Fostering and supporting a network of white womxn dedicated to dismantling racism
WWARA worked with white womxn educators, social workers, nonprofit staff & boards, philanthropists, organizers, healthcare workers, and public servants on challenging racism in their work. Specifically, we looked at the role of white womxn in upholding racist systems, past and present, through socialized ‘helping.’
Vision
A generation of white womxn educators, social workers, and public servants who confront the role of white womxn in the legacy of violence against people of color and who work to dismantle structures that reinforce and reproduce white supremacy.
Mission
WWARA strived to foster and support a network of white womxn who: 1) identify how they reinforce and reproduce white supremacy, 2) take action to challenge racism, whiteness, & white supremacy in their own lives, and 3) organize other white womxn, advocate for racial justice, and dismantle existing power structures in their sector.
Why Work With White Womxn Specifically?
Today white womxn comprise between 80-90% of the employees in the sectors of education, social work, nursing, and non-profits. In many cities, overwhelmingly white people run the programs and organizations that interact with predominantly people of color. As a group, white womxn intentionally and unintentionally maintain white people’s power through our direct service work in communities of color. Many of us are driven by our desire to “help” people of color because of our socialized roles as caretakers through patriarchy and our paternalism adopted through whiteness. We operate as the foot soldiers of white supremacy, doing much of the on the ground labor to maintain the nonprofit industrial complex through “helping” people of color. Working together to disrupt the ways we support oppressive systems is crucial if we are to be part of the process of dismantling white supremacy and imagining liberatory futures. We, as a group, as a voting bloc, as a workforce have the power to shift these systems if we are able to look at our own complicity in them.
Offerings
Previously, WWARA offered both in person and virtual workshops. The workshops were designed for white people and included the historical context of white womxnhood & violence, trends of white womxn as managers, white womxn’s role in the non profit industrial complex, how white womxn manifest white supremacy culture, and more. The WWARA Fellowship & Alumni Organizing Network was based in Baltimore.
WWARA is thankful to our past fellows and our Founding Womxn of Color Accountability Council!
Why use womxn with an ‘x’?
We use womxn to recognize the people of all genders and gender expressions working in these sectors who are seen as and/or fill the roles of ‘helping white women’ in communities of color.
About Zara Cadoux (She/Her)
“I am a white woman who has worked in the youth development sector in black communities in Baltimore for a decade. I uphold white supremacy by acting on my paternalism, gate keeping information and access, and protecting the white comfort of decision makers; all behaviors that reinforce racist norms that advantage white people and disadvantage people of color. Mentors in my life have challenged me to look at my own complicity in whiteness and patriarchy and it is my responsibility as a white woman with privilege to do the same with other white womxn.”