Brown Bodies in Pink Collars. 

I haven’t been able to release this thought from my head in 4 days.

I’ve been thinking a lot of thoughts about the profession in which I work, since I’ve been back at work. For those who don’t know, I’m a childcare provider. Early Care and Education specialist. I work with children under the age of 3 most of the time and at the moment, with children less than a year old. An “Educarer”, if you will. I’ve done this for most of my adult life. I’ve invested a lot into my education and professional development to be the best that I can be when working with very young children and their families. I get a lot of shyt from other Black women about this kind of work, especially when I was working as a Nanny. Apparently, I’m too smart and “too good” to be some “babysitter”. Well, I guess we’d love to have a bunch of dumb-asses caring for our children at the point in their lives when they do the most developing they’ll ever do. Pssshhh…whatever. I ignore it. I love what I do. I’m good at and and I know I make a difference.

With that being said, I think about Black and Latina women dominate this particular Pink Collar Industry (other Pink Collar jobs include maids, strippers, hairstylists and flight attendants) despite the fact that historically, our mothering skills are always called into question and how we often times find ourselves caring for the very young children of White women. Brown bodies in Pink Collars propping up the White Feminist movement. Thinkerate on that, family. Think about how if it were not for Black and Latina women working in the low-paying profession of childcare provider, whether it be in center-based group care or as private nannies, White women waving the flag of feminism wouldn’t be able to go out and work and be independent. Or whatever it is they do to roar as women and be heard. Women like me are who make it possible for White women to challenge the ideas and practices of patriarchy  in the work world. How I feel about my role in this fluctuates daily. That’s real for me.

Anyways, I’ve been thinking so much about this because of the arguments I’ve seen swirling about concerning racism within feminism. How White feminists are quick to recognize their own oppression and advocate for themselves but often turn a blind eye and a deaf ear to the oppression of women of color. Not only is it being dismissed but it is being perpetuated. When a White woman treats her Nanny like crap or when a poor Black mother feels isolated/singled out by the staff the mixed-income, racially-diverse child development center that her child attends, that oppression is being supported and carried out by people who benefit from the roles that are filled by the Brown Bodies in Pink Collars. If we were not there in those Pink Collars, loving and educating other women’s children, often times at the detriment of our own babies (low pay, no paid sick leave/vacation, no health insurance in most of these positions) , could those White women be all that they can be? Nope, not at all. Do they recognize this when they accuse their nannies of stealing or yelling at them when they’re 5 minutes late to work? Sometimes I honestly think they don’t, and for a lot of reasons. Class and race being the biggest of those.

It has all made me think about this feminism thing like a puzzle of sorts. If there are pieces missing, the picture cannot be complete. No one piece is more important than any of the others. I know this because being a poor woman of color, I have the perspective of always having to look up to see what is going on. I know what the deal is, believe me. Those on the top have the option of never looking down if they don’t want to. #Privilege. White women with money enough to pay for a woman like me to care for their children while they work never have to acknowledge that the reason they can see so far and so clearly in their heroic acts of feminism is because they stand upon the shoulders of Brown Bodies in Pink Collars.

~pbg