There is a shared desire by
women of different skin tones, affiliations, and
personal stories to under-stand how to  develop a truly inclusive
women's agenda. This was demon-strated by the
well-attended gathering of the 'Women of the
Millennium II' conference, a continuing dialogue
about the future of the women's movement in a
multiracial community. The March 26th event,
sponsored by the Human Relations Foundation of
Chicago and the Chicago Council on Urban Affairs,
was a follow-up to a previous discussion about
this subject.The distinguished multiracial panel
of women included an African American college
professor, two Hispanic women, one White and one
Asian-American woman. With the exception of the
professor, all the women were executive directors
for various social coalitions. During her time to
speak, each woman provided a candid perspective
on the personal challenges and experiences of
being a woman in the United Sates, but more
specifically, being a woman of a particular race.
Their comments illustrated in a real and honest
way, how issues of race override other aspects of
the bigger picture. This bigger picture or
broader aspect of the women's movement is
essentially gender inequality, and for most women
of color, that issue comes behind the issue of
race. Issues such as racial inequality, poverty,
immigration and so on-issues it is believed are
largely left out of the mainstream women's
agenda. As a result, these groups felt excluded.
And despite the gains for all women resulting
from the movement, to women of color, white women
have gained the most. Due to the unfortunate
reality that race is the most polarizing issue
for Americans, members within most
racially-diverse groups seem to naturally
gravitate towards their own, or even opposing,
agendas. While moving towards the 'browning of
America' (the prediction by experts that in the
near future, whites in the United States will be
a numeric minority), the women's movement will
have to embrace a wider range of issues and
concerns in the 21st century.
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