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Black women have yet to see even their menfolk attain positions of power and influence in the mainstream culture. It is understandable then, that in terms of priorities, black women seek to raise the life chances of the whole group. They view disadvantages of race and class before disadvantages of sex.(1)
This article will focus on the Women's Liberation Movement and its proven irrelevance to Aboriginal women, the role of Aboriginal women and men with a strong theme of women's "independence" prevailing, and the multitude of social problems faced by Aborigines. I will argue that Aboriginal men and women both are fighting for the same things, regardless of gender differences. The overall scenario is that, in such a deprived and oppressed culture, it would seem ludicrous to suggest that either sex could be a victor.
Although the Women's Liberation Movement was first activated in the 1960s from such movements as the anti-war and civil rights groups in America, the contemporary women's movement has a much longer history. It dates back to at least the nineteenth century with struggles over universal suffrage, the exploitation of women's labour, unionisation of women, and the temperance movements. However several Black American critics insist that Blacks are always left to fight their own battles: "Women's Liberation won't be any different. White women won the right to vote but black people, including black women, didn't get it for another hundred years."(2) There is also a commonly-voiced suspicion that the Women's Liberation Movement has "attached" itself to the Blackmovement in order to take advantage, for its own interests, of the momentum and attention that the Blacks have recently achieved.
Historically, the Women's Liberation Movement in Australia began some eighteen years ago and, in that time, it has developed a size and diversity which has made it a nebulous and rather elusive body, with feminists having had different priorities in their agendas for change. These divergences have led also to different tactics and strategies, and to competing ideologies and world views.(3)
As the movement grew, some feminists saw that class and race differences meant that women experienced different forms and degrees of oppression. However, if the white women who organised the contemporary movement toward feminism were at all aware of racial politics in...