A New Normal: Accepting Accountability for our Invisible Daughters Within the Education Policy Cycle

• In Event: Critical Examination of Race, Ethnicity, Class, and Gender in Education: Women and Girls of Color

Abstract

Research suggests biased policies and practices are strategic and intentionally “push out” Black Women and girls. Black women and girls continuously report mistreatment and discrimination due to racial and gender related biases. Black girls experience white centered conditioning at school. Incidents of a ten-year-old who was expelled from school because her hair was determined to be a “distraction” and an eleven-year-old girl who was sent home for wearing hair extensions, are not okay. This qualitative study examines critical race theory and Black feminist thought to center on the experiences of Black Women and girls and collectively suggests key themes recommended to create intentional thriving space for them to flourish as leaders.

Author

• Lauren Williams, The University of Memphis