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African-American women in politics

Misogynoir in Politics

Misogynoir is misogyny directed towards black women where race and gender both play roles in bias. It was coined by queer Black feminist Moya Bailey. The term was created to tackle the misogyny directed toward black women in American visual and popular culture as well as in politics. In the U.S political sphere, misogynoir has led to the lack of African American Women in politics. The number of African-American elected officials has increased over the last four decades, however black people remain underrepresented at all levels of government. Black Women make up less than 3% of U.S. representatives and there are no black women in the U.S. Senate.

In comparison to Black Man, Black Women tend to be more active participants in the electoral process and this could lead to more potential for Black Women to equal or surpass Black Men in the number of elected officials within their race. However, because of issues of both race and gender it has been much harder for African-American Women to rise in the political sphere. When fighting for equal voting rights, Black Women found that they were often surrounded by sexist Black Men who did not want them to rise in power, and racist White Women who did not want them to be on the same level.