“Black Women Best” in Ohio

Policies to support Black women — and everyone

By crafting public policy to specifically benefit Black women, Ohio’s leaders can improve economic conditions, health outcomes, and overall well-being for Ohioans of all races and genders. Policy Matters Ohio’s Juneteenth report, Black women can thrive in Ohio: Implementing a Black Women Best framework, explains how.

The report examines how exploitive employment practices, failures in the health care system, and a deeply flawed criminal legal system stack the deck against Black people of all genders and against women of all races, doing the most harm to those who identify with both groups.

“This is what we mean by ‘intersectional analysis,’” said report co-author Bree Easterling. “It’s common knowledge that certain groups of people are too often ignored or actively harmed by public policy decisions. But people don’t fit neatly into single, discrete demographic groups. Black women have to navigate systems created to prevent Black people from thriving, and overcome obstacles faced by women of all racial and ethnic backgrounds.”

The report advocates the use of a “Black Women Best” framework, based on the idea that policies targeted to benefit Black women will reach others who are also struggling against the odds to live, study, work, raise families, and build communities.

“Legislators and other leaders can live up to principles of justice by putting Black women at the center of policy conversations,” said report co-author Tanisha Pruitt, PhD. “By doing so, they can fulfill one of their basic responsibilities: to create public policy that helps everyone, regardless of race, gender, ability, or status.”