Rebecca Walker - Work As A Feminist

Work As A Feminist

Walker’s first emerged as a feminist in 1991 at age 22 when she wrote an article for Ms. titled "Becoming the Third Wave". In her article, Walker criticizes the confirmation of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas after he was accused of sexually harassing Anita Hill, an attorney he supervised during his time at the Department of Education and the EEOC. Using this example, Walker addresses the oppression of the female voice and introduces the concept of Third Wave Feminism. Walker defines third wave feminism at the end of the article by saying “To be a feminist is to integrate an ideology of equality and female empowerment into the very fiber of life. It is to search for personal clarity in the midst of systemic destruction, to join in sisterhood with women when often we are divided, to understand power structures with the intention of challenging them.”

After she surfaced within the feminist community, Walker was an integral part in founding the Third Wave Fund. The organization’s initial mission, based on Walker’s article, was to “fill a void in young women’s leadership and to mobilize young people to become more involved socially and politically in their communities.” The fund was turned into a foundation in 1997 and still continues to support young activists.

In 1997, Walker compiled and edited the book, To be Real: Telling the Truth and Changing the Face of Feminism. “The twenty-three contributors in To Be Real offer varied perspectives and experiences that challenge our stereotypes of feminist beliefs as they negotiate the troubled waters of gender roles, identity politics and "power feminism." The goal of the book is to reevaluate the feminist movement of the time.

Walker’s most recent publication touching on feminism, Baby Love: Choosing Motherhood After A Lifetime of Ambivalence, was published in 2007. In this work, Walker explains overcoming the ambivalence that kept her from having a child for several years, and then explains how motherhood is like no other blessing. Her ambivalence towards motherhood spurs from the abandonment she says she suffered from her radically feminist mother. She has further argued that her mother's neglect of her was a common practice among second wave feminists, even a tenet of second-wave feminism.