Black Women, Equity, and Education: Sapphires, Mammies, and Misogynoir

• In Event: Women Navigating Educational Leadership

Abstract

My paper examines the feminization of equity work, names it as care work and explores the ways this work is largely connected to the mammy and sapphire tropes within a Canadian context. Using two case studies I examine the employment of the mammy and sapphire tropes to identify the origins of the harm Black women educators experience through equity work. I apply my Integrated Afro-Feminist Theoretical framework, that employs Afrocentric storying as a way to examine the harm Black women educators experience. In response to the harm that Black women equity educators experience I call for the enactment of an ethic of caring framework in equity work.

Author

• Myrtle Sodhi, York University