Black Women….Not Enough
March 11, 2010 by blackgirlgrown
Filed under black women
Not Enough Net Worth:
Apparently, a recent report “a leading economic research group,” social scientists are looking focusing on the financial plight facing African American women. According to an article written by Tim Grant in The Post-Gazette:
Women of all races bring home less income and own fewer assets, on average, than men of the same race, but for single black women the disparities are so overwhelmingly great that even in their prime working years their median wealth amounts to only $5.”
Among the most startling revelations in the wealth data is that while single white women in the prime of their working years (ages 36 to 49) have a median wealth of $42,600 (still only 61 percent of their single white male counterparts), the median wealth for single black women is only $5. Read more.
You cannot be serious!!!
Not Enough Positive Roles for Black Actresses No Matter How Precious We Are:
Mary Mitchell wonders when black women will get positive roles in Hollywood, recalling how she, like many young girls, fantasized about being up on that stage, clutching that gold-plated statue and giving an emotional acceptance speech. In reflecting on Mo’Nique’s Oscar win, Mitchell writes:
Reviewers had nothing but praise for Mo’Nique’s brutal portrayal of the physically and sexually abusive mother.
Still, the character is an incredibly harsh stereotype of a poor black mother.
But it was the right choice for Mo’Nique.
Her career can only go up, and like other actors and actresses who have accepted controversial roles, she makes no apology for it.
“It can be about the performance and not about the politics,” Mo’Nique said in thanking the Academy for the honor.
This was Mo’Nique’s first dramatic role, and in her acceptance speech, she thanked Hattie McDaniel, the first black Oscar winner, for paving the way.
Obviously, Hollywood has come a long way since McDaniel won for playing Scarlett O’Hara’s loyal slave in “Gone with the Wind.”
But I can’t recall the last time I’ve seen the kind of “strong black woman” that the late Coretta Scott King once described in a movie.
Not Enough Black Women in Politics:
The Root reflects on the dearth of Black women in elective office:
Women are only 17 percent of the United States Congress, with the 21 African American, Hispanic and Asian females comprising only 4 percent. The number of black women in Congress has flat-lined since 1992, the so-called “Year of the Woman”: There were 11 black women in 1992; 13 in 2002, and only 13 today.
“It is definitely more complicated running for office as a woman,” says Andrea Dew Steele, founder of Emerge America, a nonprofit that trains women for political leadership. “We don’t feel as qualified as men; we’re not recruited in the same numbers; we feel turned off by the mechanics; we have persistent family barriers, and we don’t have the same networks as men.”
