Intersectionality:

Violence Against Women of Color Confirmed by many Studies due to Socioeconomic Factors

Kimberle W. Crenshaw, in Mapping the Margins: Intersectionality, Identity Politics, and Violence Against Women of Color, discusses how race, gender, and color are intertwined making it more difficult to escape injustices than women who are racially privileged (Crenshaw). After studying this in my Women Studies class at CSUF, I found these studies below confirming this theory. These are just a few, there are many, many more.

I also found a website (see url below) about the awareness and acknowledgement of intersectionality as being one of the first steps to helping. Knowing that racism, patriarchalism, and socioeconomic class are combined forces will allow better insight into helping improve the situation. This website helps explain the facts and issues of Intersectionality. I believe if we educate each other, we can help to find answers toward a solution.

url to learn more about intersectionality:

http://lgbtq.unc.edu/sites/lgbtq.unc.edu/files/documents/intersectionality_en.pdf

    Studies Confirming Existence of

Intersectionality

Distinguishing Race/Ethnicity from Other Factors

Studies have generally found that racial differences in rates of intimate partner violence and sexual assault can be almost completely explained by socioeconomic variables. This is because social problems like violence and substance abuse tends to be more prevalent in poor communities where there are also disproportionately large numbers of minority women. The fact that many minority groups experience higher rates of violence simply reflects the number of minority women living in poverty

http://www.uky.edu/CRVAW/files/TopTen/10_Race.pdf

Domestic Violence and African Americans

 African Americans, including African American Women suffer deadly violence from family members at rates decidedly higher than for other racial groups in the United States. However, it is observed that research concerning family violence among African Americans is inadequate. Factors such as the breakdown of families, unemployment and underemployment, poor schools, inadequate vocational skills and training, bad housing, the influence and use of drugs, and the density of liquor stores in the inner city contribute to the problem of domestic violence. All of these ingredients may compound and coalesce into a strong undercurrent of frustration that can lead to domestic violence.

http://www.blackwomenshealth.com/blog/domestic-violence-when-love-becomes-hurtful/

Domestic Violence & Black Women

Intimate partner violence among African Americans is related to economic factors. Intimate partner violence among blacks occurs more frequently among couples with low incomes, those in which the male partner is underemployed or unemployed, particularly when he is not seeking work, and among couples residing in very poor neighborhoods, regardless of the couple’s income.

• In a nationally representative survey conducted in 1996, 29% of African American women and 12% of African American men reported at least one instance of violence from an intimate partner.

• African Americans account for a disproportionate number of intimate partner homicides. In 2005, African Americans accounted for almost 1/3 of the intimate partner homicides in this country.

• Black women comprise 8% of the U.S. population but in 2005 accounted for 22% of the intimate partner homicide victims and 29% of all female victims of intimate partner homicide.

http://blackdoctor.org/13338/domestic-violence-signs-statistics-black-women/

Black Women and Domestic Violence

Black women suffer higher incidences of domestic violence – and the situations are filled with various components stacked against black families. Many poor women cannot escape the violence due to poverty, and often times – unemployment and a lack of family support. Low paying jobs often force women to work two jobs should they finally escape the abuse. Unfortunately, this struggle will leave their children to fend for themselves most of the day. This is one of the reasons why young black children find trouble in the streets – they have no parents in the home to supervise and make sure they are on the right path. I am not faulting a woman having to work away from home, however, without family and friends for support – the escape from violence often introduces other negative factors.

http://ssofdv.wordpress.com/2011/12/13/black-women-and-domestic-violence/