We're paid to take care of the movement. The movement ain't paid to take care of us: The Promise and Challenges of Workplace Strategies of Black Feminist Organizations

Reproductive justice is a social justice movement based on black feminist principles that is also a direct response to women of color's invisibility within white mainstream feminist organizations and workplaces. This ethnographic case study of WomenUnited, a woman of color reproductive justice organization, demonstrates that a key difference between black feminist and white feminist workplace cultures is black workplace's centralization of and emphasis on their intersectional identities in their definitions of work and the ways they enact emotional labor. I find that identity within black feminist workplaces is managed differently as the organizations: (1) embrace alternative standards of beauty through dress and presentation of self; (2) create a safe work environment where the stress of racialized and gendered impression management is limited; and (3) accept care and emotional labor as integral parts of their work. However, emotional suppression similar to mainstream organizations is still necessary in order to combat exogenous stereotypes about black women and their perceived inefficiency. These perceptions adversely impact the marketability and funding sources for WU. Though healthy emotional labor is central to the health and emotional well-being of the organization's workers, it does not fit well into foundations' and mainstream reproductive health actors' expectations for approaching reproductive health issues.

Name thesis:degree_name

M.A. in Sociology

Level thesis:degree_level

Thesis

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Sociology and Anthropology

Year dc:date.available

2012

Author dc:creator

• Walker, Jazmine

Contributors dc:contributor

• Kirsten Dellinger
• Kirk Johnson
• Zandria Robinson

• black feminist organizations
• black women
• emotional labor
• reproductive justice
• social movement organizational culture
• workplace culture
• Sociology

Repository record dc:identifier

https://egrove.olemiss.edu/etd/1222

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:egrove.olemiss.edu:etd-2221