Angela Y. Davis: A Critical Analysis Of Women, Race And Class

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Women, Race and Class is the prolific analysis of the women 's rights movement in the United States as observed by celebrated author, scholar, academic and political activist Angela Y. Davis. The book is written in the same spirit as Howard Zinn 's A People 's History of the United Sates. Davis does not merely recount the glorious deeds of histories ' traditional feminist icons, but rather tells the story of women 's liberation from the perspective of former black slaves and wage laborers. Essential to this approach is the salient omnipresent concept known as intersectionality Davis employs this tool in order to explain and explore the interaction between race and class within the context of the women 's movement In chapter 12 titled Racism, Birth Control and Reproductive Rights" Davis meticulously exams another issue where tension and conflict is caused by the intersectionality of class and racial oppression. Davis asserts that there was great division amongst women with respect to the issue of birth control. According to Davis, a women 's viewpoint on the matter was highly influenced by their socio-economic status. She explains that the cost of having a child is much more of a burden for the women of the labor class due to the lack of financial stability. For these women only the most dangerous forms of birth control are available. Additionally, compulsory sterilization efforts could become glorified eugenics programs. Davis asserth that the birth control proponents within the femenist movment from the very begining determined that it was the moral obligation of black and other minrity women restrict the size of their inferrior families. Acording to Davis what was seen as a right for the privileged class came to

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