Why Are Black Women Divesting?

In 2017, the Institute for Women's Policy Research released a 192 page report entitled, "The Status of Black Women in the United States". The report was based upon data collected from all 50 states and the District of Columbia. The report looked at a myriad of topics, including violence and safety. It revealed somber information about the health and safety of Black women.

The report also revealed Black women experience higher rates of psychological abuse, which also included humiliation and coercive control. More than 20 percent of Black women experience rape within their lifetime. This percentage is "a higher share than among women overall." Black women are also two and a half times more likely to be murdered by men than our white counterparts, and more than nine in ten Black women victims knew their murderers.

1 In that same year, the Economic Policy Institute also released an article entitled, "African American Women Stand out as Working Moms Play a Larger Economic Role in Families". The article revealed that more than two thirds of African American women are working single mothers, which makes us the primary breadwinners for our families.

2 The Center for American Progress also released an updated report in 2019. Mississippi has the "fourth-highest bread winning mothers across all states... [and] the second -highest share of Black workers in the United States, after only Washington, DC.; and Black women's labor force participation in the state outpaces white women's, although their wages are much lower."

3 As Black women, we are often the primary provider for our families, and despite the fact our wages are lower than what our white counterparts receive, we are tasked with maintaining a household and providing for our children, even when a man decides he doesn't want to stick around and care for his offspring.

So, Black women are you tired yet?