Beyoncé and the Neo-Feminist Movement Part 2 – How the Popular Songstress Influences Public Policy and Positive Social Change Through the Celebration of Female Empowerment

The views expressed are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of ASPA as an organization.

By Andrew Vaz
August 8, 2025

Beyoncé…that’s her name. A pop icon, fashionista, award-winning musician, feminist, mother, wife and public policy activist. Now, if you find the last characteristic to be unbelievable, then you should refer to my previous column released last month. I will now continue forward on this journey, observing the songstress in the realm of public policy and positive social change. Part 2 will demonstrate how Beyoncé’s ability to tackle the male-dominated, corporate world helped lead to movements such as #MeToo and pay equity in the workforce. As stated last time, Beyoncé was meant to be more than just a recording artist—she is a leader of a reformation movement for women and girls of color worldwide.

It is not unusual to discuss the impact of celebrities in the political arena, but to frame them as advocates for positive social change requires an extensive look into their actions. To be clear, Beyoncé is not an elected official—she has never run for public office or been appointed to any government position. However, those in the arena of public policy making have centered the legendary songstress and her views on our society.

The ’Centering’ of Beyoncé

“Lord, place me. Lord, place me. I want to be centered, I wanted to be centered, in thy will.” – Beyoncé and the Clark Sisters.

There are universities offering courses on the vocalist examining her cultural impact on social issues. As a program, Yale University will offer a class titled “Beyonce Makes History: Black Radical Tradition History, Culture, Theory & Politics Through Music.” The aim, according to its course description, is to use her work as a lens through which to examine Black intellectual thought and activism. The class will be taught by writer and Black studies scholar Daphne Brooks, who co-founded Yale’s Black Sound & the Archive Working Group, a community of faculty and students working to “explore the untapped variety of black sound archives.”

There is simply no one like her in terms of the quantity of innovations and breakthroughs she has carried out, the way she has woven politics, history and in-depth interactions with Black cultural life into her performance aesthetics, and the way she uses her voice as a conduit to reflect on politics and history.

Additional courses on the star’s political and cultural influence have popped up since the early 2010s, with Rutgers University’s “Politicizing Beyoncé” class and a “Beyoncé: Critical Feminist Perspectives and U.S. Black Womanhood” course at the University of Illinois at Chicago. The ability to have students think critically about Mrs. Knowles-Carter’s ethical framework will likely influence those students who will become legislators at all levels of governance.

Black Female Liberation within the Christian Church: Church Girl

Black girls have been the target of abuse by Western Christianity. The reason why is because church girls in the modern age don’t conform to the ‘norm’. The mold in which our true selves are repressed, while our personalities resemble those of those around us, causing us to lose our true selves. Growing up in a Methodist church, Beyoncé has come under fire for her music’s spiritual or Christian overtones.

Black females’ liberation has been greatly aided by the song “Church Girl.” The song itself has helped women all around the world—Black women in particular—to feel liberated from the harm inflicted by the church. Many women still have a hard time understanding and addressing the real trauma they experienced. Since they don’t know any different, many women have accepted what occurs in the church and Western Christianity as normal. 

Beyoncé’s “Church Girl” is a song of emancipation for Black girls who were shunned for being themselves in the church because they were unable to be coerced into fitting in. For the young Black girls who grew up to become self-actualized women, lost themselves in the eyes of the world and then rediscovered themselves. Beyoncé’s music acted as the true sermon that they needed.

The Celebration of Melanin-Rich Women

It was Malcolm X, the late civil rights leader, who once said this about the black woman in the United States:

“The most disrespected person in America is the black woman. The most unprotected person in America is the black woman. The most neglected person in America is the black woman.” – Malcolm X.

Black and brown women are always put down or stereotyped as ghetto, angry, or loud, and all other negative stereotypes come to mind. Beyoncé’s ‘Brown Skin Girl’ symbolizes empowerment, self-love, beauty, elegance and everything in between. Colorism is a huge thing that happens in the Black and brown communities. This form of discrimination occurs when someone targets another individual’s skin color. In the case of the African-American community, colorism happens when people discriminate against dark-skinned women by calling them ugly and making fun of them while praising light-skinned women. 

In a nutshell, colorism is a proponent of white supremacy. It shapes who is deemed beautiful, who is hired, who is heard, and who is hurt. It is not about individual preference—it’s about systemic hierarchy. It is possible and necessary to deconstruct it, just like any other oppressive system. This can be done by directly addressing discrimination based on skin tone and phenotype. Most civil rights statutes do not address skin tone or facial feature discrimination within racial groups, even though the harm is tangible, measurable and devastating. 

Three actions that can be taken are: Civil rights laws must explicitly include skin tone and phenotype as protected categories. The EEOC, or Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, must issue enforceable guidance defining colorism and feature-based discrimination as actionable civil rights violations. Public agencies must be required to track outcomes by both race and phenotype to ensure that all people within these target populations are served, not hidden.

Conclusion

In the third and final piece, Beyoncé and her philosophy will be critically reviewed through a character examination. We already know that her advocacy for social issues is a testament to discipline, hard work and meticulous attention to detail. She doesn’t just go with the flow—she sets the standard for people to follow.

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Author: Andrew R. Vaz, Ph.D. is a graduate of the Ph.D. in Public Policy and Administration program at Walden University, specializing in Public Management and Leadership. He was already awarded a Master of Philosophy (MPhil) degree in the program. He is also a graduate of the Master of Science in Criminal Justice (MSCJ) and Master of Public Administration (MPA) double master’s program at Florida International University. He can be reached at [email protected]. 

 

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