Different Worlds and Divergent Paths: Academic Careers Defined by Race and Gender

2008 ◽  
Vol 78 (2) ◽  
pp. 311-332 ◽  
Author(s):  
JUANITA JOHNSON-BAILEY ◽  
RONALD CERVERO

In this article, Juanita Johnson-Bailey, a Black female professor, and Ronald M. Cervero, a White male professor, examine and contrast their academic lives by exploring how race and gender have influenced their journeys and their experiences. Using journal excerpts, personal examples, and a comparative list of privileges, the authors present a picture of their different realities at a research university. The depiction of their collective forty years in academia reveals that White men and Black women are regarded and treated differently by colleagues and students. Manifestations of this disparate treatment are evident primarily in classroom and faculty interactions. An examination of the professors' relationships with people and with their institution illustrates that, overall, the Black woman is often relegated to a second-class existence characterized by hostility, isolation, and lack of respect, while the White man lives an ideal academic life as a respected scholar who disseminates knowledge, understands complexity, and embodies objectivity.

Circulation ◽  
2012 ◽  
Vol 125 (suppl_10) ◽  
Author(s):  
Laura R Loehr ◽  
Xiaoxi Liu ◽  
C. Baggett ◽  
Cameron Guild ◽  
Erin D Michos ◽  
...  

Introduction: Since the 1980’s, length of stay (LOS) for acute MI (AMI) has declined in the US. However, little is known about trends in LOS for non-white racial groups and whether change in LOS is related to insurance type or hospital complications. Methods: We determined 22 year trends in LOS for nonfatal (definite or probable) AMI among black and white residents age 35–74 in 4 US communities (N=396,514 in 2008 population) under surveillance in the ARIC Study. Events were randomly sampled and independently validated using a standardized algorithm. All analyses accounted for sampling scheme. We excluded MI events which started after admission (n=1,677), events within 28 days for the same person (n=3,817), hospital transfers (n=571), and those with LOS=0 or LOS >66 (top 0.5% of distribution, N= 144) leaving 22,258 weighted events for analysis. The average annual change in log LOS was modeled using weighted linear regression with year as a quadratic term. All models adjusted for age and secondary models adjusted for insurance type (Medicare, Medicaid, private, or other), and complications during admission (cardiac arrest, cardiogenic shock, or heart failure). Results: The average age-adjusted LOS from 1987 to 2008 was reduced by 5 days in black men (9.5 to 4.5 days); 4.6 days in white women (9.4 to 4.8 days); 4 days in white men (8.3 to 4.3 days) and 3.6 days in black women (9.0 to 5.4 days). Between 1987 and 2008, the age-adjusted average annual percent change (with 95% CI) in LOS was largest for white men at −4.40 percent per year (−4.91, −3.89) followed by −3.89 percent (−4.52, −3.26) for white women, −3.72 percent (−4.46, −2.89) for black men, and −2.94 percent (−3.92, −1.96) for black women (see Figure). Adjustment for insurance type, and complications did not change the pattern by race and gender. Conclusions: Between 1987 and 2008, LOS for AMI declined significantly and similarly in men and women, blacks and whites. These changes appear independent of differences in insurance type and hospital complications among race-gender groups.


2007 ◽  
Vol 34 (3-4) ◽  
pp. 231-243 ◽  
Author(s):  
Roberto M. De Anda ◽  
Pedro M. Hernandez

This study examines differences in returns to literacy skills on earnings of black and white men and women. Literacy skill is a composite measure of three scales: reading comprehension, document literacy (the ability to locate and use information in, say, tables and graphs), and mathematics proficiency. Using data from the National Adult Literacy Survey (NALS), we estimate earnings determination models separately for each racial/gender group. Our findings show that the effect of literacy on earnings varies by race and gender. Literacy skills favorably rewarded black men relative to black women and white men and women, net of education and other relevant variables. More importantly, literacy completely explained the effect of a high school diploma and some college on earnings of black men. We conclude that the economic importance of literacy skills is particularly salient for less-educated black men.


2020 ◽  
pp. 56-74
Author(s):  
Maretta McDonald

Negative cultural images of Black people, shaped by predominantly white male television content creators, have prompted calls for more racial inclusion behind the scenes. Even though representation is the topic of scholarly conversations, little is known about what representation in television content leadership looks like or how people from diverse backgrounds influence the ways Black characters are portrayed on-screen. This chapter fills this gap by examining a prime-time television show created, written, and executive produced by a Black woman, Shonda Rhimes. Using qualitative content analysis, this chapter analyzes Shonda Rhimes’s Grey’s Anatomy to explore how intergroup interactions and depictions of race and gender on a prime-time television show may reflect the social location of its creator. The findings presented in this chapter suggest that the way Rhimes redefines culturally negative stereotypes of Black women reflects her “outsider within” social location, one she used to push back against external definitions of Black womanhood.


Blood ◽  
2007 ◽  
Vol 110 (11) ◽  
pp. 3188-3188
Author(s):  
David Green ◽  
Nancy Foiles ◽  
Cheeling Chan ◽  
Pamela J. Schreiner ◽  
David Jacobs ◽  
...  

Abstract Elevated levels of hemostatic factors are observed in patients with atherosclerosis, but whether they promote plaque formation or are a consequence of the disease is uncertain. To examine this issue, we used data from a large biracial cohort of young adults (Coronary Artery Risk Development in Young Adults [CARDIA]) followed up for 13 years, to examine the relationships of hemostatic factors - fibrinogen, factors VII and VIII, and von Willebrand factor (vWF) - with coronary artery calcium (CAC) and carotid intimal-medial thickness (IMT). Complete data were available on 1382 participants, whose mean age was 32 years at enrollment. The age, race, and gender-adjusted prevalence of CAC for increasing quartiles of fibrinogen levels was: 14.0%, 15.0%, 19.6%, and 28.4% (p <0.001 for trend). After further adjustment for BMI, smoking, systolic BP, and total cholesterol, the prevalence of CAC for increasing quartiles of fibrinogen was 15.5%, 16.0%, 19.0%, and 26.4% (p <0.001 for trend). Similar trends were observed for IMT (age, race, and gender-adjusted, p<0.001; multivariable adjusted, p=0.022). When race and gender subgroups were further analyzed, the prevalence of CAC was associated with fibrinogen levels in women and white men after age adjustment, and in women on multivariable analysis. IMT scores adjusted for age were associated with elevated fibrinogen levels in all except black men, and in black women after multivariable adjustment (p=0.003). While the prevalence of CAC was not associated with increasing quartiles of FVII, FVIII, or vWF, IMT scores were associated with elevated FVII on multivariable analysis in white women (p=0.006) and with vWF antigen in white men on age-adjusted (p=0.004) and multivariable analysis (p=0.013). There were no significant associations of hemostatic factors with either the prevalence of CAC or IMT in black men. Participants were categorized as to whether they had 0, 1, or more than 1 hemostatic factors in the highest quartile. After adjustment for age, race, and gender, hemostatic group classification was associated linearly with the prevalence of CAC (p<0.001 for trend) and IMT score (p=0.01 for trend). In conclusion, the main finding from this study is that elevated levels of fibrinogen in persons aged 25 to 37 are associated with the later appearance of subclinical markers of cardiovascular disease. These associations were observed in whites and black women, but not black men. We suggest that atherosclerosis became established during the 13 year observation period, and that increased fibrinogen may have been a contributing factor or a marker for disease development.


Author(s):  
Eden Wales Freedman

This chapter analyzes how Faulkner’s work (anti-)witnesses American trauma, race, and gender. Explicitly, the chapter explores how Faulkner’s Afra-American characters (e.g., Dilsey Gibson in The Sound and the Fury, the “womanshenegro” in Light in August, and Clytie and Eulalia Bon in Absalom, Absalom!) are co-opted to speak to a primarily white and androcentric perspective. They thus reveal more about the position and privilege of white men living in the American South than about the marginalization of black women in the same geocultural space. The chapter also argues, however, that a redeeming feature of Faulkner’s work is that his texts impel readers to dual-witness where and when he, as author, does not. A benefit, then, to reading Faulkner’s work is that, in considering its problematic treatment of trauma, race, and gender, readers can learn to recognize the dangers of anti-witnessing and to practice dual-witnessing, even when characters and storylines do not.


2019 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 228-249 ◽  
Author(s):  
Taylor M. Jackson ◽  
Paromita Sanyal

Black women start businesses at a rate above the national average. Yet, a revenue gap persists when compared to businesses owned by Black men and White men and women. Existing explanations for the differences in revenue highlight the lack of experience and limited access to start-up capital that constrain racial and gender minorities and also the type of industries in which they operate. Research specifically examining Black women business owners is very limited. In this article, we explore if Black women business owners’ gender and racial identities pose challenges to running their businesses. We find that, because of their race and gender, Black women business owners contend with unique challenges that many entrepreneurs do not face. In-depth interviews reveal that they confront negative stereotypes held about them and, surprisingly, experience difficulties interacting with Black clients. These entrepreneurs cite navigation strategies that include monitoring self-presentation, adopting standards of excellence, and creating clear professional boundaries. This study suggests that Black women business owners might be spending more time than other business owners navigating challenges specifically linked to their identity, which seems to impact their business directly.


2019 ◽  
pp. 181-204
Author(s):  
Chinyere K. Osuji

This chapter examines how interracial couples negotiate “racial boundary-policing” in which outsiders sanction them and redraw ethnoracial understandings of “us” versus “them.” Albeit rare, boundary-policing was more common in Los Angeles with couples pointing to blacks as perpetrators. White wives perceived black women as their main harassers. Black husbands' masculinity protected them from seeing black women as a threat. On the other hand, couples with black wives and white husbands reported incidents involving black men, but did not see them as an ongoing threat. Some black women were not perceived as black in public, lessening experiences of hostility. Particularly for black husbands and white wives, Los Angeles remained a diverse place where hostility was not a concern as long as they avoided black communities. Carioca couples demonstrated a regionalized understanding of boundary-policing occurring outside of the city in the country's southern region and within the city in the wealthy, predominantly white, South Zone. Intersections of race and gender mattered for understandings of racial boundary-policing with the South Zone becoming a site of hyper-sexualization for black women married to white men. This chapter shows how social actors-whether in interracial marriages or outsiders who harass them-reproduce these boundaries through their social interactions.


Author(s):  
Ofronama Biu ◽  
Christopher Famighetti ◽  
Darrick Hamilton

We investigate how wages and occupation sorting vary by race, gender, and class during recessions. We performed repeated Kitagawa-Blinder-Oaxaca decompositions of the Black-White wage gap from 1988 to 2020. Black professional-class workers’ wages are more unstable and take a more substantial hit during recessions. Black workers see a lower return to their labor market characteristics during recessions, and this is pronounced for the professional class. Using an occupational crowding methodology, we find that Black women are overrepresented in essential work and roles with high physical proximity to others and receive the lowest wages. White men are crowded out of riskier work but, within these categories, dominate higher-paying roles. Black workers earn less in professional riskier work than in working-class roles, while the reverse is true for White workers. We find that class status does not protect Black workers to the same extent as White workers, especially during recessions.


Author(s):  
Chioun Lee ◽  
Soojin Park ◽  
Jennifer M Boylan

Abstract Objective Cardiovascular health (CVH) is associated with reductions in age-related disease and later-life mortality. Black adults, particularly Black women, are less likely to achieve ideal CVH. Guided by intersectionality and life-course approaches, we examine to what degree (a) disparities in CVH exist at the intersection of race and gender and (b) CVH disparities would be reduced if marginalized groups had the same levels of resources and adversities as privileged groups. Methods We used biomarker subsamples from the Midlife in the United States (MIDUS) core and Refresher studies (N = 1,948). Causal decomposition analysis was implemented to test hypothetical interventions to equalize the distribution of early-life adversities (ELAs), perceived discrimination, or midlife SES between marginalized and privileged groups. We conducted sensitivity analyses to determine to what degree unmeasured confounders would invalidate our findings. Results White women have the highest CVH score, followed by White men, Black men, and Black women. Intervening on ELAs would reduce the disparities: White men vs. Black women (30% of reduction) and White women vs. Black women (15%). Intervening on perceived discrimination would not substantially change initial disparities. Intervening on midlife SES would yield large disparity reductions: White men vs. Black men (64%), White men vs. Black women (60%), and White women vs. Black women (27%). These reductions are robust to unmeasured confounders. Discussion Providing economic security in adulthood for Blacks may help reduce racial disparities in CVH. Preventing exposure to ELAs among Black women may reduce their vulnerability to cardiovascular disease, compared to White adults.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document