Bennett College for Women is a special place, an oasis where women are educated, celebrated, and developed into twenty-first century leaders and contributors. It is one of only two educational institutions in our nation where women of color are at the center, not the periphery, of the universe. Indeed, one might argue that it is one of just a handful of places where African-American women are systematically celebrated, not cursorily ignored and vilified. Bennett College for women also offers a special lens through which to view the status of African-American women, as many of the choices, challenges, and triumphs that women face are reflected in the hurdles that our students clear, and those over which they sometimes stumble.
In an election year when women of color are being asked if they are voting their race or voting their gender—as if we could divide them—it is important to note that race and gender are intertwined for African-American women, and that both are determinants in our economic, social, political, and educational status. The intersection of race and gender, additionally create a third burden for African-American women in that part of our status is a function of the way that the majority society marginalizes and demonizes African-American men.
A most stunning example of this third burden is evident in the labor market, where both African-American men and women experience unemployment rates that are higher than those for the overall population. While the unemployment rate in January 2008 was 4.9 percent, it was 7.3 percent for adult African-American women, and 8.3 percent for African-American men. Moreover, a full million more African-American women held jobs than African-American men, with 8.3 million black women and 7.3 million African- American men working.[1] The underemployment of African-American men represents a burden to the African-American women who, then, often shoulder disproportionate responsibility in supporting households and children without sufficient contribution from spouses, partners, or fathers. A full understanding
of the third burden explains, at least partly, why African-American women cannot separate interests of race and issues of gender in analysis of political candidates, economic realities, or social and cultural realities.
There are other important critical economic realities that shape the status of African-American women. While more likely to be employed than African-American men, African-American women earn lower wages than African-American men and White women do, with White women earning a median $663 per week in 2007, compared to $629 for African-American men and $566 for African-American women. All three groups earn less than White men, whose 2007 weekly median earnings were $850.[2] And, while African-American women represent two-thirds of all African-American undergraduates, and the majority of graduate students,[3] African-American women are less likely than African-American men to reach the pinnacle of their occupations, especially in corporate America. Indeed, while a handful of African-American men lead Fortune 500 corporations, as do a dozen or so White women, not a single African-American woman has ever led such a corporation.
If a pie chart illustrates distribution of economic benefits within a race, then African-American women have a larger slice of pie than White women within their race group. Thus, historical, institutional, and sociological forces slice the pie differently for African-American women than for White women, with gender playing a different role in the African-American community
because of the way society has dealt with African-American men. At the same time, the pie that African Americans have to slice is smaller than it should be. African Americans are 13 percent of the population, but we have 8 percent of the income and less than 2 percent of the nation’s wealth. For some, the focus has been on increasing the size of the pie that African Americans have to divide, looking at issues of race instead of gender. At the same time, when we view gender status in the African-American community, it is clear that the pie analogy is imperfect unless the size of the pie African-American women have is viewed as both benefit and burden. Further, the pie analogy is imperfect because it does not capture issues that are not strictly economic—family and family formation, the role of African-American women in popular culture, and the challenges that African-American girls face in a society that routinely
