ABSTRACT
In this chapter, the author explores how and why global public health interventions that use black women’s voices and black feminist scholarship demonstrate the utility of black feminist sociology to address sexual and reproductive health disparities for greater inclusivity of diasporic women. Currently, the major reproductive health experiences of Black women in the US center around disproportionately high numbers of low birth weight babies, unnecessary cesarean sections, birth complications, premature births, and lack of prenatal screenings. Martin also offers that this extension of Black feminist thought requires a consideration of how culture, colonialism, and class intersect to shape African women’s lives and highlight the cultural and historical realities of gendered expectations within an African context. African feminism adds that the well-being of women and their communities relies on women’s ability to “impact societal development through mothering, community building, balancing gender relations, contributing to the economy and infrastructure through entrepreneurship, and many other ways”.
