Beginning in March, a black woman will be at the helm of a major fire department for the first time in U.S. history.

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Theresa Deloach-Reed, 52, was named chief of the Oakland city fire department. Reed has been fighting fires for nearly 30 years, has seen many changes on the job and calls her appointment “exciting.”

Reed is leaving her position as assistant fire chief of San Jose, California. She said that her career as a firefighter began when her brother asked her to pass an application along to another brother. In 1986, Reed was working a job for a telephone company that involved her climbing poles to install new lines. Afraid of layoffs and with climbing experience, she decided to fill out the application herself.

“There are still a lot of departments that don’t have any women,” said Deloach-Reed in an interview with Reuters. “We still have a long way to go in regards to breaking down the doors.”

For the full story, please go to theGrio.

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The study, “Can an Agentic Black Woman Get Ahead?” tallied the results of 84 non-Black persons watching a staged event, where business executives were shown being either critical of an employee or offering words of encouragement.  Afterward, the data and results were collected in an online poll.

The study is awaiting publication in the Psychological Science journal and was co-authored by Ashleigh Shelby Rosette, an associate professor of management and organization at Duke’s Fuqua School of Business. Rosette spoke with the Herald-Sun of Durham about the study.

“There’s a substantial body of research showing a penalty for women when they display dominant, assertive, angry, commanding or demanding behavior,” Rosette said. “All of those resources presumed that the women under consideration were white but hadn’t necessarily looked at what would happen if the women were of a different race.”

The study contended that because business leadership is typically male and White, Black women in that position would face fewer backlashes because they are not the norm for those roles.  Further, the research proposed the idea that dominant behavior from Black women would have led to more criticism, which the study found to be opposite of the expected.

“Our findings show that Black women are evaluated comparably to white men,” Rosette said. “If that’s the case, why are there not more Black women represented in top leadership positions?”

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In a vastly conservative part of the country, how many Black women are Republicans and how many participated in the famed caucus?  As the focus now shifts to the New Hampshire primary, I realize more and more that my thoughts aren’t random at all; they are actually very relevant.  As the GOP attempt to “diversify” and branch out (so they say), whose issues are they really addressing?  Do we ever hear poor people’s concerns, women’s issues or young folks’ apprehensions ever answered?  The answer is a definite, “Hell, no!”  But, the real question is, who is to blame?

Growing up as a Black woman in a multicultural city, I was exposed to differing viewpoints and ideas at an early age. What I quickly grasped as a young kid is the notion of  “a closed mouth won’t get fed.”  If you don’t speak up, raise your concerns, let your voice be heard, nobody will pay attention and nothing will change.  Silently going along with the status quo and accepting unfair practices will get you nothing but more injustice and frustration.  You must make your issues a priority if you intend on seeing a different result going forward.  That’s a vital lesson that I’ve carried with me throughout my work at National Action Network and in my everyday life.  If you do not make others recognize and respect your grievances, things will remain the same forever.   And that’s precisely the concept we must remember when it comes to politics, the 2012 election, and our future.

Over the last several months, I carefully observed the Republican debates to see what these candidates were discussing and more importantly, whom they were addressing.  Never did I hear concern for the poor, or policies that would improve the lives of the impoverished.  Instead, what I consistently heard was talk of more tax breaks for the wealthy and improvements for big business.   Never was there a mention of African Americans (forget about Black women specifically) and the unjust hurdles facing us.  And never did I hear any concise solutions for this nation’s youth and how we could improve their possibility for a stable tomorrow.  After these past few months of campaigning, the GOP has made it abundantly clear that they are not concerned with my issues, nor that of the next generation.

Now as these candidates head to the next primary, we must ask ourselves, how can we make our issues a priority? How can we get them to acknowledge us and address our concerns in a respectful manner?  To all the Black Republicans out there, I say raise your voice and try to shed light on some of the Black communities’ issues.  That’s the only way we will truly see if all the talk of “inclusion” is a reality.  Let’s hold all of the contenders accountable and let’s watch if they really have the backbone to match their rhetoric.

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Hudson is the most well-known for her dramatic weight loss and endorsement of Weight Watchers. The Daily Beast reports that the former “American Idol” star’s very public victory over her weight improved her health, while keeping her in the public eye amid the dearth of acting roles for African-American women:

By signing on as a weight-loss spokeswoman, Hudson may have shed 80 pounds, but with eye-catching commercials showcasing her newly svelte figure and incredible vocal range, she gained much more. Her highly stylized ads for Weight Watchers received a dizzying amount of airtime in 2010 and 2011, earning her a level of visibility few film roles or hit singles could provide.

I knew who Jennifer Hudson was from Dreamgirls and her family tragedy, but that was about it,” said Lisa Franklin, a 55-year-old teacher from Boston. “But after the Weight Watchers commercials, I really knew who she was, because those commercials came on six or eight times a day and she looked good.

That Franklin recognized Hudson only from those two life-altering events reveals how vital the Weight Watchers commercials have been in sustaining image in the public eye.

Another black female superstar who has boarded the weight loss-promotion train is Jackson. According to the DailyBeast, her promotion of Nutrisystem seems to be as much about career vitality as it is about health consciousness:

I was really surprised when I saw Janet Jackson doing a weight-loss commercial,” said Fred Mwangaguhunga, editor of the popular African-African entertainment website MediaTakeout.com. “I don’t think this is something she would have done five years ago, given her personality. But times have changed and the way you have to sell yourself has changed, so you use what you have.

Perhaps these weight loss commercials will help give black women the control needed to create their own narratives of African-American imagery and femininity for public discourse.

Check out the rest of the story at The Daily Beast.

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1) Hattie McDaniel

Hattie McDaniel is best-known for winning the 1940 Oscar for Best Supporting Actress as “Mammy” in “Gone with the Wind.” While her role is widely considered demeaning to blacks, viewing McDaniel’s performance through such a narrow lens overlooks the dignity with which she handled her limited-acting opportunities.  McDaniel’s Oscar acceptance speech showed a grace and class that should have put the racist directors, executives, producers and actors of Hollywood to shame.

Hattie McDaniel’s Oscar Acceptance Speech

2) Fannie Lou Hamer (pictured)

Fannie Lou Hamer was easily one of the hardest-working women during the Civil Rights Movement. She was a plain-spoken and devout woman known for her fiery speeches at the various civil rights conferences she attended. Hamer was critical in organizing the Mississippi Freedom Summer, a 1964 effort to register as many black voters as possible. At the time, voter registration was a dangerous task that could easily get one killed by white segregationists determined to keep blacks powerless. Later, she reflected on her fearless work:

I guess if I’d had any sense, I’d have been a little scared – but what was the point of being scared? The only thing they could do was kill me, and it seemed they’d been trying to do that a little bit at a time since I could remember.

Now that is what we call “hard core”!

3) Ida B. Wells

Ida B. Wells was a journalist and civil rights activist back in the late 1800s, when blacks could still remember being slaves. Wells, who was born just before Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation, is credited for documenting lynchings in the South and researching how white segregationists used violent methods to keep African Americans “in their place.”

Wells was also known for being outspoken and unafraid to challenge whites, an attitude that could have easily gotten her lynched. During an 1884 train ride, Wells was asked to give up her seat to a white passenger and refused, which occurred more than 70 years before Rosa Parks. After the conductors dragged her out of the train car, she sued the train company — and won!

Though the ruling was overturned, Wells proved that she could unabashedly stare racism dead in the eye.

4) Sojourner Truth

An abolitionist and women’s rights activist, Sojourner Truth escaped from slavery in her late 20s with her infant son. At the time, Truth was forced to leave her other children behind, and one of them was sold to another slave master in Alabama. Never backing down, Truth took the master to court, won the case and got her son back. She is one of the first black women to take a white man to court and win. Known for her speech, “Ain’t I a Woman,” Truth spent the rest of her free life speaking at anti-slavery and women’s suffrage conferences and was one of black America’s first-leading women who spoke against slavery long before the system ended.

5) Vivian Malone

One of the first two African Americans to enroll at the University of Alabama, Vivian Malone faced down a menacing George Wallace who vowed to never allow blacks to enroll in the all-white institution. Not only enrolling and graduating, Malone went on to retire as director of civil rights and urban affairs and director of environmental justice for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. In 2000, the University of Alabama awarded her a doctorate of humane letters.

Any woman who could stand up to a segregationist governor should be on anyone’s list. See a short clip of Gov. Wallace’s infamous speech on segregation below.

6) Harriet Tubman

Harriet Tubman led about 70 slaves to northern freedom through the Underground Railroad. At age 29, Tubman escaped slavery but eventually returned for the rest of her family after several trips. When the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 was enacted, Tubman lead slaves to Canada, where slavery was prohibited. Years later, when discussing her dangerous missions, Tubman said:

I was conductor of the Underground Railroad for eight years, and I can say what most conductors can’t say – I never ran my train off the track and I never lost a passenger.

7) Elizabeth Eckford

A member of the Little Rock Nine, Elizabeth Eckford was one of nine high school students who integrated Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas, in 1957. On the tumultuous day, racist white crowds accosted Eckford and the rest of the teens, making their first day of school one of the worst educational experiences any child could ever have.

But what puts Eckford on this list is her steely resolve in this iconic photo. She was as solid as a rock.

8) Mary McLeod Bethune

How many women, of any race, will be able to say that they founded a nationally recognized university that flourished well after their death? Mary McLeod Bethune is one of them. Like many universities founded not too long after slavery, Bethune Cookman-University began as a school that taught basic math and reading and eventually grew into a college over the years.

Now the university has a sizable sports program, a graduate school and thousands of alumni who have Mrs. Bethune to thank for their upwardly mobile careers and lifestyles.

9) Oprah Winfrey

Oprah Winfrey will always be remembered for having the strongest grip on white female television viewers ever. A dark-skinned black woman who struggled with fluctuating weight issues defied the stereotypical notions of what it takes to dominate prime-time television. There are very few people, of any color, who can make an up-and-coming author or business person an instant millionaire just by saying of their product, “I like it.”  Now that’s power.

10) Women of the Civil Rights Movement

Social activist Julian Bond says of women during the Civil Rights Movement:

There’s a Chinese saying, ‘Women hold up half the world.’ In the case of the Civil Rights Movement, it’s probably three-quarters of the world.

And he’s right. In an Msnbc.com article, civil rights leaders from that era admit that women were marginalized within the movement. For example, when major speeches took place, you seldom heard a female voice. The names of women who should be memorialized will likely never be known.

So to those women who went unrecognized for their laborious efforts to perfect America, we say thank you.

Did we miss anyone? Feel free to recommend some women who made the race proud and America better.

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The study reports that mixed-race people are socially placed below whites, but ahead of blacks. Moreover, the article cites another study that reveals dark-skin black women are given stiffer prison sentences than their lighter-skin counterparts.

The study, which sampled over 12,000 black women imprisoned in North Carolina between 1995 and 2009, showed that light-skinned women were sentenced to 12 percent less time behind bars than their darker-skinned counterparts. The results also showed that having light skin reduces the actual time served by 11 percent.

Even employers seem to prefer the lighter-skin blacks among us:

A 2006 University of Georgia study showed that employers prefer light-skinned black men to dark-skinned men, regardless of their qualifications. We found that a light-skinned black male can have only a Bachelor’s degree and typical work experience and still be preferred over a dark-skinned black male with an MBA and past managerial positions,” said Matthew S. Harrison in 2006, then a doctoral student in applied industrial organizational psychology at Georgia.

But when it is not mainstream society (code words for white folks), it is people within our own community making light of our historical pain:

In Oct. 2007, a Detroit party promoter caused an uproar when he promoted a party giving free admission to light-skinned women only. Ulysses Barnes — or “DJ Lish” — promoted a party for “Light Skinned Women & All Libras” but promptly cancelled it after women and activist groups protested the party’s premise.

Barns’ defense of the party theme was hardly comforting. The Michigan Citizen quoted him as saying “he had plans for “Sexy Chocolate’’ and “Sexy Caramel’’ parties too, and that “it was just a party thing.’’ Read the rest of the article to see how other women didn’t see his casual reflection of his ill-conceived party theme as “just a party thing.”

Read more at the TheGrio too, and tell me what you think about this subject. I am very eager to hear your responses!

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The current study was published in Psychological Medicine earlier this year, and compared the premenstrual experience of over 1600 black women (including Afro-Caribbean) and over 900 white women (including Latinas). Black women’s risk of PMDD in this population was less than 50% that of Caucasian women, and that they also were less likely to have premenstrual symptoms overall.

The authors of this study hypothesize, and point to other findings that support the hypothesis, that blacks are less susceptible than whites to psychiatric disorders. This study confirms one possible health advantage that black women experience compared to white women.

Read more at PRWeb.com

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The poll consisted of 2,000 people of all races and colors from across the country.

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The Huffington Post reports:

That may sounds trivial or shallow, but a little self-love goes a long way–especially in the face of those hateful reports that black women are the reason for the falling marriage rates in the African-American community.

Beverly Bond, founder of “Black Girls Rock,” is trying to plant the seed of self-confidence early. Her organization helps create, reaffirm and/or reclaim that self-worth in young girls across the country.

Read More At The Huffington Post

A few days ago, R&B superstar Rihanna gave a trademark edgy performance on the London leg of her tour. But perhaps this time, even the not-so-shy entertainer pushed the envelope a bit too far when she allegedly placed two of her fingers in her private area while on stage. As people from all age brackets watched her in that arena, and subsequently around the world in videos and pictures, I have to ask what sort of message is being sent to young women? And just as importantly, what are we saying to the world about the role of Black women in society?

To be fair, Rihanna isn’t to blame for all of our problems, but when we begin to openly display ourselves in this manner, we simply can’t turn around and then command respect. Just as we are tired of supporting Black men who can’t get it together, many of them who have it together don’t want some of us and rightfully so. Bottom line is, if you want quality, you must also give quality – and that means in every aspect of life.

And ladies, maybe we are sometimes passing up on the good men out here. Instead of looking for someone with good credit, a steady job, ambition and education, we are sometimes blinded by money, cars and flashy materialistic things and he better have gangsta sex (stop acting like you don’t know what I’m talking about). It’s important to remember that just like Rihanna’s performance is entertainment and not reality, so too are many of the superficial things we value around us.

When it comes down to it, it’s all pretty simple: you get what you give priority to. In these tough times, it’s important to figure out precisely what’s important to us as women so that there’s no question as to whether or not we’ll be sticking by our men or if they are sticking by us, but that both sides are worthy to be loved!

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Yesterday, Atlanta’s V-103 invited local teachers to discuss the effects of reality TV on their students.

According to the teachers that called into the radio show so many impressionable girls are taking on the negative characteristics of the characters of the reality shows. These characteristics includes promiscuity, chasing after the trappings of the good life, relying on the external instead of refining the internal, and not loving themselves.

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Dr. Regina M. Benjamin, who is Black herself, knows the issues Black women have when it comes to “sweating out” their hair.

“Oftentimes you get women saying, ‘I can’t exercise today because I don’t want to sweat my hair back or get my hair wet,’ Benjamin said.

Dr. Rebecca Alleyne, a breast cancer surgeon in Los Angeles, said she ran, cycled or swam six days a week until a year and a half ago, when she stopped wearing hair extensions, which required little maintenance, and began pressing her hair.

“I noticed I would stop for two or three days when I got it pressed,” she said. “The barrier for me was the $60 and two-and-a-half-hour investment in a hair salon that kept me wanting to preserve my hairstyle.”

Read more at the New York Times.

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And yet, the list is long: Fannie Lou Hammer, Ella Baker, Dorothy Height, Septima Clark, Marian Wright Edelman…

So as the masses gather in Washington D.C. to pay homage to Dr. Martin luther King Jr. at the unveiling of his new memorial, some are taking the time to remember the many African-American women who risked their lives, and worked tirelessly in the battle for racial equality.

I am not necessarily calling for the establishment of a new memorial in honor of black women on the National Mall, but I am suggesting that in this “age of Michelle Obama” that we start to acknowledge and celebrate the incredible sacrifices and service of the black women who did so much of the important work that helped propel the civil rights movement forward.

Read more at the Grio.

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Even more troubling are the various solutions offered by authors and scholars on how Black women can find a man. According to their so-called marriage advice, Black women should consider dating outside of their race and some have even asserted that Black women should marry bi-sexual men.

Indeed, much of these articles don’t appear to be genuine yearnings for Black women to open their minds (they shouldn’t be singled out for such anyway); rather, they read as works confirming its creator’s own desperation be it for publicity, profit, or desire to offer some shallow quick-fix to a perceived problem. It’s becoming increasingly pathetic.

The Grio offers a rebuttal on the so-called crisis in defense of Black women.

Read more at the Grio.

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Four Black Female Victims The Media Portrayed As Villains

Traditional media continues to play a crucial role in the way the world perceives Black women. For years Black women have been portrayed as the hypersexual jezebel, money-hungry gold digger, welfare queen, or loud-mouthed-liar. In recent years, some Black media outlets and their viewers have also joined their mainstream counterparts recasting the Black female victim as villain.

Here are just a few examples in recent history:

Nafissatou Diallo

Nafissatou Diallo is the 32-year-old refugee from Guinea who has accused former IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn of sexual assault at the Sofitel hotel where she worked as a maid.  Originally depicted as an innocent-poor-African woman who assaulted by a rich and powerful man, she has quickly become the villain.  According to media she is a greedy, lying, “AIDS predator” in cahoots with her incarcerated boyfriend. She has been reduced to a “cheap trick” who voluntarily performed oral sex on DSK, and only got upset after he refused to pay her.

Rihanna

In 2009, Rihanna, a chart-topping singer known for her strength, beauty, and voice was severely beaten by then-boyfriend Chris Brown. Despite photographic proof of her bloody and beaten body, Rihanna was put under social media’s microscope and picked apart – her every move was painfully and publicly scrutinized. By some writers and fans, she was no longer regarded as a victim of domestic violence, but instead a provocateur with a bad attitude. She was cast as a hot-tempered Caribbean woman who made a living gyrating before a camera, scantily clad in her music videos. She was the epitome of “bad girl.”

Robin Givens

In 1989, Robin Givens went from a star on the small screen to being called “the most hated woman in America” after her marriage to Mike Tyson ended with a reported $10 million settlement. Givens went public on a number of occasions alleging that she was the victim of repeated domestic violence at the hands of the world’s former heavyweight champion. Despite her claims of being abused by Tyson, she was portrayed as a lying, violent, gold-digger who was out to sabotage her husband.

Anita Hill

Anita Hill alleged that Clarence Thomas, her then-supervisor at the Department of Education and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, had sexually harassed her. At Thomas’ 1991 U.S. Supreme Court confirmation hearing she testified that he subjected her to vulgar descriptions of pornography he had watched and continuously bragged in graphic detail about his sex life. Despite her brave stance to come forward when sexual harassment cases were uncommon, she was boldly painted as a “nutty” and “slutty” woman who had a “perverse desire for male attention.”

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Demings planned to make a formal announcement Wednesday afternoon in downtown Orlando.

She has served as chief of police since December 2007.

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By Tamika Mallory

If you didn’t know a thing about Black folks, what would you think if you turned on your TV?

Whether it’s “Basketball Wives,” “Love & Hip-Hop,” “The Real Housewives of Atlanta” series, or “Single Ladies” (although not a reality show, it’s along the same lines), chances are, you would leave those shows with a negative view of Black women. In this world of fiction portrayed as reality, what is the message being sent to those in the community and the rest of the world? As a Black woman working diligently to empower and embolden other women, I can unequivocally say that I’m downright frustrated.

On a daily basis, we are bombarded with images of women of color dancing half-naked in music videos, or prancing around fighting each other on one of these TV shows. If reality TV is purported to depict real lives, what does that say about us and what others think of us? What sorts of examples are we setting for young, impressionable women out there?

These days, it’s very difficult for me to pinpoint a single reality program that showcases positive, accurate images of Black women and our role in society. As doctors, lawyers, educators, mothers, care takers, political activists and more, we are responsible for calling out networks that don’t correctly portray who we are as women and as a people. But, is the ugly truth that there are more women conducting themselves in the manner we see on reality shows than those doing actual, constructive things in real life?

The reality in all of this is that we must decide ourselves who we are and what we’d like to represent us on a national and global scale. For it isn’t just Americans that tune in to popular programming; there are countless others around the planet that may never come across a Black woman in his/her entire life and the image on TV is all they have to go by.

Even though there may be extensive money in reality TV, have we decided that it’s worth the cost of selling our souls and misleading our children?

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In their study, “The Impact of Light Skin on Prison Time for Black Female Offenders,” the authors uncover a startling reality: courts systematically reward black women with light skin with significantly shorter jail sentences compared with their darker counterparts.

Clutch Magazine reports:

A recent study of women prisoners in North Carolina found that lighter complexioned Black inmates served less time than darker ones.

“The Impact of Light Skin on Prison Time for Black Female Offenders,” by Jill Viglione, Lance Hannon, and Robert DeFina of Villanova University, used a sample of 12, 158 women who were imprisoned between 1995 and 2009. Those who were perceived to be light skinned received sentences that were, on average, 12% shorter than their darker counterparts. The amount of actual time served was approximately 11% less. According to The Minority Brief, the study authors controlled factors including prior record, conviction date and weight; they also considered if the woman in question was serving time for robbery or homicide, which tend to carry long sentences.

This is not the first study to examine how having lighter skin can help a person of color make an easier way in the world. A 2006 University of Georgia study found that light-skinned black men are preferred by employers over dark men, regardless of qualifications. These new results regarding lighter black female prisoners fit in perfectly with previous findings.

In 2009, CNN health reported on a related study. Research evidence demonstrated that most participants held racist beliefs they were unaware of, which negatively impacted their choices in social situations. It’s not a stretch to predict the results of these combined phenomena: people in power will give preferential treatment to those perceived as closer to the white ideal our society promotes as an expression of unconscious racism.

African-Americans often discuss how colorism affects us within our ranks, but rarely consider how skin tone relates to our treatment by greater society. Recognizing this, we may want to reconsider how we judge our peers. It is possible that lighter and darker blacks have vastly different experiences that each group cannot perceive. If we talk about these differences, we might reach greater understanding.

Using language that compares abortion to slavery and the infamous “three fifths” clause of the Constitution describing blacks as subhuman, these anti-choice messages attack African-American females with loaded words.

Instigated on Juneteenth, a day founded to celebrate blacks’ liberation from true slavery, the Radiance Foundation has used this date to make an offensive case, claiming legal access to abortion shackles blacks in modern chains.

Through statements such as “The 13th Amendment Freed Us. Abortion Enslaves Us,” and “Abortion Makes Three Fifths Human Seem Overly Generous,” the Radiance Foundation has co-opted the suffering African-Americans have endured to promote its pro-life agenda. Their justification? “Roe v. Wade has made a mockery of Civil Rights history by offering destruction and bondage instead of possibility and freedom,” according to their press release. But black leaders are balking at this simplistic line of reasoning.

Rep. Barbara Lee issued a statement blasting what she called “race-based billboards that… stigmatize women of color and perpetuate myths about parenting skills.” Yet some people agree that abortion is disproportionately killing children of color as part of a larger conspiracy to keep the number of African-Americans from growing. Leftist news site Think Progress reports:

Like other similar campaigns, the new slavery billboard is based on the conspiracy theory that abortion is actually a secret plot by groups like Planned Parenthood to execute “Black Genocide,” since the African American community has a higher rate of abortions than whites. In reality, as the Guttmacher Institute notes, the higher abortion rate reflects a greater prevalence of unintended pregnancies resulting from, among other factors, a lack of access to effective contraception. This problems, ironically, is exactly what groups like Planned Parenthood actively seek to solve.

But this theory, nonetheless, has some some powerful believers. Rep. Trent Franks (R-AZ) said last year that African Americans were better off under slavery than they are now, because abortion was illegal then. Franks also has a bill to criminalize race- or sex-based abortions. GOP presidential candidate Herman Cain actually served as a spokesman for a group pushing the black genocide theory, cutting a radio ad that accused Democrats of wanting to kill “black babies.”

Regardless of whether such a conspiracy could be true, the fact that abortion is a choice renders such an implausible secret plan ineffective. It is precisely because women have the right to an abortion, or to carry a child to term, that they maintain power over their lives. And power is freedom. The Radiance Foundation and other anti-choice groups who want to seize this freedom by reducing women’s options in life are actually trying to recreate slavery by making women submit to dogma. This is a bondage to which African-American women will never return.

With presentations by Sebelius and Valerie Jarrett, a senior advisor to President Barack Obama, our women’s power luncheon stressed the importance of recognizing health issues specifically impacting women of color; preventative care; and methods of eliminating the disparity in access to treatment. But perhaps most importantly, our luncheon — like all other NAN events during the 20th anniversary convention — focused on taking decisive action.

Over the past few weeks, many of us watched and listened to a national budget “debate” that somehow transitioned into an attack on women, Planned Parenthood and our health needs. But what this mainly male-dominated conversation left out was the slew of vital services, such as cancer screenings and regular gynecological exams that Planned Parenthood provides to so many disenfranchised women who would otherwise be forgotten. Although we can rejoice that Planned Parenthood is off of the negotiating table for now, it will come up for a vote again in the future — as will other gender and equity issues. This time, we must be prepared.

We at NAN recently formed our own women’s council designed to monitor gender and race relations across the board, ensure equality on the hill in D.C., and urge other young women to actively engage in the process. The day after our national convention closed, we opened an office on Capitol Hill to stay engaged in important dialogue about women’s issues. We cannot simply hear about legislation; we must read it and study it. We cannot think of governmental policy as something happening over there; we need to understand how and why it directly impacts everyone. As Supreme Court cases based on gender and equity issues arise, we must comprehend what’s at stake and what the outcomes are. NAN’s women’s council will relentlessly work to level the playing field so that every female is strengthened, educated and empowered to shatter whatever glass ceiling she desires. We will lobby and impress upon the government that that African American women are still suffering from diabetes, high blood pressure, cancer, AIDS and many other diseases at higher rates than other women and therefore we need resources that will break down this disparity.

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The views expressed by this academic are his own and do not in any way represent those of LSE as an institution,” the school said in a statement to FoxNews.com. “The important principle of academic freedom means that authors have the right to publish their views – but it also means the freedom to disagree. We are conducting internal investigations into this matter.”

Psychology Today Says Black Women Are Less Attractive

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Psychology Today has posted a controversial article on their site titled: “Why Are Black Women Less Physically Attractive Than Other Women?”

The article posted by blogger Satoshi Kanazawa is based on a study conducted in which several people were interviewed (number undisclosed) on the scientific fundamentalist blog.

The post goes into speaking about why African American women are found to be less attractive. He goes on to disregard differences in Body Mass Index and intelligence, and focuses on the unfounded claim that “testosterone” is the reason why.

In each wave of this study, black women are significantly less physically attractive than women of other races.

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Candice Wiggins has already made history with professional women’s basketball, but that’s only her half of her story.

In high school she was listed as the best shooting guard in the nation and won a scholarship to Stanford to play volleyball and basketball, an amazing feat, but not the whole story.

She chose Stanford over Duke. Now that’s the whole story. (Just kidding.)

She became the all-time leading scorer in Stanford women’s basketball history. And she continued to make history with her professional career with the WNBA team, the Minnesota Lynx.

But that’s still not the whole story.

What separates her from other athletes is her commitment to something bigger than herself. As a 3-year-old little girl, she didn’t understand why her father, Alan Wiggins, a professional baseball player for the Baltimore Orioles and then the San Diego Padres, had to be away from her so often. She later learned that her father was in the hospital, dying from a disease that in the early ‘90s, no one wanted to talk about. As a heavy drug user he had contracted AIDS during a time when medicine and awareness were scarce and stigma ran rampant. Some of the same issues prevail today concerning the disease.

Because of that enduring stigma, Wiggins works tirelessly telling her story around the world and being the face of the non-profit organization, Until There’s a Cure (www.until.org <http://www.until.org/> ). The organization raises awareness and funds to combat AIDS. To date, the organization has raised $9 million for vaccine development, care services, and youth education.

Wiggins took some time to speak to newsone.com before the WNBA season begins:

Q. How did you get started as an AIDS activist and what are you doing now with the organization now?

A. We’re working with a lot of non-profit organizations right now. There has been huge change since my father was alive with awareness of AIDS. The most recent thing I’ve done is with Greater than AIDS, the campaign I did with my mom. I do speaking engagements telling my story. Until There’s A Cure—a non-profit organization that sells bracelets to help fund education and prevention, I am working with them. My life is about eradicating the stigma of HIV/AIDS because to me that’s where the problem lies.

Q. During the time period your father contracted the disease there was a different perception about AIDS….

A. The thing that shocks me is that the face of AIDS has changed from the early ’90s. It used to be drug users, homosexual males, and now it’s the leading cause of death for African American women in a certain age range, I think 5-36-years-old. It shows how AIDS/HIV has spread to different communities and a lot of it has to do with a lack of awareness, a lack of education, and a stigma. I highly recommend watching the documentary produced by Sheila Johnson who owns the Mystics, The Other City, about the AIDS rate in Washington DC and how it rivals African countries. It’s eye-opening.

Q. Have you ever worked with her [Sheila Johnson] as an AIDS activist?

A. I met her at the screening of the The Other City in San Francisco, she’s happy about the work I am doing. And I’m happy she was able to make such a great documentary about what HIV/AIDS is about now. It’s not just an international issue, it’s also a domestic one targeting African American women.

Q. How old were you when you found out your father had contracted the disease?

A. I have a vague memory of it, the time of his death was the beginning of my life. I vaguely remember it being a tumultuous time, I was 6, 7, 8, and I was reading articles about my Dad and trying to figure out what AIDS was. It was a vague thing until 7th grade science class where we learned about AIDS and I starting learning about the technical aspects of the disease. In the 9th grade I participated in my first AIDS walk. I felt like I don’t have to be afraid of it, I felt a lot of comfort and solace to be with people who weren’t afraid to talk about it.

Q. What age were you when your dad died?

A. I was 3 about to turn 4. He was in and out of the hospital. I was sheltered from him, no one wanted his kids to see him like he was. He was 97 pounds when he died. At that time in the 90s, there wasn’t the medicine like they have now. It was scary, I remember being scared.

Q. Had Magic Johnson come out by then?

A. Magic Johnson had really saved our family’s optimism. He taught our family how to live. He came out with it after my father died. I remember seeing as a kid this campaign he was in with McDonalds. I saw it in a kid’s magazine. He was just so brave and so strong. We felt like we weren’t alone. I actually got a chance to speak to Magic at the NBA All-Star game. He knew who I was and he knew what I was doing, he gave me a big hug. It meant the world to me.

What I learned through my work is that a lot of people are living with HIV and that’s important for people to understand that too. In the ‘90s it wasn’t really a healthy time to have HIV, psychologically healthy, that is. Nowadays people need to know that it doesn’t make it a death sentence.

Q. But what about people that cant afford the medicine?

A. Yes, there are a lot of people who can’t afford it. But there’s also physical health and mental health—being strong-willed. I met a lot of people who are HIV positive and a lot of them have touched my life because they were so happy, they cherish life, every minute of it.

Q. Your father played professional sports?

A. Yeah, he played baseball for the San Diego Padres. In 1984, he led the Padres to their first World Series. He’s a legendary baseball player. He went to same high school as Jackie Robinson and that’s who he wanted to be like. My mom used to tell me he had been playing baseball since he was a little boy and growing up as an African American boy in the ‘60s and ‘70s he had a Jackie Robinson baseball card that was signed by him. My mom said that was his most prized possession. I think a lot of people don’t realize how much he was influenced by Jackie Robinson and even followed in his footsteps. He even got drafted to the Dodgers.

Q. Do they did tell you how he contracted the disease?

A. My father was a heavy drug user. He came from a poor background. When he grew up drug use was very prevalent. He ran with gangs and drugs and his upbringing was in the inner-city. He goes to play baseball and he’s making millions and all of these troubles befall him. I can see without having that support, that solid upbringing like I had, what could happen. I was very privileged–I live in the house that he bought in San Diego, I went to private school. I knew my Dad’s story. I wanted to go to Stanford. Unfortunately no one saved him because he didn’t save himself.

Q. How long did he live with the disease before he passed?

A. I don’t think very long, the needle use goes straight to the bloodstream. I think he deteriorated fast. It was like ‘89, ‘90, and not much was known about it except if you have it, you’re pretty much dead. So I think that was what happened.

Q. In your AIDS outreach do you deal with needle exchange?

A. I was actually invited to the White House in 2009–that was the first time they invited anyone to the White house to talk about HIV/AIDS in the country and that was about putting pressure on the government to allow for needle exchange programs in the DC area and trying to lift the ban because there was a government ban. The exchange program really helps to lower the numbers.

I am really terrified of drugs, but I do feel like I have to be brave. I’m always thinking a surrender/exhange program—that maybe that could have saved my father. I don’t know. I think a lot of people turn their backs on drug users. But that’s my father. You have to have some compassion to want someone to be better, to get help, rather than turn a blind eye, because that’s how the rates get higher.

Q. What is happening in June, that’s a pivotal month for AIDS awareness, right?

A. Yes, National Testing Day is June 25th. I want to do a video to show people about getting tested. I hope that more African American women come out since this is the leading cause of death for African American women.

Q. Was your father vocal about having AIDS?

A. From what I remember and what my mom told me, he didn’t come out. I read an article in 1992 in Reader’s Digest and that article really hurt, a lot of ugly things were said and I don’t think that helped the situation.

Q. What do you think he would say about your success as an athlete and your work as an AIDS activist if he were alive today?

A. I think he would feel proud that he didn’t die in vain. And I really feel like my father, he has all of his life in me. I feel like everything that was positive about him transferred into me. I look a lot like him, I play like him, I’m built him, I talk like him–everyone tells me this. I feel like he’s been reborn in me and I’m proud of that. I always wanted to say, if he could leave his mark on the world he left me. It shows that life does goes on. I hope he’s looking down on me and is proud and that he knows he actually served a bigger purpose.

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NeNe Leakes, Star Jones, Latoya Jackson, and Dionne Warwick have all gone toe-to-toe in past episodes; as they get louder, angry, and aggressive, the ratings seem to keep on going up. Some worry that they are reinforcing the “angry black woman” stereotype.

Below is a brief example:

“Not all black women act as we too often see on TV,” says Dr. Melody T. McCloud of Atlanta, “The media shapes all of us in ways we don’t even discern; I hope it will take steps to mitigate the negative images it puts forth. I also wish those who have that national exposure would seek to present a more positive view of their character. Exhibit grace, or disgrace? ”

Read more  at AJC.com

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As part of the continuing coverage in honor of Women’s  History Month, Black Enterprise has compiled a list of suggestions for how women can develop or reinforce their professional profile.

ALSO READ: 25 Black Women You Should Know About

The article also cites a Catalyst study that reports women in corporate positions are often seen more as nurturers than they are as problem-solvers.

READ THE ARTICLE ON BLACKENTERPRISE.COM

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At the state level, black women are also steadily moving into office. The number of Black women serving in state legislatures reached 238 last year, as compared to 12 in 2009.

Sewell’s win reflects the progress and struggle black women have made in America to serve in political offices.

“We’ve come a long way, (but) we’re obviously not where we need to be,” Sewell said in a Montgomery Advertiser interview. “We need more women. We need more minorities. We need more diversity in electoral politics.”

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When I think about the beating that Black women took in 2010 and now prepare to forecast a glorious 2011 for ya’ll, I reminded how Winston Churchill said at the time when his England seemed almost certainly doomed to go down in defeat to Hitler’s Nazi Germany, “If the British Empire and it’s Commonwealth last for a thousand years, men will say: ‘This was their finest hour.’”

Well, in a year that worked it’s best to convince us that all Black women were poor, fat, dumb and disease ridden, the most impressive thing that ya’ll did collectively was avoid implosion.

You seemed to realize that all you were facing was, in reality, psychological warfare.

You seemed to understand that if you believed what was being written about you, you were lost.

Yet, ya’ll are still here, for better or worse, beaten but unbowed, bent but not broken.

Good show, ladies.

It may not always seem like Black men have your back (because probably, sometimes, we don’t), but trust that the best amongst us realize that without you guys, we’re all finished.

And let me just make this one thing clear: I’m no suck-up. I hate most of ya’ll. It’s just that ya’ll are considerably better than any possible alternative.

So now I’m going to make 3 suggestions for Black women that, since they’ll be coming for a Black man without a 20lb mustache or an 8-button suit, I’ll expect ya’ll to disregard entirely.

1.      Make Peace Internally—Lil Kim vs. Nicki Minaj is simply among the more famous cases of Black women beefing. Ya’ll need to form a union or something. Anything else is counterproductive, counterrevolutionary and holds us all back.

2.      Treat Your Kids Better than You Treat Your Hair—I know for a lot of ya’ll that sounds impossible, but trust me, when you guys out and your hair looks great but your kids look busted, the only things that people will remember are the kids.

3.      Build the Man You Want— Any woman that doesn’t realize her own personal power over men is a disgrace to her gender. You guys could end sagging pants in a weekend by just walking up to all the swaggering youth and saying “that looks gay!”

And there you have it.

I’ve given you guys pearls!

But don’t bother thanking me or even searching to find me.

I’m about to holla at Amber Rose.

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For decades, women have been trying to close the wage gap with men, who still earn more than their female peers with the same level of education. But one group — young, single women with no children — has closed that gap and is pulling ahead of their male counterparts.

An analysis of census data by consumer research firm Reach Advisors found that women between the ages of 22 and 30, without children, had bigger paychecks in 2008 than their male peers in 47 of the 50 largest U.S. cities. Their wages were 8 percent higher, on average, but varied considerably from one city to the next.

Atlanta, Ga., offered the best financial opportunity for these women, who took home 121 percent of the average wage for their peers. Young, single women were also substantially better-paid in Memphis, New York, Sacramento and San Diego.

Read more at HelloBeautiful

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In case you were wondering about the status of breast cancer, the following statistics were provided by the Northeast Ohio affiliate of Komen for the Cure.

An estimated 207,090 new cases of invasive breast cancer are expected to occur among women in the U.S. during 2010.

About 1,970 new cases of breast cancer are expected to be diagnosed in men in the U.S. in 2010.

In addition to invasive breast cancer, 54,010 new cases of in situ breast cancer are expected to occur among women in the U.S. during 2010.

Breast cancer is second only to lung cancer in cancer deaths among women in the U.S.

About 39,840 women in the U.S. are expected to die from breast cancer in 2010.

An estimated 390 men in the U.S. are expected to die from breast cancer in 2010.

According to the National Health Interview Survey, mammography rates in women 40 and older in the U.S. decreased from 70.1 percent in 2000 to 66.4 percent in 2005.

Only 51.2 percent of women 40 and older in the U.S. reported having a mammogram in the last year.

Recent studies suggest that many women in the U.S. are getting their first mammogram later than recommended, not having mammograms at recommended intervals or not receiving appropriate and timely follow-up of positive screening results. This may lead to more advanced tumor size and stage at diagnosis.

Click here to read more at WKYC

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Legs covered in skin-toned stockings, her skirt crisp to the knee, Patty Davis slips on the black heels she has shined for the day.

“Got to look good in the Lord’s house,” she says as she spritzes her neck with White Diamonds perfume and exits her black Lincoln Town Car.

Davis, 46, of Union City, Georgia, has attended African Methodist Episcopal churches since before she could crawl. She sits proudly in the pew every Sunday for service and is among the first to arrive for bible study each Wednesday.

She moves swiftly, with confidence, a weathered Bible clutched in her right hand, the day’s passages dog-eared and highlighted. She’s the type of woman who can recite scriptures with ease, her love of faith evident in her speech.

“Every day is a blessed day for me,” she says. “Jesus is the No. 1 man in my life and any man who wants me must seek me through Him.”

The unmarried Georgia native is a committed follower of the Christian faith, striving to live and breathe the gospel in her daily life. Yet, according to relationship advice columnist Deborrah Cooper, it is this devout style of belief and attachment to the black church that is keeping black women like Davis — single and lonely.

Click here to read more at CNN.com

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The chairman of the Senate Democratic Task Force released today the results of a survey on representation of women and minorities among the senior management of major firms. Survey participants represent 219 of Fortune 500 companies.

Hispanics are found to be the least proportionately represented on boards and fared worse on executive teams. The Menendez “Corporate Diversity Survey” also looked at the Fortune 500 firms practice of contracting with minority and women-owned businesses.

Story continues after Top Female Politicians gallery

“As chair of the Senate Democratic Hispanic Task Force, one of my top priorities has always been promoting and expanding diversity at all levels of our economic, political and social sectors, and the basic understanding that has resulted from this survey will help guide us in doing so,” said Sen. Menendez.

“This report clearly confirms what we had suspected all along – that American corporations need to do better when it comes to having the board rooms on Wall Street reflect the reality on Main Street, ” he said. “We need to change the dynamic and make it commonplace for minorities to be part of the American corporate structure. It is not just about doing what’s right, but it’s a good business decision that will benefit both corporations and the communities they’re tapping into and making investments in. That’s why I’m offering my recommendations and to work one-on-one with companies who want to move those numbers and company executives who want to make a difference in the community.”

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From Stltoday.com:

A new study finds that African ancestry is linked to a more aggressive type of cancer that is more deadly.

Researchers at the University of Michigan Comprehensive Cancer Center in Ann Arbor found that, among women with breast cancer, 82 percent of African women had the breast cancer called “triple negative,” 26 percent of African-Americans had the variety, and 16 percent of white Americans had it.

Click here to read more

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FROM WNYC.org:

Swimming is a great form of exercise, a refreshing summer activity and an important life skill. Yet African American women seem to be…let’s say less than enthusiastic.

“Oh no, black women don’t swim.” Michael Hawkins, an instructor at Hair Design Institute in Manhattan, often hears that from clients, students and some stylists when the subject of swimming comes up. “She’s not getting her hair wet. No that’s not gonna happen.”

Most African-American women wear their hair chemically straightened or relaxed.

To get that look, stylsts often use a chemical called sodium hydroxide to re-shape black hair into a straighter form. But pool water can be detrimental to that.

“A lot of the chlorine in the water, sometimes the salt or whatever works against the actual relaxer that you put in the hair. So over time you end up having breakage or hair shedding, coming out, things like that.”

Click here to read more.

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With an AIDS vaccine still out of reach, two rigorous new studies have found different ways to sharply cut H.I.V. infections among women and schoolgirls, who make up a majority of the newly infected in sub-Saharan Africa.

After two decades in which researchers searched fruitlessly for an effective vaginal microbicide to block H.I.V., South African scientists working in two AIDS-devastated communities of South Africa, one rural and one urban, say they have finally found something that shows real promise.

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NEW YORK — Oprah Winfrey‘s quarter-century run on daytime TV may be accompanied by a TV film dramatizing her life.

Veteran producer Larry A. Thompson said Monday the planned two- or four-hour Winfrey film will be based on Kitty Kelley‘s tell-all biography. Thompson says he has optioned it for six figures.

The TV project is expected to air in September 2011, which would coincide with the end of Winfrey’s weekday talk show.

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Thompson has produced TV biopics about Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz, and Sonny and Cher.

He calls himself “a huge fan” of Winfrey and says he’s shopping the project to networks he declined to specify. An unknown will likely be cast to play Winfrey.

A spokesman for Winfrey’s Chicago-based Harpo Productions declined to comment.

The project was first reported by the E! News website.

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JOHANNESBURG — Caster Semenya was cleared to immediately return to track by the sport’s governing body Tuesday, ending an 11-month layoff while she underwent gender tests after becoming the 800-meter world champion.

Semenya is allowed to keep running as a woman, although it is unclear if she has had any medical procedure or treatment during her time away.

The International Association of Athletics Federations said medical details of the 19-year-old South African’s case would remain confidential and it will have no further comment on the matter.

Check out our photos of track stars throughout history:

The IAAF added in its statement from its Monaco headquarters that it accepts the conclusion of a panel of medical experts that Semenya can compete with “immediate effect.”

She could return to competition at the world junior championships in Moncton, New Brunswick, starting July 19.

“I am thrilled to enter the global athletics arena once again and look forward to competing with all the disputes behind me.” Semenya said in a statement.

Richard Stander of Athletics South Africa said that Semenya would now be considered for South Africa’s team for the world junior championships, pending a fitness test in Pretoria on Wednesday requested by ASA.

“Of course we are happy,” Stander said. “When an athlete cannot compete it is frustrating for them and frustrating for us as a federation.”

Stander said the African championships in Kenya in late July and October’s Commonwealth Games in India were more realistic targets for Semenya after her long absence from competition.

Semenya’s lawyers said negotiations with the IAAF lasted 10 months and had been held in Monaco, Istanbul and Parish.

“But due to the nature of the matter the parties resolved to keep the negotiations confidential,” said Greg Nott, managing partner of Dewey and LeBoeuf’s Johannesburg office.

Semenya underwent gender tests following her dominant run as an 18-year-old at the Berlin world championships last August.

“We are delighted that Caster is finally being permitted to compete with other women, as is her legal and natural right,” lawyer Jeffrey Kessler said. “Hopefully, this resolution will set a precedent so that no female athlete in the future will have to experience the long delays and public scrutiny which Caster has been forced to endure.”

Earlier, Semenya’s father said his daughter had told him before the announcement that she was going to be cleared.

“She told me she doesn’t have any problems and she is happy,” Jacob Semenya said.

The announcement ended a saga in which the teenager burst onto the world scene in Berlin where she captured a gold medal in her first major event. Her dramatic improvement in times and muscular build led the IAAF to order gender verification tests.

Semenya was welcomed as a national hero in South Africa following her stunning victory, but reports of the gender tests and stories in the Australian media saying she had both male and female sex organs caused outrage in her home country and led some public officials to rally behind her.

Last month, South Africa’s sports ministry abruptly canceled a news conference in which it was expected to announce Semenya’s return.

South African sports minister Makhenkesi Stofile also released a statement, saying it was “great news for Caster and all of us.”

“We thank Caster for her patience and resilience,” Stofile said. “We thank her family and coach for their unfailing support.”

Last month, the sports ministry abruptly canceled a news conference in which it was expected to announce Semenya’s return to athletics.

Semenya’s lawyers said they had been told the conference, which was to be hosted by Stofile, had been called off because the IAAF’s executive committee had not received a “formal briefing” on Semenya’s case by medical officials.

South Africa’s ruling ANC party also made a public statement Tuesday, calling the decision “a vindication of the ANC, her family, our government and all progressive forces who stood behind her during her time of need.”

“It has always been our long-held view that Caster is a woman and she should have been allowed a long time ago to participate in athletics as a woman,” national spokesman Jackson Mthembu said. “We don’t believe that any aspersion should have been cast on her gender as woman.”

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Black women are again the nation’s strongest performing demographic group in this month’s official unemployment figures.

The release of today’s US Bureau of Labor Statistics data reveals that black female unemployment declined for a consecutive month in June, falling 5 per cent from a rate 12.4 per cent in May to 11.8 per cent in June.

A decrease in unemployment for a consecutive month strengthens last month’s news that unemployment for black women had decreased substantially by 10 per cent.

Black Female Unemployment Has Steepest Decline In May

If this trend were to continue through July, the official of rate of unemployment for black women would move closer to a jobless rate of 11.5 per cent, which was the case this time last year.

However, today’s data do come with a solemn reminder of the extent of unemployment in the black community.

Unemployment levels for black men increased slightly from 17.1 per cent in May to 17.4 per cent in June, making black male jobless rates the highest across all major demographic groups.

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Other figures remained flat this month, with unemployment of white Americans rising one percentage point to 8.9 per cent and joblessness in the Hispanic community shifting slightly to end the month of June at 12.4 per cent.

Observers have been critical of this recent data, claiming that the federal government’s recovery effort is moving too slow.

President Obama touched on the data today, speaking from Andrews Airforce base.

“We are headed in the right direction,” he said. But “we’re not headed there fast enough.”

Private employers this month added 83,000 jobs to the labor market, much less than anticipated.

Bureau of Labor Statistics data indicate a reduction in hours in June and a slight decrease to hourly pay rates from $22.55 in May to $22.5 in June.

The Labor Department also delivered bleak news. Their total payroll was down 125,000 following the completion of the Census assignments of 225,000 temporary government workers.

Senate Republicans Block Jobless Benefits For Long-Term Unemployed

But on a region-by-region basis, labor data show an improvement to the unemployment situation of a majority of metropolitan areas.

On June 30, the Bureau of Labor Statistics released information that shows a decrease in unemployment in 237 of 382 of the country’s major metropolitan areas.

On a national level, the current jobless rate is at 9.5 per cent of the participating workforce.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Nearly 1 in 5 American women beyond childbearing years never gave birth as fewer couples, particularly higher-educated whites, view having children as necessary to a good marriage.

An analysis of census data by the Pew Research Center, being released Friday, documents the changes in fertility rates that are driving government projections that U.S. minorities will become the majority by midcentury.

The figures show that among all women ages 40-44, about 18 percent, or 1.9 million, were childless in 2008. That’s up from 10 percent, or nearly 580,000 in 1976.

Broken down by race, roughly 20 percent of white women are childless, compared with 17 percent of blacks and of Hispanics and 16 percent of Asians. Still that gap has been narrowing: Since 1994, childlessness for blacks and Hispanics has grown by 30 percent, about three times the rate for whites.

The numbers coincide with broader U.S. trends of delayed marriage and increased opportunities for women, who now outnumber men in the work force and have drawn even with them in advanced degrees. After reaching a high of 3.7 children per woman during the baby boom, the U.S. fertility rate dropped to a historic low of 1.7 during the mid-1970s and stands at about 2.

RELATED: More Single Black Women Choosing Adoption

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The findings also come amid a historic demographic shift in which blacks, Hispanics, Asians and multiracial people are growing rapidly in the U.S. population and wielding more influence in politics and society. Minority babies now make up nearly half of all U.S. births.

“Social pressure to bear children appears to have diminished for women and that today, the decision to have a child is seen as an individual choice,” according to the report by Pew researchers Gretchen Livingston and D’Vera Cohn. “Improved opportunities and contraceptive methods help create alternatives for women.”

While higher-educated women overall are more likely to be childless, that may be slowly changing. In 2008, about 24 percent of women ages 40-44 with a master’s, doctoral or professional degree did not have children, a decline from 31 percent in 1994.

In the meantime, childlessness has risen sharply for women with less than a high school diploma — from 9 percent in 1994 to 15 percent in 2008.

Other findings:

–Less than half, or 41 percent, of surveyed Americans said that children were very important for a successful marriage. Still, a rising share of people — about 38 percent in 2009 — say the trend of increased childlessness is bad for society.

–More births are from women who never married. Among never-married women ages 40-44, about 56 percent were childless in 2008 compared with 71 percent in 1994.

RELATED: Black Children 7 Times Less Desired By Parents Seeking Adoption

–U.S. childless rates were somewhat similar, if not higher, compared with other industrialized nations. About 17 percent of U.S. women were childless at age 40, compared to 22 percent in England, and 17 percent in Italy and Ireland. The rates were between 12 percent and 14 percent for Spain, Norway, Denmark, Belgium and Sweden.

Pew, an independent research group, based its findings on 2008 data from the Census Bureau. The report analyzes the population of women who do not have biological children, as opposed to adoptive or stepchildren. Figures for “white” refer to those whites who are not of Hispanic ethnicity.

From NY Daily News:

Claudia Schiffer is one of the world’s best-loved supermodels, but she’s drawing a firestorm of criticism for her latest magazine cover.

The blond stunner is at the center of a racially-charged controversy after a photo of her in “blackface” hit the Internet this month.

In the photo, which was shot by Karl Lagerfeld two years ago as part of an ad campaign for Dom Perignon, Schiffer is disguised in an Afro wig and dark face paint, prompting accusations of insensitivity.

Text continues after gallery …

“It shows poor taste and it’s offensive,” Shevelle Rhule, fashion editor at black lifestyle magazine Pride, told U.K.’s Daily Mail. “There are not enough women of color featured in mainstream magazines. This just suggests you can counteract the problem by using white models.”

The photo resurfaced when German magazine Stern Fotografie repurposed the image as one of six hardback covers for its 60th anniversary issue.

The other covers also feature Schiffer in various costumed looks shot by Lagerfeld – as a sexy secretary, a leather-clad cop, Marie Antoinette, and even an Asian woman in a kimono.

Schiffer’s rep defended the series, saying, “The pictures have been taken out of context. The images were designed to reflect different men’s fantasies. The pictures were not intended to offend.”

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Fresh from an undisputed victory over her Democratic competitors in the race for California Attorney General, current San Francisco District Attorney Kamala Harris took the podium at The Delancey Street Foundation and, flanked by Assistant Attorney General Tony West, his wife Maya Harris, and their daughter Meena, gave the best speech of her young life in accepting the nomination as the Democratic representative in the California Attorney General race.

The Kamala Harris Acceptance Speech started off stilted at first, then when Kamala Harris relaxed and got her sea legs, soared to greatness after the eight minute mark of the video. Harris talked about the “embarrassment of riches” the Democratic Party enjoyed with so many talented candidates working together.

And resisting the crowds obvious desire for her to do so, did not take a jab at former Facebook Lawyer Chris Kelly, instead thanking him for bringing a new face to the process.

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WATCH her victory speech here:

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Black women have emerged triumphant in May’s official unemployment data, with a decrease of 10 per cent in unemployment from 13.7 per cent in April to 12.4 per cent in May.

Data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics positioned black women as the strongest performing demographic in the decline of unemployment across race and gender categories.

There was no change to the rate of unemployment of white women, which might suggest a reduction to the large unemployment gap between black and white women.

However, since February  the unemployment rate of white women has decreased one percentage point to 7.4 per cent, while that of black women has fluctuated around a rate of 13 per cent. This represents a difference of approximately 65 per cent.

Additional data compared across the twelve months from May 2009 to May 2010 indicate that the amount of black women in employment fell almost 1 percentage point from 56.5 to 55.6.

Education was also a factor in last month’s data, as unemployment levels for those without a high school diploma remained three times higher than those who had graduated.

The 52 per cent gap between the unemployment rates of black and white teenagers however remained largely unchanged.

White teenagers suffer an unemployment rate of 24.4 per cent, while 37.3 per cent of black teenagers are currently without work.

US economic data has been positive in recent times. A survey by Manpower Inc. suggested that of the 18,000 employer participants, 18 per cent were considering increasing their staff in the third quarter.

Some areas of the country however are particularly unfavourable for black workers.

Economic Policy Institute, based in Washington, released a study Tuesday highlighting total black unemployment rates of 20.9 per cent, 20.4 per cent and 13.3 for Detroit, Minneapolis and St. Louis respectively.

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