Retrospectives: Sadie T.M. Alexander: Black Women and a “Taste of Freedom in the Economic World”
中文摘要
非裔美国女性的就业历史引人注目，因为与美国其他女性相比，她们的劳动参与率更高。本文基于萨迪·T.M. 亚历山大20世纪30年代的演讲和著作，探讨了她对黑人女性与工作的分析。亚历山大评估了黑人女性工作者对黑人美国人生活水平和国民产出的贡献。作为女性有收益就业与经济独立的支持者，亚历山大关于工业就业对女性及家庭生活益处的观点，与那些不赞成母亲就业、偏向男性养家户家庭的白人社会福利改革者形成了鲜明对比。亚历山大批评了保护性劳动法下黑人女性与白人女性受到的不平等待遇，特别是家政工被排除在新政最低工资和最高工时保护之外。歧视性政策的遗留问题至今仍通过社会福利规定与劳动者福利中的种族差异，继续影响着非裔美国女性的经济地位。
Abstract
The employment history of African American women is notable because of their higher labor force participation rates compared to other women in the US. This essay discusses Sadie T.M. Alexander’s analysis of Black women and work based on her 1930s speeches and writings. Alexander assessed Black women workers’ contribution to Black American living standards and national output. A proponent of women’s gainful employment and economic independence, Alexander’s views on the benefits of industrial employment for women and family life stood in stark contrast to White social welfare reformers who discouraged maternal employment in favor of households with male breadwinners. Alexander criticized the unequal treatment of Black and White women under protective labor law, particularly with respect to domestic servants’ exclusion from New Deal minimum wage and maximum hour protections. The legacy of discriminatory policies continues to affect the economic status of African American women today through racial disparities in social welfare provisions and worker benefits.