The ‘Third Wave’ of Radical Women

With all the talk we’ve heard lately about “post-feminism,” it was a refreshing change of pace to see coverage of a conference where 200 feminists gathered to declare they’re not only alive, but ready to hit the ‘90s like a tidal wave.

Thank you, Beverly Beyette, for your article “Radical Women Return to the Barricades of the Left” on the 23rd anniversary conference of Radical Women (Feb. 22).

I came from New York City to participate in the conference, and one thing that particularly struck me was the enormous national and international impact of the leadership of women of color in the feminism’s “Third Wave.”

This was evident in the conference itself--in the incisive keynote addresses made by black, Chicana, Asian-American and Jewish women; the dramatic dialogue “Across the Color Line”; luncheon discussions among women of color and between black and Jewish women, and in each of the new documents presented and adopted at the conference.

The message that came through was that women of color and white women can and do work together with brilliant success, when it’s on the basis of shared convictions and a program of genuine equality for all.

DR. SUSAN WILLIAMS, New York City