National Urban League Report Focuses on the Plight of Black Women

"By uplifting black women, especially those struggling hardest to keep their families together and their dreams on track, we lift up every American community. I encourage you to read this year's edition of the State of Black America: In the Black Woman's Voice with special attention to the Opportunity Compact. Our country urgently needs a new vision to close the gaps between black and white Americans. The State of Black America and the Opportunity Compact will help guide the way." National Urban League- State of Black America

Multiclassics has a post up about the National Urban League focusing its State of Black America report on Black women.( not to be confused with the State of the Black Union) One of the reasons this blog is called What About Our Daughters is my perception that when we often talk about crisis in the African American community, we tend to focus on the plight of the young Black male. That is important because you can't have a vibrant healthy community without healthy people of both genders, however, some of the issues that plague African American women often get eclipsed- as if we aren't suffering and dying in droves too. So it is nice to see the National Urban League make the decision to have the focus of its latest report on Black women. Of course last year they focussed on the Black male... better late than never.

[T]his year's State of Black America report, issued Wednesday by the National Urban League features essays looking at the array of challenges faced by African-American women: economic, social, psychological and medical. New York Times

The report features essays. You can have a look at the essayists and the topics they covered.

''The one thing that is certain is the need to hear and amplify the voices of black women,'' longtime civil rights activist Dorothy Height writes in the foreword. ''Too often, our needs, concerns, struggles, and triumphs are diminished and subordinated to what is believed to be the more pressing concerns of others.''

From Julianne Malveaux

White men continue to dominate on TV's Sunday morning news shows, she writes, while ''the gyrating, undulating image of African-American women in rap music videos and, by extension, on cable television is as prevalent as ever.''

For all of those who think Black women are raking in the dough, the stats say we work harder than just about everybody else, but make less:

Black women are more likely than white or Hispanic women to be running a household and raising children on their own. According to Malveaux, black women hold more jobs nationwide than black men, yet -- despite their breadwinner roles -- earn less on average, $566 a week compared to $629 for black men.

I think the perception is that because we allegedly outnumber Black men in undergraduate school 7 to 1, Black women out earn Black men. Not true. You have to buy the entire thing, but I will be reading over the executive summary to see more about the topics covered. Maybe we need our own State of Black Women in America as a blog carnival in April.