Hannah Soyer
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Jennifer Lawrence recently published an essay in fellow actress Lena Dunham’s feminist newsletter, Lenny Letter, called “Why Do I Make Less Than My Male Co-Stars?” Lawrence’s essay discusses her realization that all of her male co-stars were receiving a higher salary than her and how her negotiations to receive higher pay were met with surprise and resi

Since the publication of her essay, Lawrence has received a bit of backlash from the community, criticizing her for perpetuating something called “White Feminism,” a brand of feminism that fails to take into consideration the experiences of any woman who is not white, cis, or straight.

In this instance, White Feminism fails to realize that women of color in the same industry as Lawrence are making even less than she is. You may have heard the statistic that on average, a woman makes 78 cents for every $1 that a man makes. Well, this is only true if you’re a woman who also happens to be white. On average, black women make 64 cents for every $1 a man makes, and Latinas make 56 cents for every $1 that a man makes, according to the American Association of University Women.

As a woman with a disability, a member of a minority not often recognized, I acknowledge that White Feminism is not the ideal way of moving forward, and that if we are going to talk about female experiences, it is incredibly important to take the experiences of all females into consideration, and to recognize that the experience of a white, middle-class female is not at all representative of all women.

However, I truly don’t believe that White Feminism should be viewed as the enemy here, and I certainly don’t think that we should get angry at women who are raising important issues of gender inequity and who also happen to be white. Lawrence may have done well to shed light on the even larger pay division between women of color and men, or even women of color and white women like herself. As a celebrity who has a lot of clout, Lawrence is in a position to shed light on issues that so far have not been talked about in the mainstream media, and she should see this as one of her responsibilities. However, her essay was speaking from personal experience, and so it only makes sense that it is going to be about the experience of a white female.

In order to truly make a difference in the lives of all women, feminists of all races and backgrounds will have to learn to take into consideration the experiences of minority women. This does not mean, however, that those problems faced by women in the majority should not be addressed as well. And most importantly, it does not mean that when a problem faced by white, well-off woman such as Jennifer Lawrence is brought up, that we, feminists identifying as a minority but who still support equal pay, react with anger at not being included.