YWCA

This month we're exploring how our healthcare system can perpetuate inequity. Below we've compiled a reading list written entirely by Black women focusing on the intersection of race, gender, and health in a variety of circumstances, including living with a disability, working as a Black doctor, and navigating the mental health system.

Our healthcare system is a maze for most, let alone folks who are furthest from privilege and opportunity. Studies show that for Black women especially face challenges receiving respect and care from medical professionals. That’s why peer-support and advocacy programs like YWCA’s BABES Network can be so crucial.

For Pride month, we’re sharing the words and stories of Black trans womxn. In light of ongoing murders of and attacks on Black trans women and folx, it is crucial that we not only say the names of those we’ve lost, but also support the Black trans womxn in the present by elevating their voices and advocating for their safety.

Widely thought of as African American Independence Day, Juneteenth is a celebration of the official end of slavery. Serving as a symbol of total freedom from slave trade across all states, today Juneteenth provides an opportunity to reflect on what progress is still needed, as well as celebrate Black joy and community.

Night after night for the past week, we have witnessed thousands of people filling the streets in cities across the United States to demand justice for George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, Tony McDade, and other victims of state-sanctioned violence and systemic racism.

All last year, YWCA brought a traveling tapestry to community events, inviting supporters to add the names of women who inspire them. Many of the strips of cloth added to the tapestry weren’t the names of historical figures and famous trailblazers, but of mothers, grandmothers, sisters, aunts, suggesting that the promise of an equitable future starts right in the home.