Becoming Entrepreneurs : Intersections of Race, Class, and Gender

Has the concept of intersectionality of race, class, and gender affected individuals? Women in particular? Or the minority class? According to this reading by Adia M. Harvey, feminist researchers has indicated that it has. The legal and social gain of the 1960's has had an enormous impact on black women's occupational opportunities and these realities still exist today. For working black women, the relocation of jobs to suburbs, the rise of the technology industry and lack of educational opportunities left limited work options that tended to be low paying with low prestige and little authority as well as job security or benefits. These occupations included janitorial, food or health service work.
       These interacting inequalities shifts to the focus of black women's entrepreneurship. Disadvantages in the labor market has made many fields almost impossible for black women . However, an area in particular that has been easy for black women to access is the hair industry. Madame C J Walker's success in the hair industry opened a gateway for many African American women to do the same. She became the first African American millionaire. Apart from this, racial segregation was still in common practice where whites in the beauty industry refused to service black customers. Black women were also dismissed from positions they held as the economy declined and employment becoming increasingly scarce. These factors all led to how race, gender and class shaped the entrepreneurial activity of working class black women into the hair industry.
       11 interviews were conducted with black female hair salon owners in a major city in the mid - Atlantic United States. These women all ranged from the ages of 25-50 and worked as stylists before eventually becoming salon owners. The study of these women have shown that entrepreneurship is a gendered choice that allows them to balance the demands of work and family. Many of the women felt that it was easier to meet the challenges of working full time and raising children because they are able to set their own hours to devote specific times to their children and work. The time with their children also helps to avoid professional child care which may be too expensive. The decision of becoming an entrepreneur in the hair industry shows how these women's motivations reflects the gendered notion for women to devote attention, time and money to meeting dominant standards of beauty.
       Of course, black women also face specific obstacles in the process of becoming an entrepreneur as well with these interacting inequalities. One obstacle in particular that the women that were interviewed pointed out was to access start-up funding. They felt like government was hard to get money from for small businesses because they were black and women on top of it. Therefore, they relied on their savings or loans from family and friends. These women's status as working class black women also shaped their access to social net works to use for information about availability of property to be able to purchase or rent out salons.
       The relationship between black women salon owners and the stylists they hire is also a key area in the hair industry. All of the owners hired stylists that they charged a monthly booth rent for use of space at the salon. The stylists are able to keep all the money from their business transactions but of course they are not guaranteed benefits such as medical insurance, dental insurance, retirement plans or sick leaves. But the relationship between the owners and stylists is important in the sense of the owner assisting the stylists with professional growth  and encouraging them to pursue entrepreneurship to open their own salons as well thus increasing the percentage of black women entrepreneurs.
      My sister has been a hair stylist for years. I decided to ask her a few questions based on this reading and I was amazed that her answers were similar those of the women that were interviewed. She explained her relationship with the owner of the salon which she worked at. The owner helped her become a better professional and improved her working skills. She doesn't own a hair salon now but she branched out on her own by going to her customers homes to do their hair and it works out well for her for the time being. Especially, since she receives many recommendations because of the relationship she has with her clients . She hasn't been able to open her own salon yet because she also needs financial help which she explained is hard to get from the government. Therefore, she found a way that was convenient for her without having to pay booth rent, and saving all the money that she can to open her own salon.