This study will examine and compare conditions of existence for four groups of women of color---Native Americans, Afro-Americans, Asian Americans, and Chicanas. The argument of the study will be that all of the groups suffer dual prejudice, but each group suffers that prejudice in ways unique for women of that group.
The sources consulted make clear that, in general, despite differences among the groups, all women of color suffer discrimination, either overt or covert, which white women and men do not experience. Women of color also suffer greater discrimination than men of color, indicating the fact that American society in general continues to discriminate against women in favor of men.
Zinn and Dill write of their attempt to describe and analyze the fact that "women's lives are shaped as much by relations of dominance based on race and class as those based on gender" (Zinn & Dill, 1994, xi). The other works consulted for this study argue along with Zinn and Dill that women of color meet dual and multiple biases in their lives and work. They agree that women of color suffer political, economic and social injustices as a result of their gender and ethnicity, and that this is a situation which must be addressed and corrected. Women of color are increasingly involved in political and social action which is aimed at improving these conditions. The works consulted are feminist-oriented and all agree that ethnicity among women should not be abandoned for the sake of an assimilation which would rob women of their special cultural and racial identities. At the same time, Zinn and Dill argue that even among feminists women of color are too often seen as parts of a false unity among the female population, a perspective which similarly robs them of their unique identities.
Vilma Ortiz, in Zinn and Dill, provides a number of direct statistical comparisons among the groups of women of color under study here. We read, for example, th...