DISPARITY AT HOME/WORK The on going notion is that women in the workplace is equated to "empowered women" which also equates to failed patriarchy (Radhakrishnan 2015). The patriarchal system has moved forward with women having to work outside of the home in order to help the household prosper, however the same forward thinking has not gone towards working along side men in everyday fields such as firefighters, attorneys, factory workers, and security work. Men seem to me unwelcoming to women in fields that may have been predominately male fields to begin with. Although all women face some sexism black women have to deal with sexism and racism in a world that doesn't always count both simultaneously. You are either affected by sexism or you are affected by racism. Black women land in the intersection of both and are doubly affected by societal norms.
During my observation I noticed black female security guards continuously over looked by a regime that is made up mostly of hispanic males and some hispanic females. This regime seems to employ a method called "bottom-of-the-pyramid" economics (Matlon 2016) where they take the "lowest" economic group and force them to work for lower wages. This group is essentially held hostage by large corporations in positions where there is no maneuverability for promotion. Due to capitalism women began to enter the workplace at a high rate, but due to them previously having work such as house work and child care within the home, they enter the workforce in low paying service sector: secretary, administrator, nurse etc. (Huriya 2018). This is evident at my place of work where black women are finding themselves stuck in low paying security positions with no way to move up for increased pay. |
Interview EvidenceMy interviewee, Rosalee, a Haitian mother of three expressed angst for the structure of the company in which we work. She says "I feel misunderstood they don't have that much respect for Haitian people" by they she means our upper chain of command whom are exclusively hispanic male. She also goes on to say she feels her ethnicity has affected her chances for promotion. She expresses the want to leave the position yet she has three boys to care for so it isn't just her she must think of. Another interview I conducted was with a female security officer named Tamella of black American descent, she expressed the wanting to be a nurse when she was younger. She started nursing school while her husband worked. A year into nursing school her husband was let go from his job, because of this she dropped out of nursing school and started working in security where she's been for 17 years now. black families are more likely to have job disruptions and therefore are offered lower paying jobs (Shapiro) Both women I interviewed expressed the feeling of being over whelmed with home and work life. They both have children and husbands that expects them to come home to cook and clean after a 10hr shift at work although their husbands are usually home before them. This shows the patriarchal system we live in and how the beliefs did not shift with the times, meaning, the belief the women are the natural caretakers and mothers that took care of the home did not shift with the fact that women are now working outside of the home and have less time for their "womenly duties" of the home. |
TestimonialI can recall once I nominated her to take on the role as supervisor, in my place as I needed a day off, she had been doing on the job training and was more than qualified to hold the position. When the day came the Hispanic male supervisors put a hispanic female in the position whom had never worked the position leaving my interviewee to essentially do the work of the position yet not hold the title nor the pay of the position.
While helping Rosalee prepare dinner during my observation, I witnessed her kids walk past their father, sitting on the sofa watching tv, on 6 different occasions for general questions on homework or if they could go out to play. When ever they would walk in she would cut her eyes with an "I told you so" attitude about her husband doing bare minimum around the house. She confided that he doesn't help cook nor clean and usually expects her to make decisions pertaining to the children even though she works more hours than he does. With this experience I was able to see the disparity in her household between "man's" and "woman's" work further riving my point home of the woe's of black women and society. Here we are married with children and jobs and still expected to do the work of our grandmothers and great grandmothers. |
Local The exclusion of women and in particular black women is evident through out the U.S. If you look in law firms, politics, hospitals, and even schools you will find black women however they are often in lower positions such as custodial, secretarial, or assistant. I don't think that black women don't aspire to be more in life it is a simple question of means. Overwhelmingly women of color have less opportunity to go on to higher education or have access to special programs in K-12 to mold them and give them the opportunity to be introduced to anything other than the bare minimums of education. Leaving them to take on the lower paid positions in our society.
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