ABSTRACT
From the beginning of their importation as slave labor, AfricanAmerican women have participated in the labor force (Malson 1983). Initially confined to labor as manual and personal service workers, over the intervening decades black women gradually expanded the range of their labors outside the home to a variety of blue-collar and white-collar occupations. In recent decades they have made gains in white-collar occupations, often exceeding those of black men, especially in corporate America (MacLachlan 1993; U.S. Department of Labor 1994; Gaiter 1994). For instance, between 1984 and 1994 the percentage of black women in professional and managerial careers grew by 6 percent, from 16 percent to 22 percent, whereas the percentage of black men increased by only 3 percent, from 13 percent to 16 percent (U.S. Department of Labor 1994).
