This is a discussion of women’s diversity, its challenges, and potential ways for handling these differences. These feminists encourage women to speak for all women, not just privileged women, which is what often occurs in the developed world. Of course, this is easier said than done, because we must think about how these other women feel about different issues instead of just imposing Western values on them.
There were a couple of points in this chapter that I found especially compelling. For example, I never realized that most women in third world countries do not consider themselves feminists because they are more concerned with the economic and political consequences of poverty than with reproductive and gender issues. Because of this, it is important to understand how women in all parts of the world are suffering but also to recognize that, although both men and women in third world countries are suffering from poverty, women are often hit the hardest and that initiatives aimed at them, such as micro loans, can be helpful in improving the economic situation of families as well as the status of women.
I think another really important point that Tong makes is how women in the developed world rely on women in the third world for our own material comfort. For example, we might say that women in the third world should receive fair wages, but these wage increases would make it more difficult for us to afford the excessive clothing and other material goods we consume. This makes for a difficult situation for many feminists (including myself), who are unprepared to make drastic changes in their own lives to effect such change.
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