A Strong Black Woman

What is a strong black woman? I am unsure when this belief of a black woman came into circulation or who thought it accurately characterised a black woman.

As we celebrate International Women's Day, let's not forget some women are left behind and still face many barriers due to the colour of their skin. The privileges available through the hard work of many over the years are only benefitted by a few.

Strong Black Woman

Copyright 2023 Demelza Honeyborne

Multiple reports of racial disparities exist in the maternal healthcare system in the UK and the USA, with black women viewed as strong and not getting similar care as others.

A recent report of 2023 in the UK showed that black women are denied appropriate care with black Caribbean-British (by 8%) women are less likely than Caucasian women to receive an epidural based on the possible notion that black women can handle pain better than their counterparts that with black women four times more likely to die during childbirth. This study further reported that "Black women are approximately 40% less likely to have an assisted vaginal birth (forceps/ventouse [suction] delivery) compared to white women but instead are more likely to have an emergency caesarean birth.

Black Caribbean-British women in the UK are 58% more likely than white women to be given general anaesthesia for elective caesarean births; for Black African-British women, they are 35% more likely to have general anaesthesia" (Bamber et al., 2023). The researchers, however, claimed the causes of the racial disparities were unknown, which led me to wonder.

Possibly, being told your entire life that you are a strong black woman, it is doubtful you will ask for help and show a sign of what you think is a weakness.

Many black women suffer in silence for this reason; additionally, we have a sense of responsibility to our family to keep it together. Many black girls are groomed into the roles of homemakers and mothers around the world and left out of schools, while the boys are educated and told they are the household breadwinners and leaders.

As International Women’s Day is celebrated, let's not forget little girls become women, and many women are failed by society and are continuously left behind or pigeonholed into roles that are deemed women's place in life.

Let us not neglect the mental health of these young girls, which will continue to impact their lives many years later, leading them to accept whatever abuse and circumstances they face.

Let educate young black women to know that mental health illnesses are not limited to one group. It is not a Western disease, and having anxiety or depression is not a sign of weakness.

In recent years, I have refused to refer to myself as a strong black woman. I understand we are tolerant, persistent, persevering, and hard-working, but this does not mean we do not hurt or suffer from mental health issues like every other human. Women must look after their mental state and educate themselves to be better equipped.