White women, where were you?

In a conversation with MSNBC’s Chris Hayes, Jane Fonda said she felt a shift in the cultural landscape in the aftermath of the sexual harassment scandals that have hit Hollywood. And yet she noted, “This has been going on a long time to Black women and other women of colour and it doesn’t get out quite the same.”

Black feminists have been making this exact point for years. In 2018, I hope the white women will truly start listening, and will ask themselves why they weren’t listening before.

It has been an interesting year to be a woman, to say the least. But for so many of us, the volume of the conversation continues to drown out women of colour, and specifically Black and Indigenous women.

As demanded by many signs at the Women’s March and similar marches, I really want to know: “White women, where were you?”

For those of us who have been loudly advocating for feminism, it has been a frustrating time. The thrill of the moment has been tempered by wondering where everyone was prior to this year.

Merriam-Webster announced that “feminism” was its word of 2017 because it is their most looked-up term of the year. Searches for the definition spiked because of the Women’s March, the television series The Handmaid’s Tale, DC’s Wonder Woman film and the #MeToo conversation. And it surely spiked every time people remembered that Donald Trump, a self-confessed groper, is president of the United States. People are clearly learning what feminism means for the first time, but I can’t keep teaching the same lessons over and over.

Millions of women stepped out in pink hats carrying placards on a brisk January day. Their chants and cheer warmed my heart in a way the previous day’s inauguration had put a chill down my spine. The joy of seeing so many women in unity, however, reminded me that for a long time many of them had been absent.

On a number of issues, it is a coalition of non-white, non-cis women who lead the movements that have changed our political reality.

This year marked the fifth anniversary of the Idle No More movement, a stunning call for change organized and led by Indigenous women. The National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Women and Girls began this year. Its existence is the result of decades of activism on the part of Indigenous women.

Next year will be the fifth anniversary of the Black Lives Matter movement, both a hashtag and civil rights organization founded by three Black women. The Toronto chapter is helmed by trans folk and Black women; their efforts have forced a necessary conversation with the city, the province and organizations like Pride to contend with how racism affects Black, racialized and trans people. These movements and moments, however, have not garnered the attention and focus of the broader feminist community. Before now, it was rare to see white feminists support oppressed groups, let alone advocate for the changes being asked for by them. More likely, white feminists have demanded silence. The mainstream feminist movement has failed to fully value and advocate for the experiences of trans people and Indigenous and Black women.

Perhaps that is why one of MerriamWebster’s runners-up for word of the year was “complicit.”

As a new year dawns, I hope that those who have been complicit in oppression will think about how that has harmed women.

As the #MeToo conversation has shown, there is a plethora of ways to be complicit in the silencing and oppression of women. Men and women who once saw themselves outside of the abuses of Hollywood are reflecting on how they bowed to pressure from abusers. Their acquiescence and selfpreservation came at the cost of the careers of a number of women including Salma Hayek and Mira Sorvino. Reflection and redress are needed now. The feminist movement did not begin in 2017; it has been going on since long before now. Just because you’re paying attention now, it doesn’t mean you discovered feminism.

Against my most cynical tendencies, I’m inclined to hope that a critical mass is assembling. Whether they’re wearing a pink hat or a hijab, a unified coalition will serve all women.