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Many factors contribute to the increasing gap between the number of college-educated African American men and women. The so-called war on drugs has more than tripled the rate of imprisonment for black men under 30 years of age since 1980. Homicide and other violent deaths also rose dramatically among African American men during that same period. The result: fewer African American men alive or out of prison that might attend college. In addition, studies indicate that tracking of young African American men into vocational education and fear of black males among public school educators present barriers to academic achievement.

Some suggest that black families have historically sent more daughters to college than sons (the reverse of what is often considered the norm) because they believed their sons had a better chance of employment without a college education than their daughters. Young black women had few choices besides domestic work. Parents did not want their daughters working in the home of affluent whites for fear of sexual abuse. Families that could sought to protect their daughters with an education.

Regardless of the reasons, most African American women do not attend college at all and precious few hold down coveted, high paying jobs. Gaps in academic and professional achievement between black men and women are not a result of too much attitude and independence among African American women; they are symptoms of deeper problems of systemic social and economic injustice.

Blame For Profit

This latest round of blame in books and film provides the cultural cover for what’s really a facile macroeconomic approach to job creation. In life prescribed by the culture industry, black men will take their “rightful” place as king of the castle and wage earner -- preferably at a blue-collar job. Black women -- scared of the prospect of a life alone and with “how to” books in hand -- will shape up, find husbands and leave their “good” jobs for the men who “deserve” them. We’ll learn to live for our husbands and sons like the “happy wife” in Soul Food and not dare to be powerful like the evil, wretchedly unhappy woman lawyer in that movie. We’ll play by The Sistahs’ Rules and live the dream of Leave it to Beaver in black face.

Of course, it’s a pipe dream. Few families black, white or otherwise can afford for a parent to stay home full time. But it’s a much easier explanation for what’s wrong with the economy than the stasis of capitalism, lower wages, and the changing means and processes of production. When economics gets too complex, it’s always simpler to blame the women. After all, from book sales to beauty products, making African American women feel insecure and abnormal is a mighty profitable industry.