Let’s take a look at Kate Winslet. Far from being the only person to not boycott the Oscars because of their nominations of only white people, she is still the embodiment of white feminism. When asked whether she would be boycotting the Oscars because of the lack of nominations, she replied that it would be wrong of her to not go because there were a lot of females involved and she wanted to support “her side."

Kate Winslet completely ignored the fact that black women were also not nominated. Therefore, when she says "her side," she isn’t including black women in that definition.

This is a problem that has carried on since the original wave of feminism. White women fail to realize that they hold greater privilege than women of color. Compared to men, they are still marginalized every day, but women of color are at the absolute bottom. As with the Oscars, white women tend to ignore problems such as diversity and racism, even though they affect women every day.

For example, as women fight for equal pay as compared to their male counterparts, white women tend to ignore the fact that Black and Latina women earn even less than they do.

In 2013, while white women were paid 78 percent of what men were paid, Black women were paid 64 percent and Latina women were only paid 54 percent. Campaigning for an end to the wage gap isn’t going to be effective unless everyone is on the same page.

The same goes for other issues that feminists fight for. White women must recognize that women of color are discriminated in ways that they are not, and to ignore these issues to fight for “feminism as a whole” defeats the entire purpose of the equality we fight for. How can women support and empower each other when white feminists ignore problems whole groups of women face?

For the sake of this article, if we just look at the Oscars, various white women have come forward excusing the lack of nominations for black actors and actresses.

Charlotte Rampling, a nominee, stated that the controversy was racist to whites, as “One can never really know, but perhaps the black actors did not deserve to make the final list.”

Helen Mirren also weighed in: “I think it’s unfair to attack the Academy. It just so happened this year, it went that way. I’m saying that the issue we need to be looking at is what happens before the film gets to the Oscars, what kinds of films are made and the way in which they’re cast, and the scripts.”

And of course, Meryl Streep who just went all out and claimed, “We’re all Africans” when asked if she related to movies from regions she’s unfamiliar with.

They’re all excuses and ignorance of the systematic racism that people of color, especially women, endure on a daily basis. It’s present in Hollywood as much as it is present in regular life, and white feminists need to either get on board and represent all women, or stay quiet and try not to silence everyone who does try to speak out against it.