African American Women, Racism and Triple Oppression

2020 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 113-117
Author(s):  
Rajendra Prasad Chapagain

African American women have been made multiple victims: racial discrimination by the white community and sexual repression by black males of their own community. They have been subjected to both kind of discrimination - racism and sexism. It is common experience of black American women. Black American women do have their own peculiar world and experiences unlike any white or black men and white women. They have to fight not only against white patriarchy and white women's racism but also against sexism of black men within their own race. To be black and female is to suffer from the triple oppression- sexism, racism and classicism.

2021 ◽  
pp. 019394592110411
Author(s):  
Giurgescu C. ◽  
Misra D.P. ◽  
Slaughter-Acey J.C. ◽  
Gillespie S.L. ◽  
Nowak A.L. ◽  
...  

African American women are more likely to experience preterm birth (<37 completed weeks gestation) compared with White women. African American women are also more likely to live in neighborhoods characterized as disadvantaged (i.e., exhibiting higher rates of vacant housing, poorer property conditions, and more litter and crime) and to experience racial discrimination compared with White women. These chronic stressors have been related to preterm birth (PTB) among African American women. This review focuses on potential stress-related pathways by which neighborhood disadvantage and racial discrimination increase the risk for PTB among African American women. Specifically, we propose cortisol, systemic inflammation, proteome and lipidome profiles, and telomere shortening as potential mediators linking these social determinants of health with PTB among African American women. Examination of these factors and the signaling pathways they contribute to will increase our knowledge of the effects of social determinants of health on PTB for African American women.


2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bernice Kennedy ◽  
Chalice Rhodes (Former Jenkins)

Abstract Historically, during slavery, the international slave trade promoted normalization of violence against African American women. During slavery, African American women endured inhuman conditions because of the majority race views of them as being over-sexualized, physically strong, and immoral. This perception of the African American women as being highly sexual and more sexual than white women results in slave owner justifying their sexual violation and degrading of the African American women. The stereotypical representations of African American women as strong, controlling, dangerous, fearless, and invulnerable may interfere with the African American women receiving the needed services for domestic violence in the community. The Strong Black Women Archetype has been dated back to slavery describing their coping mechanism in dealing with oppression by developing a strong, less traditionally female role. The authors developed a model: The Multidimensional Perspectives of Factors Contributing to Domestic Violence of African American Women in the United States. This model depicts historically, the factors contributing to domestic violence of African American women in the United States. Also, this model addressed the African American women subscribing to the Strong Black Women Archetype to cope with domestic violence. Despite the increase in domestic violence in African American women, they focused more on the issue of racism instead of sexism in America. African American women have experienced the two obstacles of racism and sexism in America. However, African American women and men believe racism is more critical than sexism. Therefore, domestic violence in the African American population may remain silent because of cultural loyalty. However, the voice of silence of African American females is gradually changing with the upcoming generations.


Author(s):  
Stephanie Solomon ◽  
Sandra Suther ◽  
Ivette Lopez ◽  
Alicestine Ashford ◽  
Linda Amankwaa ◽  
...  

The concept of pregnancy intendedness is complex and may not bear the same meaning to all women. Moreover, researcher definition and women’s meaning were thought to be different. Some researchers have indicated that it is unclear how well women understand and relate to questions used by the National Survey of Family Growth (NSFG) and how the classifications relate to women’s lives. The purpose of this study was to explore the meaning of terms such as planned and/or intended pregnancy among African-American women of childbearing age using a qualitative exploratory descriptive method. Although African-American women want children, they are three times as likely to experience an unintended pregnancy as white women. Data extracted from transcripts were coded and analyzed for recurrent patterns and themes. For this study, the Theory of Planned Behavior (Ajzen & Fishbein, 1980) was employed to frame interview questions and to interpret data. Findings suggest participants and partners often did not have the same perceptions or meanings of pregnancy planning or intentions. These findings have implications for research and family planning policy.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Justin Xavier Moore ◽  
Yunan Han ◽  
Catherine Appleton ◽  
Graham Colditz ◽  
Adetunji T Toriola

Abstract BACKGROUND Due to mixed reports from smaller studies, we examined associations of race with mammographic breast density and evaluated racial differences in the determinants of breast density. METHODS Participants included 37,839 women (23,166 non-Hispanic White, and 14,673 African American women) receiving screening mammograms at the Joanne Knight Breast Health Center at Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, Missouri from June 2010 to December 2015. Mammographic breast density was assessed using Breast Imaging Reporting and Data System (5th edition). To determine the association of race and participant characteristics with mammographic breast density, we used multivariable polytomous logistic regression models (reference group: almost entirely fatty). RESULTS African American women had increased odds of extremely dense (adjusted odds ratio (AOR) = 1.31, 95% CI = 1.13–1.52) and reduced odds of heterogeneously dense breasts (AOR= 0.91, 95% CI = 0.84 – 0.99) compared to non-Hispanic White women. Altogether, race, parity and age at first birth, age, current body mass index (BMI), BMI at age 18, menarche, family history of breast cancer, oral contraceptive use, alcohol, and menopausal status explained 33% of the variation in mammographic breast density. Among African American and non-Hispanic White women these factors explained nearly 28.6% and 33.6% of the variation in mammographic density, respectively. Current BMI provided the greatest explanation of breast density (26.2% overall, 22.2% in African American, and 26.2% in non-Hispanic White women). CONCLUSIONS The determinants of mammographic breast density were generally similar between African-American women and non-Hispanic white women. After adjustments for confounders, African Americans had higher likelihood of extremely dense breast but lower likelihood of heterogeneously dense breast. The greatest explanation of breast density was provided by BMI, regardless of race.


2018 ◽  
Vol 17 (3) ◽  
pp. 433-449 ◽  
Author(s):  
Liette Gidlow

This essay reframes both the woman suffrage narrative and narratives of African American voting rights struggles by focusing on the experiences of southern African American women between the 1870s and the 1920s. It argues that the Fifteenth Amendment remained central to their suffrage strategy long after the failure of the “New Departure” to win court sanction caused white suffragists to abandon it. As white supremacists in the South worked at the turn of the century to disfranchise black men, leading African American suffragists such as Mary Church Terrell, Gertrude Bustill Mossell, and Adella Hunt Logan called for the enforcement of the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments as well as the enfranchisement of black women. After the federal woman suffrage amendment was ratified in 1920, many southern African American women encountered the same barriers to voting—obstructionist tactics, threats, and violence—that black men had faced a generation earlier. In short, for aspiring African American voters in the South, the failure of the Nineteenth Amendment to secure voting rights for black women constituted a sad sequel to the failure of the Fifteenth Amendment to secure voting rights for black men.This interpretation offers three significant interventions. It pairs the Reconstruction-era Amendments with the Nineteenth Amendment, recognizing their shared focus on voting rights. It connects the voting rights struggles of southern African Americans across genders and generations. Finally, it finds that, for some women, the canonical “century of struggle” for voting rights continued long after the Nineteenth Amendment was ratified.


Author(s):  
Anju Ranjit ◽  
Tomas Andriotti ◽  
Cathaleen Madsen ◽  
Tracey Koehlmoos ◽  
Barton Staat ◽  
...  

Abstract Objective Potentially avoidable maternity complications (PAMCs) have been validated as an indicator of access to quality prenatal care. African-American mothers have exhibited a higher incidence of PAMCs, which has been attributed to unequal health coverage. The objective of this study was to assess if racial disparities in the incidence of PAMCs exist in a universally insured population. Study Design PAMCs in each racial group were compared relative to White mothers using multivariate logistic regression. Stratified subanalyses assessed for adjusted differences in the odds of PAMCs for each racial group within direct versus purchased care. Results A total of 675,553 deliveries were included. Among them, 428,320 (63%) mothers were White, 112,170 (17%) African-American, 37,151 (6%) Asian/Pacific Islanders, and 97,912 (15%) others. African-American women (adjusted odds ratio [aOR]: 1.05, 95% CI: 1.02–1.08) were more likely to have PAMCs compared with White women, and Asian women (aOR: 0.92, 95% CI: 0.89–0.95) were significantly less likely to have PAMCs compared with White women. On stratified analysis according to the system of care, equal odds of PAMCs among African-American women compared with White women were realized within direct care (aOR: 1.03, 95% CI: 1.00–1.07), whereas slightly higher odds among African-American persisted in purchased (aOR: 1.05, 95% CI: 1.01–1.10). Conclusion Higher occurrence of PAMCs among minority women sponsored by a universal health coverage was mitigated compared with White women. Protocol-based care as in the direct care system may help overcome health disparities.


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