we are. Our differences are cause for celebration and consternation; they’ve influenced the ways in which we view ourselves and one another; they’ve changed the course of history. But, the RACE exhibit suggests, those differences are of our own making. And the same is partially true when it comes to sex.
Obviously, it’s very difficult to compare differences in race and differences in sex. The former is a social construct based on appearance; the differences between women and men are biological. But both of these differences have resulted in unequal access to opportunities and resources.
Women’s Equality Day commemorates the day on which the 19th Amendment to the Constitution was certified, giving American women the right to vote. The amendment was certified in 1920, although it had been first introduced in 1878, drafted by Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton. More than 40 years in the making, it was an amazing accomplishment and I’m grateful to the women who fought and suffered and strategized until Tennessee became the final state needed to ratify the amendment. But I’m also sorry for the humiliation and disappointment and time that was wasted on a right that should never have been withheld.
Women’s Equality Day is a misnomer, isn’t it? We still haven’t reached equality. Today, President Obama released his annual Women’s Equality Day Proclamation. Part of it reads: “Today, our Nation’s daughters reap the benefits of these courageous pioneers while paving the way for generations of women to come. But work still remains.”
He’s right. We’re still living in a country where women don’t always receive equal pay for equal work; where race and gender affect access to education and healthcare; where more educated women than ever are entering the workforce, yet a tiny fraction find themselves in senior leadership positions; where women make up half of the general population but don’t always see themselves or their concerns adequately represented in local and national government.
To what end was women’s right to vote withheld? What was accomplished? Who benefited? And how was ratification finally accomplished? It’s unfortunate that we need to ask those same questions today and, frankly, the potential answers make me nervous; if no one was benefiting, then these obstacles wouldn’t be in the way. But the questions do need to be asked and answered because while some of us are disproportionately impacted by inequality, all of us suffer when there are members of our community who miss out on opportunities because of something over which they have no control.
The RACE exhibition gets us started with the “are we so different” question. But there are so many more questions to ask beyond that. I propose we start with “what’s the problem with being different?” and then quickly move on to “how do we fix this?” “How do we make equality a reality?”
What questions do you want to ask? Do you have any answers?
RACE: Are We So Different? is on display through January 8, 2012 at the National Museum of Natural History.
Mariah Craven is the director of communications & marketing at Washington Area Women’s Foundation.
Photo courtesy of RACE: Are We So Different?