Sexism among first-generational, black females in the field of education and the effects that it has on these specifics.

Maya Johnson

UGS 303

29 October 2020

Term Paper Outline

(1) Introduction:

What is your topic?

Sexism among first-generational, black females in the field of education and the effects that it has on these specifics.

Why/how is your topic significant to contemporary American society?

Sexism, in and of itself, is an important concept within contemporary society being that the gender discrimination of females prohibits women from opportunities presented in the world for the basis of American society continuously running off a basis of patriarchy. Being a black woman amid this gender bias creates a larger problem given the hierarchy for which women stand and the socially constructed caste system of the black community. Having little to no knowledge in regards to how unjust our American system is, i.e., being first-generation, not only deteriorates your character in society but proves your existence to seemingly have no purpose. In this, I mean to say that the combination of black, female, and first-generation hurts the cycle for which we hope to evoke through younger females as the role of sexism plays all the more grandly in the lives for which one is to live.

How will you lay out the specific angle/argument that you will take on this topic?

I believe I’d like to identify the different forms of sexism to grasp the unique understanding of the term and then evolve it into the world of education, furthermore the negative effects that it has on students. I feel as if I can draw a line of correlation between white and black females experiencing some form of sexism in turn of how vicious the black “side” is opposed to that of a white female. I take into account the fact that these students are first-generation, proposing the instance that seeing as the knowledge of knowing is a bit absent in a sense, women are more prone to be subjects of sexism. This will, of course, look into the why of the first-generation sequence of these students to identify potential key indicators that may have risen these acts of sexism (i.e., financial upbringing).

Do you have a thesis/central takeaway/central critical emphasis within your topic?

Black women who are first-generation are a part of two categories that are constantly marginalized and experience high levels of sexist acts to be committed against them.

What is the scope of your research (specifics of your topic by school type, regional location, etc)?

I don’t have a basis of research as everything in regards to sexism is a bit scattered. The only developed form of commonality among my searches would be the way for which sexism affects black, first generation students, and the toll for which it takes on their rate of success.

(2) Literature Review:

What is the critical context for your topic?

In its entirety, the manner of what sexism is and what exactly is classified as sexism is required knowing as it is the basis of my research. Without knowing the underlying concepts that sexism follows, it makes the matter of grasping the material difficult in that its application to black, first-generation students would simply go over your head.

What has been written about your topic in scholarly articles/books?

As a simple summarization of these different articles, they replicate the instance of ‘how’ black women, typically first generation students, undergo a series of sexism throughout their lifetime in discussing what in specific about their upbringing encourages sexism. This could be so much as the financial hiatus of one female and the emotional backing of another. A majority of articles compliment one another in terms of piggybacking shown arguments and offering another source of information, but none actually propose a solution for the issue at hand. Offered are several different approaches to what sexism may reflect in the life of not only women, but that of a black woman, and what the different forms of sexism look like in an (un)conscious manner.

Ricka, S. A. (2014). Falling Through the Cracks: Black Girls and Education. Retrieved October 7, 2020, from https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ1063223.pdf

Are there multiple viewpoints to consider?

In theory, yes, seeing that there are several ways to come and go about this issue in the educational field, but in technical terms of the writing discussing this ongoing issue? No, with every researcher initially coming across the same sequence of explanations for which the previous one had. Potentially how has this issue come about, more particularly, could this issue possibly stimulate from an undiscovered history of sexism against women in higher level learning? Or, what are repeated patterns shown by suspects of sexism that can indicate an act of sexism may/will occur in due process following the study of said suspect? Is sexism real to the sense that America was legitimately built on the basis of man? So many different aspects of sexism shall be considered in the creation of a response to the issue but are these perspectives being taken into consideration for the protection of our young, black, first generation college students? No.

Luedke, C. L. (2017, January 21). Person First, Student Second: Staff and Administrators of Color Supporting Students of Color Authentically in Higher Education. Retrieved October 10, 2020, from https://muse.jhu.edu/article/646661

What are some recurring research questions/paradigms that are regularly applied to your topic?

1.) What is sexism and its counterparts?

2.) Is sexism a real concept?

3.) Can sexism be a neutral gender discrimination in terms of racial association (i.e., is sexism applicable for all races)?

(3) Findings/Discussion:

Your thesis/central takeaway?

Black women who are first-generation are a part of two categories that are constantly marginalized and experience high levels of sexist acts to be committed against them.

Callen, R. D. (2018). Black, Female, First-Generation College Students: Perceptions of Academic Persistence. Retrieved October 7, 2020, from https://scholarship.miami.edu/discovery/delivery?vid=01UOML_INST%3AResearchRepository

(4) Political Significance to Society:

What does your topic reveal about the place of Black Americans in American society? What is the political significance of your topic for improving/addressing the societal needs/challenges of Black Americans?

As a general idea of sexism, I believe that it helps to highlight the failure of justice served to black females serving as first generations in these nationally ranked institutions being that there are a lot of instances where a vile act of sexism was committed (whether it be in the state of verbal abuse to a more inappropriate manner of physical).

(5) Conclusion:

Review the scholarly contribution that you are making to your topic-what is unique/a new perspective on your topic in this essay?

I think a new take on sexism that was made in this essay was one of the effects that it has on graduation rates and the ways for which we can solve this issue. Sexism drastically reduces the amount of success that first generation, black females have as the pressure placed among these students is far greater than the will to succeed in life.

Summarize the scope of your research paper.

There are several different ways to go about sexism, in specifics to black women that categorize as first generation in higher level education practices, and the ways for which these issues are primarily ignored even with substantial increases of complaints of this issue. I propose different ways for which sexism may approach through the economic hiatus that a black woman typically stimulates from, the education outcry in regards to their levels of performance in school, and potentially the all-around support methods that black, first-generation black women receive to demonstrate a study on the success rates of these students in regards to their gender. Gender discrimination has become an overwhelming issue, plentiful in the business world for which creates a decrease in a black womans’ rate of success for being black, woman, and first-generation. With this, I intend to offer effective methods of coming to an end of this issue with carefully acknowledging all three instances of this argument: 1.) Woman, 2.) Black, 3.) First-Generation, methods that may be useful as long term standing.

Burton, L., Cyr, D., & Weiner, J. (2020, April 17). "Unbroken, but Bent": Gendered Racism in School Leadership. Retrieved October 6, 2020, from https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/feduc.2020.00052/full

Eddy, S., & Hogan, K. (2017, October 13). Getting Under the Hood: How and for Whom Does Increasing Course Structure Work? Retrieved October 10, 2020, from https://www.lifescied.org/doi/10.1187/cbe.14-03-0050

Emphasize your central thesis/takeaway and its use value/significance within US society.

On a day to day basis do first generation females in themselves experience acts of sexism with their small idea of knowing, but racism, too, takes a huge effect on the intensity of sexism for black women given the history of African Americans. This primarily holds significance in America as it’s a huge prevention in the obtaining of higher level learning and potential graduation rates as sexism prohibits these students from doing so. Because the stigma around black individuals in the education field, it’s not anything out of the ordinary for sexism to have such high reports in the black community seeing that in this white society, black success should be nonexistent. In this day in age where black people are rising from the depths of suffrage that whites have put them under, black women are becoming more powerful and more articulate in their ways of voicing their opinions, especially in sexist environments such as education.