Motherhood While Black
The hard truth about race and parenthood
WHITNEY N. LASTER PIRTLE
The hard truth about race and parenthood
WHITNEY N. LASTER PIRTLE
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As a sociologist, I study racial disparities in health. Statistics on pregnancy and infant health are often cited to illustrate the racial health gap; for example, infant mortality for black women living in Fresno, Calif., is nearly 19 per every 1,000 deaths, three times the national rate for white women.
As a sociologist, I study racial disparities in health. Statistics on pregnancy and infant health are often cited to illustrate the racial health gap; for example, infant mortality for black women living in Fresno, Calif., is nearly 19 per every 1,000 deaths, three times the national rate for white women.
Ample research has shown that this disparity is not due to genetics or social class but is the result of stress accumulation, based on race and gender, over the life course.
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