Most scholars believe that women of color suffer from double discrimination. They experience not only race discrimination, but also gender discrimination. In this seminar, Marlene Kim examines earnings disparities by race, gender, and the intersection of race and gender for African American and Asian women from 1980 to the present. She finds that African American women continue to suffer from gender and race discrimination, and that the intersection between gender and race imparts an additional third penalty as well. In other words, African American women suffer not only from double discrimination but from triple discrimination. Her findings also show that while race disparities increased for African American women, they fell for Asian American women. Preliminary findings for Asian American women indicate that Asian American suffer from an additional intersectional component.

Marlene Kim, Professor of Economics, University of Massachusetts Boston