Janette Dill (
Mignon Duffy, University of Massachusetts Lowell, Lowell, Massachusetts.
Health Aff (Millwood). 2022 Feb;41(2):265-272. doi: 10.1377/hlthaff.2021.01400.
The objective of this study was to describe how structural racism and sexism shape the employment trajectories of Black women in the US health care system. Using data from the American Community Survey, we found that Black women are more overrepresented than any other demographic group in health care and are heavily concentrated in some of its lowest-wage and most hazardous jobs. More than one in five Black women in the labor force (23 percent) are employed in the health care sector, and among this group, Black women have the highest probability of working in the long-term-care sector (37 percent) and in licensed practical nurse or aide occupations (42 percent). Our findings link Black women's position in the labor force to the historical legacies of sexism and racism, dating back to the division of care work in slavery and domestic service. Our policy recommendations include raising wages across the low-wage end of the sector, providing accessible career ladders to allow workers in low-wage health care to advance, and addressing racism in the pipeline of health care professions.
本研究旨在描述结构性种族主义和性别主义如何塑造美国医疗保健系统中黑人女性的就业轨迹。利用美国社区调查的数据,我们发现,黑人女性的过度代表性超过了医疗保健领域的任何其他人群,而且她们高度集中在一些工资最低、危险系数最高的工作岗位上。在劳动力大军中,每五个黑人女性中就有一个(23%)从事医疗保健行业,而在这一群体中,黑人女性从事长期护理行业的可能性最高(37%),从事有执照的实践护士或助手职业的可能性最高(42%)。我们的研究结果将黑人女性在劳动力中的地位与性别主义和种族主义的历史遗产联系起来,可以追溯到奴隶制和家政服务中护理工作的分工。我们的政策建议包括提高该行业低薪端的工资,提供可获得的职业阶梯,让低薪医疗保健工作者能够晋升,并解决医疗保健行业职业通道中的种族主义问题。