Black Girls: Invisible Force Although their plight is less discussed than that of black boys, African-American girls too are grappling with increasingly challenging lives. By Cynthia E. Griffin With research assistance from Greg Reese - OW Staff Writer Addict. Dope dealer. Unwed mother whose first crush lands her in jail. These are the lives and choices of three teenage girls chronicled in an independent film, On the Outs, that opens in theaters January 13. While only one of the characters in the stark and gritty movie portrays an African American, the paths all of these girls take and the eventual devastating consequences of their decisions echo the actions, lifestyles and some would argue “choices” of far too many black girls around the nation. According to the United States Census Report “The Black Population in the United States: 2002,” and the 2000 “We the People” special report, more blacks were younger than the population in general. About one-third of all African Americans in the nation are under age 18 and girls represented about 30 percent of the overall black population. In 2001 according to the Census, 30.7 percent of black females under 18 lived in poverty and black women overall earned less than African-American men. On the other hand, the Census found that more black women attended college than black men, and they were more likely than men to be employed in management, professional and related occupations: 30 percent versus 20 percent. A look at the statistics and research reveals that many African-American girls face a daunting task growing from a child into adulthood. They are more likely to encounter health problems such as obesity, exposure to HIV/AIDS and domestic battery. A growing number are also being channeled into a juvenile justice system that is ill-prepared to address the unique needs that girls have. And by virtue of the racist and sexist strains that are still pervasive in America, because they are black and female, as a group they continue to live at the bottom of the heap. Education a Mixed Bag Educationally, black girls seem to be facing a mixed bag of sorts. Girls are more likely to go to college than their male counterparts. According to Dierdre Glenn Paul in her 2003 book Talkin’ Back: Raising and Educating Resilient Black Girls, 35 percent of black women compared to 25 percent of black men are enrolled in college and have earned associates, bachelors, masters, doctorate or professional degrees. She also notes that only 13.5 percent of young black women drop out of high school. But Paul cautions that these statistics tell only a partial story. She goes on to note that women in general have higher college-going rates than men, so the larger percentage of African-American women in higher education is not out of sync with national trends. She adds that the information must also be put into an economic context. In 1997, Paul noted that the mean income for a black woman with some college or with an associate degree was $19,643, whereas a black man with only a high school degree had a mean income of $22,400, and this is a gap that holds true as educational attainment increases. Louise A. Rice, an educator by profession and currently national president of Delta Sigma Theta says the data overall is “alarming.” “We have a high dropout rate among young girls, and a lot of them have low expectations, low self-esteem, and low test scores, particularly, in math and the sciences.” This is particularly troubling because research indicates that girls are academically extremely capable. For example, a 1998 American Institute for Research study found that “black girls demonstrate academic strengths at every assessment point. In the fourth grade, they outpace black male classmates in science, reading, geography and history. In eighth grade, they retain an advantage in science, reading and history. In the twelfth grade they score equally with black boys in math and retain an advantage in reading, yet they still do not feel good about the schools they attend.” However, that is just the icing on a truly crumbling cake because, according to the 2002 National Assessment of Education Progress, 63 percent of black fourth graders read below grade level compared to 27 percent of white children. Even Hispanic and Asian fourth graders have better reading scores, although English is their second language. Research indicates that children unable to read at grade level by fourth grade face a downward spiral in America. They won’t be able to compete in reading and writing assessment or pass tests that help them move onto higher grades or into high school. These kids will often end up in special education. Researchers also found that black girls, as a group, seem to more frequently suffer from the effects of low academic self-esteem, while black youth generally have positive self-esteem related to attractiveness and social worth. Paul points out research that indicates that this lowered academic self-esteem, particularly of elementary school girls, may directly correlate to acknowledgement by their white teachers. And according to author and educational consultant Jawanza Kunjufu in his book State of Emergency: We Must Save African-American Males, white women make up about 83 percent of the nation’s elementary school teachers. Paul also reported that while elementary school girls initiate interaction more often than other racial groups, they are often ignored and receive less reinforcement from their teachers than other children. The positive feedback that is received is typically focused on social rather than academic skills, and assisting teachers with non-academic tasks. This sense of invisibility and lack of academic self-confidence, particularly in the areas of math and science, persists and even grows in the middle school years, according to the research Paul documented in her book. It grows to the point where a young black girl’s choice of schoolwork and career path can be narrowed. There is also the issue of lowered expectations of black children. “When I asked what causes the achievement gap (between blacks and whites), they say it’s genetics, low income and fatherlessness,” said Kunjufu in a Black Issues Book Review of Why Jamal Still Can’t Read. But the real answer is that regardless of gender, white teachers in both public and private schools often have low expectations of black children and may be biased in their thinking about what African-American children are capable of achieving academically, noted the Black Issues article. Researcher Ronald F. Ferguson found similar results-race plays a key role in how teachers perceive the academic potential of black and white students. He believes that this sort of racial bias may stem not from any dislike of one group or another, but may be simply based on the teacher’s previous experience with different types of students. Ferguson also noted that research has found that teachers are fairly accurate in predicting how students will perform in their classes. This accuracy only becomes a problem when the expectations impact a child’s performance. And the performance levels of African-American students appear to be more susceptible to teacher expectations than that of their white counterparts, noted Ferguson. Researcher Robert B. Hill, who has written about the strengths of black families and is a consultant with the Institute for Urban Research at Morgan State University in Maryland, noted that one of those strengths is black children, who despite lower test scores have higher educational and occupational aspirations than white children of similar economic status. Unfortunately, Hill found that as many bright inner-city children advance through the public school systems, they encounter “misguidance” counselors who determine that their goals are “unrealistic” and work to lower their aspirations and self-esteem. Unfortunately the change is so drastic that black children end up dropping out of school in record numbers. According to statistics released by the National Women's Law Center in 2000, the dropout rates for women of color exceed that of white women. An estimated 8 percent of white girls dropped out before completing high school compared to 32 percent for Native Americans, 28 percent for Latinas and 11 percent for African Americans. School: The Road to Jail? The changing educational landscape in America, according to one researcher, is also contributing to another escalating problem that is snaring African-American girls in a web from which they find it hard to escape. Since the 1980s, there has been an increasing imposition of Zero Tolerance Policies in urban school districts, where most black youth attend school, that according to Columbia University researcher Anne Eller has resulted in the criminalization of what was once considered typical adolescent behavior. Using New York City Schools as her base example, Eller wrote in her paper “Walking on a Tight Rope: Black Youth and the Culture of Control” that with the advent of the New York Police Department as the security force in certain Big Apple schools, and despite the fact that overall youth crime has dropped, the number of young people, particularly blacks, who have had documented encounters with the juvenile justice system increased. And girls are increasingly represented in this mix. Teachers and students themselves have noted that girls are becoming increasingly physically aggressive and in some cases downright mean to one another. Other girls are seen as competition, a phenomenon some researchers are attributing to the examples they see set by their mothers, who must compete for the scarce number of “eligible” black men available. A Center on Juvenile Criminal Justice report postulated that the increasing number of girls pouring into the justice system, which is the exact opposite of what is happening with boys, may be related to gender stereotypes. “Boys are expected to be aggressive and violent, and society expects to be protected from them. Girls are expected to be passive and well-behaved and society doesn’t expect to need protection from them,” notes the “Girls in the Juvenile Justice System” report. A joint report, “Justice by Gender” issued by the American Bar Association and the National Bar Association (black lawyers’ national organization) concluded much the same thing. “A fundamental issue underlying this report is whether the growth in the numbers of girls in the delinquency system is a result of an increase in their violent and aggressive behavior. Although further research into this proposition is required, preliminary studies suggest that what has changed is our response to their behavior.” “Some experts have found that this growth is due in part not to a significant increase in violent behavior, but to the re-labeling of girls’ family conflicts as violent offenses; the changes in police practices regarding domestic violence and aggressive behavior; the gender bias in the processing of misdemeanor cases; as well as a perhaps fundamental systemic failure to understand the unique developmental issues facing girls of today.” One of the keys to understanding the increase in girls’ involvement in crime is knowing the reason for the behavior, which researchers say often stems from histories of physical, emotional and sexual abuse, family problems, as well as physical and mental disorders. Girls in delinquency, said the ABA/NBA report, have experienced academic failure and tend to succumb more easily to the pressures of domination by older males. Their problems are also often connected to conflicts in familial and social relationships. This correlates to what is behind the increase of black women in the justice system. African-American women in prisons often had similar traumas, such as physical and sexual abuse in a dysfunctional family throughout their lives, said Syracuse University law professor Paula C. Johnson in her book Inner Lives: Voices of African American Women in Prison ( NYU Press, 2003) Consequently, in many cases, criminality was a coping mechanism or escape from abusive circumstance, she wrote. The Black Women’s Health Imperative reports that violence is an everyday occurrence in the lives of many black women. These women are four to six times more likely than white women to be killed, and most violent acts against African-American women are done by black men. Among the statistics: Almost 40 percent of Black women report coercive contact of a sexual nature by age 18. Women in households with incomes of $15,000 or less are three times more likely to be raped or sexually assaulted. Black women are more likely to be poor. The impact of violence, as pointed out by Johnson, is an increase in criminal behavior such as drug abuse and alcoholism. The Black Women’s Health Imperative also found that abuse (particularly from a partner) has been associated with lower self-esteem, lower health status and lower life satisfaction. Additionally these women are also at a higher risk for symptoms of depression, unhealthy behaviors and difficulties in interpersonal relationships. Women in violent domestic situations are more likely than other women to smoke or drink, and are almost twice as likely to use illicit drugs. The Imperative reports that domestic violence is also seriously linked to alcoholism (about 50 percent) and suicide (about 10 percent of cases). All of this can frequently lead to involvement in the criminal justice system, which presents challenges of its own. In California, “get tough on crime” laws like Proposition 21 passed by voters in 2000 increased the probability that troubled teen girls will end up in a juvenile justice system that is not prepared for them. Among the changes wrought by Prop. 21 were: increasing the number of juveniles who will be tried and sentenced to adult prisons; changing the types of probation available for juvenile offenders, reducing the confidentiality protections of youthful offenders; increasing the penalties for gang-related crimes, as well as requiring convicted gang members to register with local law enforcement agencies. Because the legislation has been tied up in the courts since it passed, the impact is just now beginning to be felt. If and when it is fully implemented the initiative is expected to have annual costs of more than $330 million on the state level and $10 million to more than $100 million on the local level. Imprisonment of women, the majority of whom in California are in lock-ups because of substance abuse issues, also victimizes their children and can create a cyclical downward spiral for the kids, believe some researchers. Women in California prisons are mothers to nearly 20,000 children, and researcher Charlene Wear Simmons found that nearly two-thirds were the primary caregiver for at least one child prior to arrest. Denise Johnston, Director of the Center of Children of Incarcerated Parents at Pacific Oaks College in Pasadena, said an estimated 30 to 40 percent of their male children will end up in jail themselves. The figure for girls is three to five percent. What are the Numbers?
A Children’s
Defense Fund report said that a black preschool girl has a 1 in 17 chance of
going to prison in her lifetime.
* Girls are
30 percent more likely than boys to be detained for minor offenses such as
public disorder, probation violation and traffic violations.
Another
problem that has had a pervasive impact on many black girls is the overall
participation rate of African-American children in the foster care system.
The higher
pregnancy rate among African-American teen girls has a direct connection to
their higher levels of sexual activity and lower use of contraceptives.
According to the National Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy, in 2002, 46.8
percent of all girls 15 to 19 reported never having had sexual intercourse
compared to 57.0 of all black girls in the same age category. These
youngsters, on average, also have more sexual partners. The study also found
that between 1995 and 2002, contraceptive use at first sex increased from
58.7 percent to 71 percent for black girls 15 to 19.
In addition
to high levels of teen pregnancies, there are a number of other critical
health issues impacting African-American girls. According to the Black
Women’s Health Imperative, HIV/AIDS is the number one killer of black women
25-34, which means given the development course of the disease they
contracted it as a teen. Black girls are also more likely to be overweight
or obese and the problem begins as early as age six. And, while the
African-American community’s greater tolerance of different body sizes
provides some protection, a report by the Office on Women’s Health at the
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services notes that as black girls enter
adolescence, particularly those who live a more middle-class lifestyle,
there is an increased rate of body dissatisfaction that can manifest itself
as eating disorders.
While all the
problems impacting black girls might seem overwhelming, there are many
programs that exist which are helping to strengthen and change their lives
for the better. Many of these are operated by the myriad of women’s
organizations in the nation, such as the Delta Sigma Theta Sorority. |
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