A University of Iowa law professor shared the theory of critical race feminism in a lecture celebrating Women’s History Month.

Professor Adrien Wing spoke to a crowd of about 60 people Tuesday night, stating that critical race feminism is a concern with the status of women of color under the law.

Critical race feminism has only been prevalent in the last decade or two.

“Everything we’re doing is new,” Wing said.

Wing has been teaching law at the University of Iowa for 11 years, as well as serving as a constitutional advisor to the African National Congress and several other international committees.

She described the development of critical race feminism in three parts: critical legal studies, feminist studies and critical race theory. These three topics combined to form the basis for critical race feminism.

Critical legal studies started in the early 1970s as students who had been active in protests entered into the legal field.

Scholars of critical law acknowledged the fact that law was affected by class status, Wing said.

“Critical legal studies people say law is not objective and neutral. Law has a class bias,” Wing said.

The feminist movement of the early 1970s added gender issues to the critical legal studies approach, she said.

“We are concerned with gender and how the law treats women on a day-to-day basis,” Wing said.

Wing said race was added to the issue of law when men of color began teaching law in the 1970s. She said the critical race theory asserts that race is an influential part of legal decisions.

“We believe racism is an ordinary part of the American legal system,” she said.

Wing described racism as a “cancer,” and she said not enough has been done to address its influence.

“Racism is pervasive, and society has not yet even developed the tools to deal with the cancer,” she said.

Wing said critical race theory is viewed as controversial because it rejects the idea that law is color-blind, and instead views race as an important factor in legal decisions. She said people of color should not have to be colorblind.

“There’s nothing wrong with being proud of your color,” Wing said.

Wing stressed that a few instances of successful women of color, such as herself, did not mean discrimination had ended.

“My success will never make up for the fact that 90 percent of black people will never go to college,” she said.

She cited several pieces from an anthology she compiled, “Critical Race Feminism,” discussing different issues of women of color under the law.

Wing discussed “street harassment,” such as derogatory comments made to women while walking in a public area. She suggested these acts may be subject to prosecution in the future.

“A few years ago the idea of recovering for domestic violence was called crazy,” Wing said.

As a constitutional consultant for the South African National Congress, Wing helped develop the nation’s equality clause in 1994 after the end of apartheid.

South Africa’s equality clause prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex, gender, pregnancy status, marital status, disability and sexual orientation. Wing said South Africa’s constitution is the only constitution in the world to include a clause regarding sexual orientation.

“They still have homophobia, and racism and sexism,” Wing said. “But at least they put [the equality clause] in their constitution.”

Wing said Americans need to view other countries’ cultures with an open mind and learn from some of their steps to prohibit discrimination.

“We need to humbly learn from these countries,” she said.