Social Protest: Intersectionality and Black Women Employment Rights - Essay Example

Social Protest: Intersectionality and Black Women Employment Rights There is under-representation of women in management levels and professional positions (Jackson & O’Callaghan 1). Black women face many barriers to the conversion from low-paid jobs to high-wage jobs. Overall, black women earn less than the other groups, and this makes the majority of them poor, compared to other racial groups. A Black woman has to deal with multiple forms of oppression and discrimination before she arrives at her destination. Black women especially of African American race face numerous challenges when it comes to rising to higher positions. The historical situation has not changed and the challenges that were present in the past decades continue to be witnessed. The job market continues to be hostile to black women especially those who are currently graduating. Workplace is one of the places that black women are faced with discrimination and oppressions of the highest order. Black women are less likely to advance or employed to high-ranking jobs because they are still discriminated against in today's workplace. Intersectionality intends to expose multiple identities and reveal the different types of discrimination that black women are subjected to in the workplaces. The main aim is to argue that racism and gender create inequalities that structure the relative positions of black women. The combination of different identities poses a very difficult challenge for black women in the job market. Due to their multiple identities (black and female), these women are pushed to the extreme margins and experience in workplaces. These identities have a point of intersection or overlapping points. Many black women continue to experience discrimination when it comes to promotions because of the intersection of their identities (female and black). The intersections of these identities continue to place black women in the position of vulnerability. Although black women have gained entry into much of the workforce, inequalities continue to dominate in job advancement and wages. According to previous studies (Jackson & O’Callaghan 1), women and especially women of color continue to face discrimination in managerial and professional settings. This study reviews other studies that not only document discriminatory experiences in the workplace but also significant gaps in earnings and other artificial ‘ceilings’ that limit black women from advancing to higher positions in the organizations. The slow movement of black women into the higher level positions is one of the glass-ceilings, and it is common in today’s workplaces. Biased perceptions and stereotyping are influencing the promotion potential assessment processes and in such assessments, black women find themselves very disadvantaged. In 2013, only 4 percent of Fortune 500 firms were found to be headed by women; this being an indication that progress in this area is very slow considering the number of women in the population. In intersectionality, gender is not the only analytic category. Race and class have also been major players in intersectionality. Therefore, this paper argues that intersectionality in black women job placement circles, three factors intersect with each other to contribute to discrimination and oppression – racism, sexism, and classism. There is a link between sexism and other forms of oppression. Black women face many problems as ‘Black women’; as ‘gendered women’; and as ‘low-class women’. However, an activist group that seeks to address the issues of intersectionality must establish a connection between the three categories. One of the reasons that have enabled BWFJ to champion the equal rights for black women is because it recognizes class, racial, ethnic, sexuality and gender subordination. One case in point is Shirley Venable’s who was unjustly dismissed from her job in mid-2011. Shirley had worked for ten years as a veteran female sanitation truck driver for the City of Raleigh until her ex-husband stabbed her. Upon returning to work, she was ridiculed by her supervisors and fellow worker, and finally she was fired for allegedly threatening her supervisor. Together with United Electrical Workers, BWFJ has made Appeals to have Shirley Venable returned to her job. BWFJ has expended its advocacy efforts on issues that affect intersectionally disadvantaged women of their constituencies. BWFJ highly opposes the inequality and oppression vented on black women in the workplaces. As a result, it pledges total commitment to the struggle for equality within the workplaces, trade unions, political and community institutions. They view that, a better understanding and addressing the issues of intersectionality can be an integral part of the struggle to transform the situation. The national oppression of black people in the U.S. South makes the workers from this region the most exploited in the U.S. BWFJ bases its trade union on the notion of the centrality of the Black women proletariat. BWFJ opposes the inequality and oppression of women. The group fights for democratic rights and equality of all races, nationalities and sexes. BWFJ addresses case similar to Kmart. Kmart lacked respect for humanity of workers, and this disrespect was grounded in Kmart’s white management’s assumption of racial superiority. The Union’s campaign has made successful attempts over the years to make the black race visible. However, despite extensive campaign initiatives, discrimination of black women continues to be evident with black women being discriminated when it comes to occupying high executive positions. There are so few women in higher ranks within the organizations. Forbes observes that in the Fortune 500 CEOs, only 1 percent is black and among that number only 4 percent are women (www.forbes.com). Such evidence indicates the magnitude of the problem in today’s organizations. Forbes report argues that the needle has not moved regarding the representation of black women in the senior ranks. Organizations are full of glass ceilings that prevent black women to rise to higher positions. This is happening because the organizations continue to downplay the aspects of one’s identity. The same old notion concerning women still exists. The notion that black women shy away from discussing their role still exists. Many organizations have laid down policies of racial inclusion; however, they remain passive in the face of common culture. For example, black women may feel that they must straighten their hair or are not supposed to associate with each other. It appears that organizations do not exert any significant effort when it comes to sidelining black women in workplaces. They discriminate without any effort. In other organizations, black women managers possess neither race or gender privilege nor positional status. Theirs can only be described as a “corporate ghetto” where the only responsibility they are assigned only relates to diversity. In 2006, the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics indicated that among the black women, more than 3 million women work in education and health service industry, more than 900,000 in wholesale and retail trade, and 677,000 in the hospitality and leisure industry (www.bls.gov). Regressive trends are being observed in the United States since Obama won the Presidential elections in 2008. BWFJ’s body People’s Assemblies has made great strides in advocating support of Machinist Union workers who went on an extended strike in defense of their wages and benefits. BWFJ calls African American workers to self-organize in order to empower themselves at the workplace, in communities and the entire U.S. society. Many unions have shied away from the battlefield, but BWFJ is a labor organization that has been involved with pursuance of unity of all oppressed groups. BWFJ challenges the historical legacy of white workers in all industries, mobilizing workers to strike demanding for promotion of black workers to production jobs. The group also organizes women-led campaigns and other anti-oppression leadership development activities. In exploring social identities and statuses, it is important to recognize that individuals are often assigned to various social groups, without the option of self-definition. As such, the power of self-definition for black women cannot be overstated. An examination of the salient aspects of cultural identity for a black woman is necessary to understand how she has defined herself and been defined based on social group memberships. The long-term consequences of racial and gender discrimination in the working places have resulted in misdiagnoses and pathologizing of culturally diverse groups. Such cases have escalated due to reliance on prevailing stereotypes and social myths. In order to counter this cultural and gender malpractice, BWFJ has had a change of perspective. The group has shifted the center so that previously held knowledge that was based on exclusionary paradigms can be reconstructed and used to understand the issues at hand. There are visible African American women’s intersectional experiences with race and gender. Some groups articulate these issues whereas others do not. BWJF advocacy for the workers to withhold their labor is one of the ways it is contributing to the elimination of oppression, domination, and discrimination. In advocating re-employment of Shirley Venable, WBFJ argues that Shirley was discriminated because she is a woman and because she is black. If Shirley were a man, maybe she could not have been subjected to ridicule and teasing by her workmates. If Shirley were a man, maybe she could not have been subjected to ridicule. The intersectionality of race and gender may have worsened Shirley Venable’s case. In the article “Black women experience discrimination in a manner that is different from those experienced by white women and black men. Despite concerted efforts by such groups discrimination against black women in the work place continues to be rampant. Black women are less likely to advance or employed to high-ranking jobs because they are still discriminated against in today's workplace. Works Cited Cox, Kiana. Visible But Out of Place: Black Women and Gender in Assessment of African American Inequality. n.p. n.d. 1 March. 2015. Forbes. Why so few women and minorities at the top? Here’s the real reason. 2013. Web. Accessed http://www.forbes.com/sites/dorieclark/2013/09/03/why-so-few-women-and-minorities-at-the-top-heres-the-real-reason/ Jackson, Jerlando & Callaghan, Elizabeth. The Glass Ceiling: A Misunderstood Form of Discrimination. Educational Leadership and Policy Analysis, University of Wisconsin-Madison. 2005. Web U. S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Employment and earnings. Current population survey. 2006. Accessed from http://www.bls.gov/cps/cpsa2005.pdf Read More