Helena
Tressie McMillan Cottom contends in her critique of Anne-Marie Slaughter’s Unfinished Business that trickle-down feminism implies that all women gain when affluent women succeed. “For some women to have it all, most women cannot ever have enough.” Mainstream feminist narratives often fail to account for the structural inequalities that shape the experiences of working-class women, particularly women of color. After reading the article, I noticed that Slaughter fails to acknowledge race and class as important factors in women’s mobility. Her analysis remains stuck on privileged women’s success, leaving out millions of women whose labor makes that success possible. They are women who do not look like her, nor share her access to power and resources.
This reminded me of a colonial legacy that is still felt to this day in Indonesia. The term babu was historically used during the Dutch colonial period to refer to Indonesian women who worked as domestic servants in Dutch households, caring for homes, children, and families (Lovegrove, 2019). The term still persists today, and it carries a deeply negative connotation, often pushing the idea of domestic workers as inferior. My piece explores the overlooked and untold experiences of babu in Indonesia, creating a direct parallel between colonial-era enslavement and the continued marginalization of working-class women in modern feminist discourse. Many white Dutch women of that era were able to live more independent lives, passing down ideas of female empowerment to their children, while the babu who were predominantly indigenous Indonesian women, were denied access to education and independence.
To visually narrate this historical and ongoing erasure, I used an aged photograph and poetry, collaging them together to discuss intersectional invisibility. I want to bring awareness to the ways marginalized women, particularly women of color in low-wage (or sometimes unpaid) labor, are systematically excluded from dominant feminist ideas. The babu class has historically been seen not as people with their own ambitions and struggles but merely as people who serve.
The imagery in my piece where the babu tends the garden, cradles the child, and wakes up to hunger creates a visceral depiction of how colonial and post-colonial domestic workers have been ignored. The babu takes care of her “master”, Nona Helena and her daughters, yet disregards her own needs for the well-being of the family. This goes out to show how trickle-down feminism just creates existing power hierarchies rather than dismantling them.
This piece hopefully brings about conversation surrounding elite women’s success that are often built on the invisible labor of working-class women. I would like to see how colonial history, labor exploitation, and power dynamics can continue modern feminist discussions as well as include the stories of all women, not just those who can afford it all.
References
Lovegrove, S. (2019, October 17). “They call me babu”: giving a voice to untold stories. DutchCulture. https://dutchculture.nl/en/news/they-call-me-babu-documentary
This reminded me of a colonial legacy that is still felt to this day in Indonesia. The term babu was historically used during the Dutch colonial period to refer to Indonesian women who worked as domestic servants in Dutch households, caring for homes, children, and families (Lovegrove, 2019). The term still persists today, and it carries a deeply negative connotation, often pushing the idea of domestic workers as inferior. My piece explores the overlooked and untold experiences of babu in Indonesia, creating a direct parallel between colonial-era enslavement and the continued marginalization of working-class women in modern feminist discourse. Many white Dutch women of that era were able to live more independent lives, passing down ideas of female empowerment to their children, while the babu who were predominantly indigenous Indonesian women, were denied access to education and independence.
To visually narrate this historical and ongoing erasure, I used an aged photograph and poetry, collaging them together to discuss intersectional invisibility. I want to bring awareness to the ways marginalized women, particularly women of color in low-wage (or sometimes unpaid) labor, are systematically excluded from dominant feminist ideas. The babu class has historically been seen not as people with their own ambitions and struggles but merely as people who serve.
The imagery in my piece where the babu tends the garden, cradles the child, and wakes up to hunger creates a visceral depiction of how colonial and post-colonial domestic workers have been ignored. The babu takes care of her “master”, Nona Helena and her daughters, yet disregards her own needs for the well-being of the family. This goes out to show how trickle-down feminism just creates existing power hierarchies rather than dismantling them.
This piece hopefully brings about conversation surrounding elite women’s success that are often built on the invisible labor of working-class women. I would like to see how colonial history, labor exploitation, and power dynamics can continue modern feminist discussions as well as include the stories of all women, not just those who can afford it all.
References
Lovegrove, S. (2019, October 17). “They call me babu”: giving a voice to untold stories. DutchCulture. https://dutchculture.nl/en/news/they-call-me-babu-documentary
