Undervaluing of Caregiving Rooted in Black Women’s Stolen Labor
As we close out Black History Month, I’ve been thinking a lot about the mantle of caregiving Black Americans took on during their time of enslavement and how that legacy still impacts society today. The chronic undervaluing of caregiving, rooted in the stolen labor of enslaved women, fuels our fight for paid leave and other workplace policies.
Africans’ responsibility for caregiving began early in their forced labor in the United States. As their own families were torn apart, enslaved women were tasked with feeding and caring for the children of slave masters. The women were stripped of their identity in order to assume roles like mammy, roles that persisted well beyond the formal end of slavery in 1865.
The Black Laws of 1865 — which restricted Black Americans to low-wage jobs, banned voting, denied educational access and made it unlawful to gather in large groups — paved the way for today’s discriminatory work practices. With such strong laws in place, it was difficult for Black people to enter the workforce. Those who did had to take low-wage positions doing caregiving, cooking and other domestic work. Black men in particular were shut out of employment options by those practices, often leaving Black women to become sole earners for their families. In fact, in 1880, years after the end of slavery, 35.4 percent of married Black women and 73.3 percent of single Black women were in the labor force, compared with only 7.3 percent of married white women and 23.8 percent of single white women.
Today, 80 percent of Black women in the U.S. are the head of their households, and yet they earn only 60 cents on the dollar compared to white males (and to 81 cents for white women). As a result, Black families must make do with fewer resources, including access to childcare, food, housing and high-quality education.
The domestic and other low-wage jobs Black women have historically been pushed into have been consistently undervalued by our country and deliberately excluded from protections like the Fair Labor Standards Act, which established minimum wage and overtime rules. But Black and brown women knew that their work was central to the U.S. economy and, in 1968, Dorothy Bolden founded the first domestic workers union to call for the political inclusion of voices of color and the extension of protections to Black workers.
Our movement to respect caregiving is a continuation of this long struggle. Essential next steps include the passage of policies like the Equal Rights Amendment, pay equity, worker protections against harassment, and comprehensive paid leave and sick day laws that are accessible to all workers.
If we want to stand up for the liberation of Black people beyond Black History Month, we must continue to learn the history and contributions of enslaved Africans’ labor in this country. We honor that labor when we join the movement for policies that will build a stronger future for Black families and the nation.
by Sade Moonsammy, Director of Strategic Planning and Operations, FV@W
(Illustration by Arielle Gray/WBUR)
