"That single-mother element" - How white employers typify black women

Many employers assess their workforces with gendered and racialized imagery that can put groups of workers and applicants at a disadvantage in the lab or market. Based on 78 interviews with white employers in Atlanta, the auth or reveals that some employers use a complex but widely shared stereotype o f Black working-class women as single mothers to typify members of this gro up. These employers use this single-mother image to explain,why they think Black women are poor workers, why they think Black women are reliable worke rs, and why they think Blacks are poorly prepared for the labor market In f ocusing on these white employers' claims, the author concentrates not on th e well-documented outcomes of labor market discrimination such as different ial rates of pay and promotion, but on how employers construct and use the images that may form the basis of it. This is especially relevant amid curr ent attacks on affirmative action programs.