Black women

The 2003 Maputo Protocol on women's rights in Africa set the continental standard for progressive expansion of women's rights. It guarantees comprehensive rights to women, including the right to participate in the political process, social and political equality with men, autonomy in their reproductive health decisions, and an end to female genital mutilation (FGM).[7]

Women in Ghana have been experiencing poverty at higher rates than their male counterparts as a result of less educational opportunities, elevated unemployment rates, and gender inequality.[8] Historically, Ghanaian culture has created the role of women to be in the home cooking, cleaning, and taking care of children.[9] Ghanaian women, on average, complete only primary school as a result of these societal expectations.[8] 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.[10] These societal conditions originated from European colonization of Ghana from the 15th century up until the 20th century.[11] The structural frameworks set up during those five centuries favored Eurocentric beauty standards, work ethic, and culture.[11] This fractured Ghanaian identity and customs, leading to harmful practices such as providing space for only men to further their education, secure a well-paying job, and be politically active. As well as only teaching women how to be suitable for men,[10] and promoting skin bleaching among women to become closer to whiteness.[11] After Ghana gained their independence in 1957 from Britain, women were not compensated for their inability to own land and gain foundational skills under colonial frameworks, creating the cycle of poverty.[11]

Ghana's patriarchal society, stemming from colonialism, has been impacting women not only economically but relationally as well.[10] Abuse is a prevalent component of polygamous and monogamous relationships in Ghana.[12] This normalization of domestic violence lends itself to the topic of sex trafficking in Ghana and how women are objectified through the male gaze and ultimately abused.[10] Sex trafficking in Ghana is very common as a result of poverty and lack of education and employment skills.[10] It can be hard for women to get out of being a sex worker because it might be viewed as the only way to provide for their families or themselves. The criminalization of sex work in Ghana also makes it difficult for women to escape abuse from their pimps and customers and seek help.[10]

Another factor that plays a role in the susceptibility of women being in poverty is the rise in female-headed households as a result of divorce, women becoming widows, or women being separated from their partners.[13] 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.[13]

Economically, the majority of Ghanaian women are in the informal sector of Ghana's economy, meaning they are mostly self-employed.[13] Self-employment doesn't always guarantee a stable source of income, making it hard for women to make enough money to support themselves and their families.[13] Some of the prominent entrepreneurial jobs women take up in Ghana are hairdressing, dressmaking,[13] market trading,[14] and agriculture.[8] Market trading, especially, has been a good way for women to better their chances of getting out of poverty[14] because they are given the opportunity to take part in credit services, acquire insurance on their personal items, and build their savings.[15] According to Wrigley-Asante in her journal article, "Market women are considered the backbone of food distribution, ensuring food security for the urban economy".[14] Ghanaian women are very important contributors to Ghana's economy despite not having access to steady wages.[14]

Ghana's government has made strides to address the inequalities present within the culture by creating the WID (women in development) initiative in the 70's to cater to women's welfare, SAP (structural adjustment programs) in the 80's to help women in their productivity, and PAMSCAD (Program of Action to Mitigate the Social Costs of Adjustment) in the late 80's and early 90's to help boost the socioeconomic status of Ghanaian women.[13] These initiatives and programs ultimately failed because they were not addressing the root cause of poverty among women, and colonialism's lasting impacts has rendered the Ghanaian government ill-prepared to give the necessary resources to such complex programs.[16]

Women play a modest role in Ghana's two major political parties, the National Democratic Congress (NDC) and New Patriotic Party (NP), as well as in the Convention People's Party (CPP). 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. Ghana has recently been laggard, however, with a representation of 11% women after the election in 2012 and 13% after the election in 2016.[17]

In Tunisia, Black women are victims of double discrimination, facing prejudice both because of their gender and race.[18] Testimonial evidences complied by the Tunis-branch of Rosa Luxemburg Foundation presented cases of Black women being "stigmatised, hyper-sexualised, and objectified"[19] It has been noted that this sexualization of Black Tunisian women leads to them being viewed as objects by Arab men to "achieve sexual satisfaction" and face sexual harassment.[20]

The feminist movement in the Arab world—including Tunisia—has been labelled as racist, failing to take into consideration the issues of women who are not Arab; this has led to parallels between Arab feminism and White feminism.[21] In 2020, four Black Tunisian women created the Facebook group Voices of Tunisian Black Women in an attempt to bring to light these issues affecting them, which they felt were not being discussed in the Me Too movement.[18]

Jennifer Palmer argues that in the plantation world of the colonial Caribbean, women of color were typically treated as property owned by White men. In the French islands, race and gender shape popular assumptions about who could own property. However, there were legal loopholes that sometimes opened up windows of opportunity for women of color to be landowners.[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. [23]

Black slaves, many of whom were women, often faced severe abuse from their owners and other non-black people.[24] Black female slaves were sexually abused by their white male owners and were bred with them in order to bear mulatto children in an attempt to maintain White supremacy, have more slaves to pick cotton and produce superior slaves in the South.[25] Black female slaves received the same treatment in Brazil, Central America, Mexico, Peru and the Caribbean.[26][27] An example of this is former president and slave owner Thomas Jefferson who fathered mixed-race children with Sally Hemings, a slave that he owned.[28] Black slave women and their bodies were also fetishized by their white male slave owners.[29][30]

Enslaved black women had no legal means to protect and prevent themselves from sexual assault by white men and their white slave owners. In 1855 in Missouri, an enslaved Black woman named Celia was convicted of murder and executed by hanging for killing a white man who had raped and enslaved her. The court had rejected her self-defense claim, stating that enslaved Black women had no right to resist their white enslavers’ sexual advances. Black women were also killed and lynched by white people. In May 1870, 15 white men raped a Black woman while other members of the white mob lynched and killed her husband.[31]

According to State of Women Owned Business report of 2020, Black women are the fastest growing entrepreneur group in the United States,[32] creating many innovative businesses across the nation.[33] Despite their entrepreneurial achievements, Black women continue to face racism and discriminatory barriers in business building.[34]

According to the National Center for Education Statistics, Black women are among the most educated in the United States of America.[35][36]

Black women have higher self-confidence and self-esteem than any group of women, according to a survey by Glamour and L’Oreal Paris, along with Dr. Jean Twenge, Ph.D., a researcher on the effects of race and self-confidence. Racism and discrimination haven’t created a downturn in how Black women view themselves.[37] Black women also have a more positive outlook on their physical appearances versus white women.[38] This self-esteem and confidence is celebrated in what is known as "Black Girl Magic".

Black women’s hair, which is of various textures,[39] has deep cultural meanings, ranging from political statements to pride, beauty, and fashion.[40] Despite there being a lack of education in Black American hair and why Black women choose particular hairstyles and products, cosmetologists and educators have paved the way for greater education in this area, for example, bringing awareness to the fact that Black hair doesn’t create its own oil like white hair does which creates a need for Black women’s hair to be treated with moisturizers and oils for it to remain healthy.[41][42][43]

Because of greater education in Black women’s hair, the United States Army lifted a ban on dreadlocks, which were previously banned.[44] The Navy, Air Force and Army now allow two-strand twists as well as braids at an increased size.[45] The latter change came after a fight against hair discrimination.

Black women are often at a higher risk of contracting certain diseases than White women are. According to the American Cancer Society, the death rate for all cancers for Black women is 14% higher than that of White women.[46] While the probability of being diagnosed with cancer in Black women is one in three, the chance of dying from cancer is one in five.[46] Cancer is not the only disease that disproportionately affects African-American women. Black women are three times more likely to develop uterine fibroids. Lupus is two-three times more common in women of color, but more specifically, one in every 537 Black women will have lupus.[47] Black women are also at a higher chance of being overweight thus making them open to more obesity-related diseases.[48] There is also a racial disparity when it comes to pregnancy-related deaths. While there are 12.4 deaths for every 100,000 births for White women, the statistics for Black women is 40.0 deaths for every 100,000 births.[49] In a 2007 US study of five medical complications that are common causes of maternal death and injury, Black women were two to three times more likely to die than White women who had the same condition.[50] 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.[51] A 2018 study found that "The sexual and reproductive health of African-American women has been compromised due to multiple experiences of racism, including discriminatory healthcare practices from slavery through the post-Civil Rights era."[52] Another 2018 study found that darker skin tones were underrepresented in medical textbook imagery and that these omissions "may provide one route through which bias enters medical treatment".[53] Black women are more likely to die from breast cancer.[54] Black women are also more likely to die from diabetes.[55] Black women have higher rates of HIV than white and Hispanic women.[56] Black women have the highest risk for genital herpes.[57] Black women also have higher rates of chlamydia than white women.[58] Trichomoniasis is more common among African American women.[59] Black women are more likely to die from cervical cancer.[60]

Black women make up 28% of the Brazilian population and still suffer discrimination in Brazil. The legacy of slavery and mistreatment of Black women during the Portuguese colonial era is still dealt with today.[61][62] Interracial marriage between Black women and white Portuguese men was common in Brazil.[63] Black women were often raped by white men in Brazil in effort to whiten the Brazilian population.[64]