What Kate Middleton and Queen Camilla Owe to Women of Color
The coronation of King Charles is technically about the rise to power of one man, but just like weddings where the brides and their dresses are the true stars, many eyes will be on the women rising to power on coronation day, too.
The ascendance of Camilla Parker-Bowles and Kate Middleton could not have happened decades ago. The relaxing of rigid class standards when it comes to romance is something to be celebrated. But their rise—in the wake of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s high-profile exit from royal duties—raises a number of questions.
With more Black women admitting to feeling isolated in traditional workplaces, perhaps the biggest question is this: Are the world’s most high-profile standard-bearers for white womanhood going to use their new platforms to emerge as allies to women of color? Or will they maintain one of the world’s oldest status quos: allowing powerful men to divide the rest of us?