Welcome to day 9

United Way of Greater Atlanta brings together people and resources to tackle complex issues and drive sustainable positive change to help our community thrive.

It may not be easy, but we are committed to taking a holistic approach. That means we must see one another’s wholeness. What does it mean to be Black, and a woman and low income? How does gender, class and sexuality impact the experiences of children, families, men and women across our community? Are there intersections of disadvantage? Are there barriers within the way health or educational services are delivered? If we want lasting change, we must understand not only the experiences today, but also the roots of the problem.

Audre Lorde’s quote is a guide for how we examine oppression and how we follow the data to move our community forward. Our shared commitment to seeing people in their fullness and not only as a single label will help us when talking about the intersection of child well-being and racism as part of promoting social change.

There is no single solution to ensure an equitable recovery, but if we can see the world through a new lens, we can embody the habits and traits of innovators. If we want a more equitable future, we must look for a fresh perspective, an alternative way of seeing things and an angle that lets us see familiar problems from a new perspective.

Let’s start by looking at the data:

Important Facts

• Compared with other women in the United States, Black women have always had the highest levels of labor market participation regardless of age, marital status or presence of children at home. (Economic Policy Institute)
• In 1880, 35.4 percent of married Black women and 73.3 percent of single Black women were in the labor force compared with only 7.3 percent of married white women and 23.8 percent of single white women. (Harvard University)
• Black women’s higher participation rates extended over their lifetimes, even after marriage, while white women typically left the labor force after marriage. (Economic Policy Institute)
• Research from Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg’s nonprofit Lean In shows that Black women are among the hardest hit by the coronavirus unemployment crisis.
• This economic inequality is due to a number of factors, including that Black women are industry, and are paid less than white men and women. (AAUW)
• “Until the 1970s, employers’ exclusion of Black women from better-paying, higher-status jobs with mobility meant that they had little choice but to perform private domestic service work for white families,” writes Nina Banks, associate professor of economics at Bucknell University. (Business Insider)