FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
June 14, 2000
CONTACT:
Jean F. Reuter
301.405.4622
[email protected]
Black Middle Class Women Identified as Unsung Family Pioneers
New UM research shows black working wives at the vanguard of family change
COLLEGE PARK, Md -- Decades before the feminist revolution of the latter 20th century forever altered women's roles and the dynamics of families, black middle class wives had embraced the egalitarian two-career lifestyle that characterizes the majority of modern middle class families.
This is the premise of a book called "Black Working Wives" by University of Maryland sociologist Bart Landry. Landry, who authored "The New Black Middle Class" in 1987, argues that black middle class wives were pioneers of the American family revolution of the '70s. His research shows that beginning in the late 19th century, these married women successfully developed and implemented a progressive family pattern in which they extended their role into the marketplace while white families of all classes held firmly to the separation of spheres: breadwinning and homemaking.
"At a time when society was firm that women's place was in the home, middle class black women were breaking ground," says Landry. "This move into the professional marketplace was not about financial need. Instead, much like with their white counterparts in the '70s, this was about challenging themselves personally beyond the confines of the home."
Landry analyzed Census data from the 20th century and saw that the employment rates of black middle class wives were always about two decades ahead of their white counterparts. In 1940, almost 40 percent of black middle class wives worked, compared with 17 percent of white middle class wives. By 1970, those numbers increased to 70 percent of black middle class wives and 45 percent of white wives. By 1994, those numbers were 87 percent and 78 percent. Landry also found that, contrary to patterns among Caucasian wives, African American wives did not drop from the workforce upon marriage and motherhood.
According to Landry, who spent more than a decade researching the book using biographies, historical records and demographic data, these black women were not working class domestic servants. Rather, these were college-educated doctors, bankers, lawyers, and educators who insisted on key roles in the workforce and equality in the family. Landry attributes their successful entry into the marketplace with the respect inherent in the black community for women who were active in social causes, holders of careers and housewives all at the same time. He suggests the strong leadership role black women took in the anti-slavery movement and in Reconstruction laid the foundation for this acceptance.
The book presents the notion that the "cult of domesticity" that rigidly separated spousal roles was oppressive to women. They found their abilities limited by a social constraint that was not age-old, but rather a byproduct of the 19th century's Industrial Revolution and the movement of work away from the homestead. Landry argues that this family pattern also exploited working class men, who bore the burden of being the breadwinner with jobs that did not provide adequately.
By insisting on pursuing careers, black middle class wives found themselves in the vanguard of the family revolution in every category, including employment rates, economic contribution to their families, and in the adoption of new social norms. "These women were unsung pioneers in a definitive social movement," continues Landry. "They shared headship of families. They contributed significantly to the economics of the family. They initiated an egalitarian trend long before other women embraced it, and that's significant."
Landry notes that for the modern dual-career/dual-earner family to prosper, three things are needed: 1) a change in society's philosophy of the family, 2) the development of a more family-friendly workplace, and 3) greater husband input into housework to match wives' employment.
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