Black women are the most highly educated and have the highest labor force participation rates proportionately in the United States.
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Black women are the most highly educated and have the highest labor force participation rates proportionately in the United States. They are more likely to be the primary breadwinners for their families, helping the economy. Black women are more likely than other groups to be entrepreneurs, and are building media companies (Shonda Rhimes), venture capital funds (Arlan Hamilton), and women’s wellness brands (Beatrice Dixon).
At the same time that Black women are breaking barriers and driving meaningful change, they also face unique challenges, such as often being the “first” or the “only” in a leadership position. There is the wage gap for Black women that increases the more educated they are. Black women are over-represented in the lowest-paid jobs. They are also among the first to be pushed out of the workforce. Case in point: Unemployment for Black women has increased, rising to 7.3% as compared to 5.4% in January 2025 (the overall unemployment rate for workers is 4.4%).
While Black women are leading families, communities, and businesses, they are also navigating being a dual minority at the intersection of gender and race. This means they have distinctive mental health needs as compared to other demographics.
“Black women are out here making so many changes in the United States and being noticed in so many ways, and their mental health matters,” says Dr. LaNail R. Plummer, founder of Onyx Therapy Group and author of the new book, The Essential Guide for Counseling Black Women. “There are a lot of mental health professionals who are working with Black women and they have the biggest hearts, but sometimes don’t have enough information to properly support and guide them. I wrote this book to center the lived experiences of Black women in the United States to give therapists and readers of all races and genders the tools to help Black women feel truly seen and supported.”
Dr. LaNail R. Plummer, author of the new book, The Essential Guide for Counseling Black Women.
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Here are three of many key takeaways the book offers for therapists, educators, and people of all backgrounds to increase their cultural knowledge.
Many Black Women Create A Legacy Through Work
In The Essential Guide for Counseling Black Women, Dr. Plummer writes that Black women’s relationship to work is different from that of Black men and white women because they are descendants of slavery, where forced reproduction was part of their “job” to increase the labor supply and wealth of their enslavers.
In the 1960s, the Civil Rights and the Women’s Rights movements overlapped, allowing Black women to create new opportunities for themselves in ways they had not been able to before. This led to more Black women going to college, owning homes, and starting businesses.
Dr. Plummer says that many Black women have chosen new legacies related to work.
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Upsides such as increased alignment to the “American Dream” and possibilities of higher social status overlapped with challenges such as being the “first” in a workplace, being seen as a spokesperson for one’s race and/or gender, and having few or no mentors.
Still, many Black women have chosen new legacies related to work. Dr. Plummer writes, “In these cases, we see Black women who forgo the traditional or early path of marriage and parenting and use their younger years to build a legacy around work, work performance, and capital gain while climbing ladders and excelling by traditional and nontraditional standards.”
It’s important to understand how many historical and cultural contexts intersect to uniquely influence Black women’s experiences in the workplace, such as feelings of “imposter syndrome” that could stem from a lack of role models to guide them on how to navigate the workplace culture. Being aware of these contexts can help Black women get more support and improve their experiences in the workplace.
Choosing Freedom To Step Outside The Norm
To some extent all people feel the pressure of societal conditioning and to conform to cultural norms. Going against the grain or expectations of your family or community when it comes to big life decisions—such as where to live, who to partner with, or the type of job you hold—can be uncomfortable. That’s because traditionally our survival has been dependent on being part of a group.
Black women who want to blaze their own trail by making life choices that are different or unconventional for their communities have different emotional needs than other demographics.
Dr. Plummer says community-based structures (think: religion, education, Black-owned businesses) can offer Black women a sense of safety, belonging, and comfort that act as bolsters against oppressive systems such as misogyny and racism. At the same time, Black women who want to create lives different from the communities they come from may face pushback from other Black people for “forgetting about the little people.” In choosing an unconventional path, they may also face internal fears of being unsafe that are greater than their personal dreams or goals.
This might look like a Black woman moving away from her home state to find new job opportunities (there is a history of this as part of the Great Migration when millions of Black Americans left the South at the start of the 20th Century). It could look like a Black woman marrying outside her race (it wasn’t until the 1967 U.S. Supreme Court decision Loving vs. Virginia that struck down all state laws against interracial marriage in the United States). It could look like many different choices, but Dr. Plummer says it’s key for therapists to help Black women to reflect on the thoughts, feelings, and actions needed to embrace the freedom to overcome expectations from community and families, and to align mindset with possibilities.
Stereotypes Impact Black Women In The Workplace
Not all stereotypes are bad. Our brain wants to make sense of the world and the people around us. Categorizing and labeling people and situations is your brain’s way of speeding up your decision-making process. It’s tied to your survival.
That tendency for our brains to make snap judgements and assumptions about other people that aren’t always accurate has a real-world impact.
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Yet that tendency for our brains to make snap judgements and assumptions about other people that aren’t always accurate has a real-world impact. For example, the research shows that even when resumes are identical, those with white-sounding names, such as John Smith, are 50% more likely to get a job interview than ethnic-sounding names like Jamal, Venkat, or Xuan.
This impacts how Black people show up in the workplace and beyond, such as by “code switching.” Black people have been conditioned from birth to behave one way around Black people and another way around non-Black people, tied to historical roots of feeling unsafe, such as with the Jim Crow era or experiencing modern-day racial profiling by some law enforcement officials.
Dr. Plummer writes in her book that a Black woman can’t win because they have to wear “dual masks.” She says, “[A Black woman] will be stereotyped and scrutinized by white and non-Black people who do not understand her because of her race, and by Black people who may not understand her because of her education and social positioning.”
For example, a Black woman who increases her status may be referred to by other Black people as a “sellout.” A Black woman in the workplace who does not conform to relaxing her hair may be penalized for not assimilating by being passed over for opportunities (despite the passage of the CROWN Act, a law aimed to protect against race-based hair discrimination).
Stereotypes such as the persona of the “strong Black woman” can impact Black women’s mental health if she continues to persevere even in situations that may not be healthy for her or when she is expected to always do more.
Whether in a work office or therapy office, it’s vital to understand that many Black women may lean into stereotypes as a matter of survival rather than trying to stand out. This can lead Black women to feel a push-pull between authenticity and stereotyping.
Regardless of our gender, race, or occupation, each of us can do our own work to confront stereotypes that are not beneficial. For example, you might try taking one or more of the Implicit Association Tests (IAT) from Harvard University to help uncover unconscious biases you may have in areas including gender-career, race, age, and more.
As Maya Angelou said, “Do the best you can until you know better. Then when you know better, do better.”