Black women
[citation needed] Kimberlé Williams Crenshaw developed the theory of intersectionality, which highlighted the overlapping discrimination faced by Black women (on the basis of both race and gender) in the United States.
[3] These more specific terms were created as Black women have been historically left out of movements for both racial justice and feminist equality.
Coined by Alice Walker, the concept now encompasses a spectrum of various fields, such as Africana womanism and womanist theology.
[7] Historically, Ghanaian culture has created the role of women to be in the home cooking, cleaning, and taking care of children.
[7] Men are primarily regarded as breadwinners and have more economic mobility as a result of their ability to carry on the family name and amass ownership of land, one of the highest forms of capital.
[9] Within theoretical approaches identifying as “Black” or “Afrocentric”, or employing anticolonialist concepts like the “internalization” of “colonial mentality”, scholars forcefully claim and highlight that the patriarchal societal conditions originated particularly from European colonization of Ghana from the 15th century up until the 20th century, but pay much less attention to the intricate effects one would assume also having been played by forces such as the endogenous, distinct and particular, interacting and co-dependent, adaptive and/or mediating cultural and societal features pre- and co-existing in Ghana alongside colonization and its ills.
It is possible that this reflects the rigidity as well as the dogmatic and activist commitments inherent to the largely anticolonialist origins of the theory underlying such research.
[10] According to the analyses in the vein of said kind of scholarship, the structural colonialist frameworks set up during those five centuries are particularly seen to have favored Eurocentric beauty standards, work ethic, and culture,[10] fracturing the Ghanaian identity and customs, and seen as explaining such harmful practices as providing space for only men to further their education, secure a well-paying job, and be politically active.
[10] The patriarchality of Ghana's society, regardless of the extent to which it is ultimately the result of colonialism, has been impacting women not only economically but relationally as well.
[11] This normalization of domestic violence lends itself to the topic of sex trafficking in Ghana and how women are objectified through the so-called “male gaze” — a concept with origins and a specific meaning within varieties of feminist theory — and ultimately abused.
The criminalization of sex work in Ghana also makes it difficult for women to escape abuse from their pimps and customers and seek help.
[12] This has exacerbated the issue of poverty among women because they're unable to have access to the benefits of the socio-economic status men hold in Ghana.
[12] Economically, the majority of Ghanaian women work within the informal sector of Ghana's economy, meaning they are mostly self-employed.
[7] Market trading, especially, has been a good way for women to better their chances of getting out of poverty[13] because they are given the opportunity to take part in credit services, acquire insurance on their personal items, and build their savings.
The first president, Kwame Nkrumah (CPP), made Ghana the first African nation to introduce a quota in 1959, reserving 10 seats for women in Parliament.
[21] Jennifer Palmer argues that in the plantation world of the colonial Caribbean, women of color were typically treated as property owned by White men.
[22] According to the American Community Survey from the US Census Bureau, the Black female population in the United States was 21.7 million in 2018.
[25] Black female slaves received the same treatment in Brazil, Central America, Mexico, Peru and the Caribbean.
[32] Despite their entrepreneurial achievements, Black women continue to face racism and discriminatory barriers in business buildings.
Black women's hair, which is of various textures,[38] has deep cultural meanings, ranging from political statements to pride, beauty, and fashion.
[48] The World Health Organization in 2014 estimated that Black expectant and new mothers in the United States die at about the same rate as women in countries such as Mexico and Uzbekistan.
[49] A 2018 study found that "The sexual and reproductive health of African-American women has been compromised because f multiple experiences of racism, including discriminatory healthcare practices from slavery through the post-Civil Rights era.
[61] Discrimination, racism, and sexism put black women at risk for low-income jobs, multiple role strain, and health problems that are associated with mental illnesses.
The first Black woman to be appointed head of state was Elisabeth Domitien, who served as the Prime Minister of the Central African Republic from January 1975 to April 1976.
[78] Ellen Johnson Sirleaf and Leymah Gbowee shared the Nobel Peace Prize with Tawakkol Karman in 2011.
In the 2020 United States presidential election, Kamala Harris was named Joe Biden's running mate, making her the first Black and South Asian woman to be on a major party ticket.
Wells led an anti-lynching movement in the United States of America and founded the Alpha Suffrage Club.
[104] Minstrel shows often portrayed African American women as loud, masculine, aggressive, naive, subserviently-caring, and obnoxious.
[106] Black women are also often stereotyped to be poor, uneducated, young, overweight, and single mothers who are gold diggers and welfare queens.
