Double Tax on Women of Color Undermines Economic Growth

Key Quotes

"I know we aren't supposed to bring it up but racism and sexism exist and nowhere is it more apparent these days than in conversations about meritocracy in the 11 months of trump's second term the word was used as some sort of antithesis of dei when in actuality dei simply meant hiring qualified people who came from underrepresented backgrounds but nevertheless these discussions of meritocracy persisted and all this time later we can see the result qualified high powered black women are being purged from the workforce while people like this get promoted."

Akilah Hughes highlights that discussions around "meritocracy" have been used to oppose Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) initiatives. Hughes argues that DEI's actual goal is to hire qualified individuals from diverse backgrounds. The speaker points to the current outcome where highly qualified Black women are being removed from the workforce, while less qualified individuals are promoted, as evidence of this problematic trend.

"The double tax is the compounded cost of racism and sexism and i think that lots of black women know this as misogynoir right when we kind of bear the full discrimination of being black and also being women and so what i basically do is sort of extend that definition beyond just blackness again here's anna gifty any sort of proximity to blackness as a racial minority puts you in this sort of bucket of dealing with all of these costs that come with your related racial minority status in addition to all the sexism that we experience in society."

Anna Gifty Opoku-Agyeman defines the "double tax" as the combined burden of racism and sexism. Opoku-Agyeman explains that this concept is closely related to "misogynoir," a term Black women use to describe the specific discrimination they face due to both their race and gender. The author extends this idea to suggest that any racial minority status, when combined with sexism, incurs similar compounded costs.

"The data never tells us whether or not people get like explicitly fired and why they get fired right so to say that people are being pushed out it's a hard claim to make that's backed by data but we can bring in other data to contextualize why a bunch of people are leaving suddenly so what we know from the data is that in the good times black women are the least likely to be promoted the most likely to turnover and the most likely to be labeled low performers as you noted we are the last in first out and a lot of the industries like manufacturing professional and business services and even what we're seeing with the rollbacks of dei especially in certain parts of different industries are clearly having an impact on black women anecdotally so if we take all of this together you can go ahead and say yeah black women are being pushed out of the workforce."

Anna Gifty Opoku-Agyeman explains that while direct data on explicit firings is scarce, other data points can contextualize why Black women might be leaving the workforce. Opoku-Agyeman notes that during favorable economic times, Black women are less likely to be promoted, more prone to turnover, and often labeled as low performers. The author connects this to being "last in, first out" in industries like manufacturing and professional services, further exacerbated by DEI rollbacks, leading to the conclusion that Black women are being pushed out.

"You have a vested interest in somebody else's well being i'm starting to see that single mothers are starting to buy homes together that's so intelligent i think the other thing we're starting to see is a lot of unions i don't know if folks know the data shows that the unionization has been on the decline but we're starting to see a resurgence of union efforts right even with momdani's win we're seeing that a lot of working family party candidates are coming to the top of a lot of these tickets we're seeing a lot of folks who are pro progress in the sense that they want free buses they want free childcare people just want to be able to take care of their neighbors i think having that spirit and turning it into action is really really important."

Akilah Hughes suggests that collective action and mutual support are crucial for fighting systemic injustice. Hughes points to examples like single mothers pooling resources to buy homes and the resurgence of union efforts as indicators of people taking care of each other. The speaker emphasizes that a desire for progress, such as access to free childcare and transportation, reflects a broader community-oriented spirit that needs to be translated into action.

"The reality is if we're willing to fight against that they have no chance because we do truly outnumber them if what anna is saying is true and the numbers do support the idea that the future will be way more diverse than now how do we fight for a more equitable future how do we fight back i think that we can take our notes from history shout out to the black panther gang right um gang gang black panther gang gang you know i said that i was like somebody's gonna clip that right here we go i don't care they did a good job with providing food assistance healthcare and education to the black community that's what i am highlighting right now yeah specifically that y'all can yeah y'all can have your own conversations about that but the the social services that they provided to the black community i think give us a blueprint into how do we take care of each other during crises and it turns out we literally just show up for each other we pull we protect one another."

Akilah Hughes proposes that collective action and historical examples, such as the Black Panther Party's community programs, offer a blueprint for fighting for a more equitable future. Hughes argues that if the future is indeed becoming more diverse, as data suggests, then the power lies in people outnumbering those who oppose progress. The speaker highlights the Black Panther Party's provision of food, healthcare, and education as a model for how communities can support each other during crises.