scholarly journals “We’re Being Released to a Jungle”: The State of Prisoner Reentry and the Resilience of Women of Color

2019 ◽  
Vol 99 (4) ◽  
pp. 459-483 ◽  
Author(s):  
Janet Garcia-Hallett

The punitive carceral system is expected to tame people of color into docile bodies through their imprisonment. Furthermore, the oppressive and punitive U.S. context embodies patriarchy and injustice in which women of color endure unique obstacles at the intersection of race and gender. Given the power structures built to destabilize women of color before and after incarceration, this study uses interview data to examine their perseverance through carceral systems. The findings illustrate how oppressive regimes shape postincarceration obstacles and explore how women of color combat social-structural inequalities after incarceration.

Author(s):  
Kimberlé Williams Crenshaw

Identity-based politics has been a source of strength for people of color, gays and lesbians, among others. The problem with identity politics is that it often conflates intra group differences. Exploring the various ways in which race and gender intersect in shaping structural and political aspects of violence against these women, it appears the interests and experiences of women of color are frequently marginalized within both feminist  and antiracist discourses. Both discourses have failed to consider the intersections of racism and patriarchy. However,  the location of women of color at the intersection of race and gender makes our actual experience of domestic violence, rape, and remedial reform quite different from that of white women. Similarly, both feminist and antiracist politics have functioned in tandem to marginalize the issue of violence against women of color. The effort to politicize violence against women will do little to address the experiences of nonwhite women until the ramifications of racial stratification among women are acknowledged. At the same time, the anti-racist agenda will not be furthered by suppressing the reality of intra-racial violence against women of color. The effect of both these marginalizations is that women of color have no ready means to link their experiences with those of other women.


2020 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Melissa Dancy ◽  
Katherine Rainey ◽  
Elizabeth Stearns ◽  
Roslyn Mickelson ◽  
Stephanie Moller

Abstract Background It is well-documented that experiences in STEM courses for women and students of color are different from the experiences of White men. As part of a larger interview study, 183 college seniors from diverse gender and race backgrounds were asked their thoughts on whether the experience of being a STEM major was different for people of different races and genders. We use a framework of “science as White property”, derived from critical race theory, to frame this study and results. Results White men were largely unaware of any impact of race or gender. In contrast, women of color overwhelmingly report, consistent with results from a large body of prior research, that both race and gender impact their experiences as STEM majors. Students who acknowledged race and gender impacts did not always attribute these impacts to cultural or systemic factors (i.e., some reported women are underrepresented because they are less interested in STEM rather than a structural reason). Impacts identified that were attributable to systemic factors included impacts related to being a demographic minority (i.e., intimidation, feeling out of place, feeling pressure to work harder) and/or discrimination (i.e., job discrimination, bias against women or people of color and cultural assumptions implying the superiority of White people and men). A small number of students (mostly White women) stated that women or people of color benefit from their underrepresented status, often attributing this benefit to a perception of extra encouragement and opportunities. A common theme across categorizations was that women and students of color work harder than men and White people either because they are perceived to be harder workers or as a response to the sexism and racism they encounter. Conclusions We found that White men are largely unaware of the impacts of race or gender on the pursuit of a STEM degree. Additionally, with the exception of women of color, students are less likely to perceive race as having an impact on the experiences of students than gender. We conclude with a discussion of implications for future work related to gender and race representation in STEM.


2018 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
pp. 114-132 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mary V. Alfred ◽  
Sarah M. Ray ◽  
Michele A. Johnson

The Problem The underrepresentation of people of color in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) has become a crisis of significant proportion. The crisis is more pronounced when we examine participation by race and gender and explore how these two primary identity dimensions serve to marginalize women of color in STEM fields. These differential representations start during the early years and continue within institutions of higher education and the workplace. The Solution To address the absence of women of color in STEM, it is important to understand the forces that hinder and support their career development, beginning with early childhood experiences and throughout education and work environments. Interventions promoting diversity, equity, and inclusion must start in early and secondary education and continue through academia and the workplace. Stakeholders Addressing this crisis is the responsibility of leaders of public and higher education and those of business and industry.


2022 ◽  
pp. 22-40
Author(s):  
Paula Cronovich ◽  
Jacqueline Mitchell

This case study delineates changes enacted in the cultural program for beginning-level Spanish language students at a private, faith-based university. Given the restrictions of the pandemic insofar as virtual teaching and learning, as well as the national and international context of racial strife and inequities, the instructors took the opportunity to utilize antiracist pedagogy in order to reach the goals of meaningful content and measurable student outcomes. One of the General Education learning outcomes demonstrates how well students understand the “complex issues faced by diverse groups in global and/or cross-cultural contexts.” Within the context of Latin America and the Latina/Latino experience in the United States, the assignments focus on the intersections of race and gender as they relate to cultural expressions, ensuring that the approach does not obfuscate contributions nor realities of people of color.


2019 ◽  
Vol 33 (3) ◽  
pp. 387-409 ◽  
Author(s):  
Simone Ispa-Landa ◽  
Sara Thomas

Researchers have highlighted how gendered associations of femininity with emotional labor can complicate professional women’s attempts to exercise managerial authority. However, current understandings of how race and gender intersect in professional women’s emotional labor remain limited. We draw on 132 interviews from eight white women and 13 women of color who are novice principals. White women began the principalship wanting to establish themselves as emotionally supportive leaders who were open to others’ influence. They viewed emotional labor as existing in tension with showing authority as a leader. Over time, however, most white women reported adopting more directive practices. By contrast, women of color reported beginning the principalship with a more directive, take-charge leadership style. They viewed emotional labor and authority as part of a blended project and did not talk about these two aspects of leadership as existing in tension. Over time, their self-reported leadership style changed little. We analyze our findings in light of recent theorizing about gender and intersectionality.


2019 ◽  
pp. 215336871988543
Author(s):  
Natalia D. Tapia ◽  
Wendi Pollock ◽  
Christopher Kelly

Now more than ever, criminal justice agencies are looking to fill their ranks with a diverse workforce that reflects the populations they serve. Criminal justice is a field where diversity matters, is encouraged, and is sought after in recruitment efforts. Also, research shows that females are highly effective in this discipline due to their unique communication skills. Therefore, it is important for females and minorities to feel they are welcomed and belong in those agencies. This article explores how perceptions affect the employability of women and people of color. Exploring their level of confidence or anxiety about their future ability to adapt to their work environment could offer insights on how to better support criminal justice students and on how to help agencies to better integrate and maintain diversity in their organizations. This study examines criminal justice students’ sensitivity to status-based rejection. Specifically, college students in the field of criminal justice were surveyed regarding their anxieties and beliefs about how others’ perceptions of their status (gender, race, and/or ethnicity) might affect their professional careers. Results suggest that while females of all races and African American students of any gender are significantly more likely to be concerned about the potential for status-based rejection when employed, or trying to become employed, in the field of criminal justice, female Hispanic students are concerned about the combined effects of their race and gender on their future careers. Policy implications are discussed.


2011 ◽  
Vol 4 (4) ◽  
pp. 199-211 ◽  
Author(s):  
Caroline Sotello Viernes Turner ◽  
Juan Carlos González ◽  
Kathleen Wong (Lau)

Hypatia ◽  
2010 ◽  
Vol 25 (4) ◽  
pp. 927-934 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kristen Intemann ◽  
Emily S. Lee ◽  
Kristin McCartney ◽  
Shireen Roshanravan ◽  
Alexa Schriempf

Thanks in large part to the record of scholarship fostered by Hypatia, feminist philosophers are now positioned not just as critics of the canon, but as innovators advancing uniquely feminist perspectives for theorizing about the world. As relatively junior feminist scholars, the five of us were called upon to provide some reflections on emerging trends in feminist philosophy and to comment on its future. Despite the fact that we come from diverse subfields and philosophical traditions, four common aims emerged in our collaboration as central to the future of feminist philosophies. We seek to: 1) challenge universalist and essentialist frameworks without ceding to relativism; 2) center coloniality and embodiment in our analyses of the intermeshed realities of race and gender by shifting from oppression in the abstract to concrete cosmologies and struggles, particularly those of women of color and women of colonized communities across the globe; 3) elaborate the materialities of thought, being, and community that must succeed atomistic conceptions of persons as disembodied, individually constituted, and autonomous; 4) demonstrate what is distinctive and valuable about feminist philosophy, while fighting persistent marginalization within the discipline. In our joint musings here, we attempt to articulate how future feminist philosophies might advance these aims, as well as some of the challenges we face.


Author(s):  
Aaron Graham

Abstract Recent work has emphasized the role of colonial state structures in the construction and enforcement of race and gender in the British Empire from the seventeenth century onward, particularly among people of color. But work on the parallel phenomenon of “Whiteness” has focused on White men rather than White women and children, on elites rather than those below them, and on North America rather than the Caribbean. This article, using the records of a “Clergy Fund” established in Jamaica in 1797 as an insurance scheme for the (White) widows and orphans of clergymen, therefore addresses a gap in this literature by providing a case study of how a colonial state in the Caribbean tried—and failed—to construct and enforce race and gender among White women and children from outside the elite, during a period when White society in the region seemed under threat.


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