Melanin and Curls: Evaluation of Black Women Candidates

2019 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 259-296 ◽  
Author(s):  
Danielle Casarez Lemi ◽  
Nadia E. Brown

AbstractResearch on candidate evaluation has delved into questions of how voters evaluate women candidates, Black male candidates, as well as how candidates’ appearances may condition electoral opportunities. Combined, this scholarship has tended to focus on how race, gender, and skin tone privilege or undermine evaluations of Black male or White women candidates. We intervene to study Black women candidates and draw on research on colorism and Black women's hairstyles and ask: How does variation in skin tone and hairstyle affect Black voter evaluations of Black women candidates? We develop and test two hypotheses: the empowerment hypothesis and the internal discrimination hypothesis. We mostly find support for the latter. Importantly, we find that the interaction of dark skin and non-straight hair has mostly negative effects on Black men and women's trait evaluations, but a positive effect on Black women's willingness to vote for the candidate. Furthermore, this research shows that hair texture is an important aspect of responses to Black women candidates—hair is not just hair for Black women candidates. This research shows that understanding the effects of candidate appearance on voter behavior necessitates considering the intersection of racial and gender phenotypes.

Author(s):  
Nadia E. Brown ◽  
Danielle Casarez Lemi

Sister Style: The Politics of Appearance for Black Women Political Elites centers Black women’s bodies, specifically their hair texture and skin tone, to argue that phenotypic differences among Black women politicians directly impact how they experience political office and how Black voters evaluate them. The book brings together an interdisciplinary, multi-method, and blended epistemological approach of positivism and interpretivism to ask whether African American women’s appearances provide a more nuanced lens through which to study how their raced-gendered identities impact their candidacies and shape their political behavior. The authors take a deep dive into intersectional theory-building, through which they examine the intra-categorical differences among Black women. They find that Black women vary in their political experiences because of their appearances, and that dominant, Eurocentric beauty standards influence the electoral chances of Black women. They observe that skin tone and hair texture, along with the historical legacies that have shaped the current cultural and political contexts, dictate Black women elites’ political experiences and voter evaluations of them. The book asks the following questions: What do the politics of appearance for Black women mean for Black women politicians and for Black voters who evaluate them? What are the origins of the contemporary focus on Black women’s bodies in public life? How do Black women politicians themselves make sense of the politics of appearance? Is there a phenotypic profile into which most Black women politicians fit? What is the effect of variation in Black women’s phenotypes for candidate evaluations? And how do voters process the appearances of Black women candidates?


2021 ◽  
Vol 52 (5) ◽  
pp. 509-527
Author(s):  
Philip Q. Yang

This study investigates the effects of race and gender on perceived employment discrimination using the 2016 General Social Survey that provides new data on perceived employment discrimination that aligns more closely with the legal definition of employment discrimination. It is found that 19% of the American adults self-reported the experience of employment discrimination in job application, pay increase, or promotion in the past 5 years. The results of logistic regression analysis show that either controlling or not controlling for other factors, Blacks were much more likely to perceive being discriminated in employment than Whites, but other races were not significantly different from Whites in perceived employment discrimination after holding other variables constant. While gender did not have a significant independent effect on perceived job discrimination, it did interact with race to influence perceived job discrimination. Regardless of race, women were somewhat less likely than men to perceive job discrimination, but Black women were significantly even less likely than White women to self-report job discrimination, and Black men were much more likely to self-report employment discrimination than White men. These findings have implications for combating employment discrimination and addressing social inequalities.


Circulation ◽  
2012 ◽  
Vol 125 (suppl_10) ◽  
Author(s):  
Laura R Loehr ◽  
Xiaoxi Liu ◽  
C. Baggett ◽  
Cameron Guild ◽  
Erin D Michos ◽  
...  

Introduction: Since the 1980’s, length of stay (LOS) for acute MI (AMI) has declined in the US. However, little is known about trends in LOS for non-white racial groups and whether change in LOS is related to insurance type or hospital complications. Methods: We determined 22 year trends in LOS for nonfatal (definite or probable) AMI among black and white residents age 35–74 in 4 US communities (N=396,514 in 2008 population) under surveillance in the ARIC Study. Events were randomly sampled and independently validated using a standardized algorithm. All analyses accounted for sampling scheme. We excluded MI events which started after admission (n=1,677), events within 28 days for the same person (n=3,817), hospital transfers (n=571), and those with LOS=0 or LOS >66 (top 0.5% of distribution, N= 144) leaving 22,258 weighted events for analysis. The average annual change in log LOS was modeled using weighted linear regression with year as a quadratic term. All models adjusted for age and secondary models adjusted for insurance type (Medicare, Medicaid, private, or other), and complications during admission (cardiac arrest, cardiogenic shock, or heart failure). Results: The average age-adjusted LOS from 1987 to 2008 was reduced by 5 days in black men (9.5 to 4.5 days); 4.6 days in white women (9.4 to 4.8 days); 4 days in white men (8.3 to 4.3 days) and 3.6 days in black women (9.0 to 5.4 days). Between 1987 and 2008, the age-adjusted average annual percent change (with 95% CI) in LOS was largest for white men at −4.40 percent per year (−4.91, −3.89) followed by −3.89 percent (−4.52, −3.26) for white women, −3.72 percent (−4.46, −2.89) for black men, and −2.94 percent (−3.92, −1.96) for black women (see Figure). Adjustment for insurance type, and complications did not change the pattern by race and gender. Conclusions: Between 1987 and 2008, LOS for AMI declined significantly and similarly in men and women, blacks and whites. These changes appear independent of differences in insurance type and hospital complications among race-gender groups.


2020 ◽  
pp. 108876792093931
Author(s):  
Shytierra Gaston ◽  
CheyOnna Sewell

This study contributes to homicide research by parsing out the Hispanic Effect and applying an intersectional approach to examining U.S. homicide victimization trends by race, ethnicity, and gender, jointly. Drawing on mortality data, we document and describe total, firearm, and non-firearm homicide victimization rates from 1990 to 2016 for six subgroups: Black women, Black men, Hispanic women, Hispanic men, White women, and White men. The analysis of within- and between-group homicide trends reveals important subgroup-specific patterns that prior studies using aggregate or confounded data have masked. The findings have important research, theory, and policy implications and advocate for an intersectional approach to studying homicide.


2019 ◽  
Vol 35 (1) ◽  
pp. 76-91
Author(s):  
Randi L. Sims ◽  
Ravi Chinta

Purpose Using Vroom’s expectancy theory of motivation as a theoretical basis, this study aims to test the relationship between female entrepreneurial efficacy, entrepreneurial ambition and nascent entrepreneurial drive, accounting for the potential barriers of race and minority disadvantage. Design/methodology/approach The sample included 950 respondents comprising 213 Black women and 737 White women living in the state of Alabama, USA, who expressed an intention to starting their own business. Findings The results indicate that race and perceptions of minority disadvantage are perceived barriers in the mediated relationship between female entrepreneurial efficacy, entrepreneurial ambition and entrepreneurial drive. However, the findings suggest that, unlike race, minority disadvantage is not perceived as a significant factor in the mediated relationship between entrepreneurial confidence, entrepreneurial ambition and entrepreneurial drive. Research limitations/implications Limitations of this study include the lack of an experimental design and the use of cross-sectional data. Practical implications Results are discussed in terms of the context of the history of racial and gender discrimination within the state of Alabama, USA. Social implications The results show that the direct effects of minority disadvantage on entrepreneurial ambition are significantly higher for the Black women compared with the White women in our sample. Originality/value The results of this study show that the direct effects of minority disadvantage on entrepreneurial ambition are significantly higher for the Black women compared with the White women. For the subgroup of Black women, the greater the perception of minority disadvantage, the greater the entrepreneurial ambition reported.


2021 ◽  
Vol 5 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. 570-570
Author(s):  
Ronica Rooks ◽  
Allison Leanage

Abstract Little longitudinal research exists on health and working among older racial and ethnic minority adults. Following previous cross-sectional research, we examine the Health, Aging, and Body Composition (HABC) study comparing working vs. not working overtime among older adults. We hypothesize: 1) Black vs. White adults are more likely to work; 2) Black vs. White differences in working are greater among women than men; and 3) Working relates to fewer prevalent health problems than not working. We used gender-stratified descriptive statistics and generalized mixed-effects logistic regression with covariate adjustments to analyze the HABC cohort study, with community-dwelling, well-functioning Black (42%) and White older adults aged 70-79 in year 1 (n=3,069) to year 6 (n=2,091). We found support for all three hypotheses. Black vs. White adults were more likely to work overtime. Women were less likely to work overtime compared to men. White women were less likely to keep working compared to men and Black women. Lastly, older adults with fewer chronic conditions were more likely to continue working. Our study finds racial and gender differences among older adults working overtime. Intersectionality plays a role in older adults’ health and work disparities, leading us to explore the needs and/or benefits of working past retirement in specific groups. Our policy implication is for society to pro-actively invest in older adults’ health and productive activities, which may act as social determinants of health solutions to reduce disparities and growing social safety net program costs.


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