NNPA Columnist
There is a Chinese proverb that expresses the sentiment that we women do more than our share in the social, political, economic and cultural development of our nation.
“Women hold up half the sky” is a statement that is reflected in statistics. Increasingly, women are the majority of those who seek undergraduate education, even as women still earn just three-quarters of what men earn.
Women hold up half the sky – in the African-American community, women head nearly half of our households and raise most of our children.
We have done more than our share for much of our time on the planet, and it is egregious that our contributions are only recognized during Women’s History Month. International Women’s day takes place on March 8, but the entire month of March, just one month of 12, was set aside to lift up women’s contributions.
In the African-American community we can call the roll that lifts up names like Sojourner Truth, Harriet Tubman, Ida B. Wells, Shirley Chisholm, Barbara Jordan, Sadie Tanner Mosell Alexander, and many more.
When we call the roll we are reminded of women’s strength, tenacity, and resilience. Then it rankles that the drum roll of African-American history too often lifts up the men, gives short shrift to the women.
The Chinese proverb reminds us that we still live in a patriarchy where women’s work is undervalued. We see it in the pay rates and the numbers, but we cannot see it more clearly than when we look at our public representation of reality.
In a patriarchy, we make excuses for men and condemnations for women. The former Washington Post columnist Dorothy Gilliam nailed the phenomenon when she wrote that black folks “raise our daughters and love our sons.”
It makes sense to raise and love them both, embracing both daughters and sons as they step out into the world. It makes sense to lift up the possibilities that men and women offer to our world and to celebrate us all.
It is especially important, in a compensatory way, to let young women know that they are, indeed, enough. They are complete whether or not they have men in their lives.
Our nation’s recession reminds us of the many ways that women provide our nation with an extreme dependability factor. We make ends meet when there are no ends, provide shoulders when there is nowhere to lean, are cheerleaders when there are few cheers, defenders when there are attacks.
We women hold up half the sky. The Chinese proverb is an African-American reality.
Julianne Malveaux is president of Bennett College for Women. She can be reached at presoffice@bennett.edu.