Category: The World

Racial Disparities and Resiliency in Mental Health

Posted on | by

Racial Disparities and Resiliency in Mental Health

Helena Huynh
October 2025

Socioeconomic status has often been implicated as a major predictor when it comes to mental health issues in children and adolescents[4] in a number of different types of disorders. One theory that potentially explains this relationship, known as the social causation hypothesis,[4] posits that chronic stress, typically associated with lower-income households, can contribute to mental health onset. In addition, early life adversities have been suggested to contribute to this issue.[6] This can entail experiences like physical or emotional abuse, experiencing domestic violence, substance use, or incarceration that occur in childhood. 

Image by Freepik

Studies have shown that African American and Latinx communities are more likely to be adversely impacted, with a higher likelihood of attending high-poverty schools.[1] Furthermore, minority groups are more likely to experience discrimination, which has cascading impacts that can affect health care access or quality of care.[1] These all impact psychological well-being, potentially creating disparities when it comes to mental health. 

Gender Disparities Within Racial Inequalities 

Gender identity is another factor that contributes to disparities in mental health. For example, women experience certain mental illnesses at a higher prevalence rate compared to men, such as PTSD and depression.[2] However, in order to understand how to best address mental health concerns, we need to adopt an intersectional approach and incorporate multiple aspects of an individual’s identity. For example, we must consider how gender identity intersects with racial identity, especially throughout the lifespan. About 1 in 3 women going through pregnancy experience symptoms related to depression and anxiety, with higher rates reported in women of color.[2] Later in life, African American women are more likely to experience depression symptoms when transitioning to menopausal periods.[2] In spite of these differences, women of color are less likely to seek psychological help, further widening the gap when it comes to mental health equity. Research aimed at dissecting why this is can help pioneer changes for women of color to seek mental health resources.

Addressing Inequalities: Resiliency in Mental Health

Research has focused its efforts on understanding different factors that might be protective when it comes to racial minority mental health. Ethnic identity, for example, has recently been identified as a potential resilience factor and is defined as a sense of belonging, pride, and attachment to ethnic group membership.[5] Having a stronger ethnic identity creates a sense of belonging within a group, and this can promote positive self-esteem and coping mechanisms that lead to better mental health outcomes. Additionally, ethnic identity is closely tied with social support,[3] which can also contribute to positive mental health outcomes. One study found that increased traumatic exposure was associated with increased lifetime psychiatric diagnoses, with race and ethnicity implicated as significant predictors of these diagnoses.[5] Interestingly, ethnic identity actually served as a moderator between these relationships: individuals with stronger ethnic identities reported lower numbers of psychiatric diagnoses. In the study sample, both African American and Caucasian women experienced buffering effects associated with stronger ethnic identities. 

In continuing research on resilience, particularly resilience factors that might relate to racial identity and experience, we can look to inform interventions. In doing so, we can address this pressing disparity in minority mental health and provide tools to bridge the gap, creating a healthier, supportive future for all.

References

[1] American Psychological Association. (2017). Ethnic and Racial Minorities & Socioeconomic Status. American Psychological Association. https://www.apa.org/pi/ses/resources/publications/minorities 

[2] Ballone, N., & Richards, E. (2023). Racial/ethnic disparities and women’s mental health. Psychiatric Clinics of North America, 46(3), 571–582. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.psc.2023.04.011 

[3] Moore, K., Munson, M. R., Shimizu, R., & Rodwin, A. H. (2022). Ethnic identity, stress, and personal recovery outcomes among young adults with serious mental health conditions. Psychiatric Rehabilitation Journal. https://doi.org/10.1037/prj0000523 

[4] Reiss, F. (2013). Socioeconomic inequalities and mental health problems in children and adolescents: A systematic review. Social Science & Medicine, 90, 24–31. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2013.04.026 

[5] Townsend, T. G., Kaltman, S., Saleem, F., Coker-Appiah, D. S., & Green, B. L. (2017). Ethnic disparities in trauma-related mental illness: Is ethnic identity a buffer? Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 35(11–12), 2164–2188. https://doi.org/10.1177/0886260517701454 

[6] Zhang, X., & Monnat, S. M. (2022). Racial/ethnic differences in clusters of adverse childhood experiences and associations with Adolescent Mental Health. SSM – Population Health, 17, 100997. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ssmph.2021.100997 

The Fatal Cost of Being Female

Posted on | by

The Fatal Cost of Being Female

Maya Omkar
August 2025

Author’s Inspiration

I first became grossly aware of South Asian femicide when I picked up Rupi Kaur’s “the sun and her flowers.” Published in 2017, “the sun and her flowers” was Kaur’s second collection of poetry, desired for its minimalistic illustrations and simplistic but preeminent language. Needless to say, I enjoyed flipping through her array of relatable and beautifully descriptive poems; however, there was only one page that moved me deeply to the point where I think about it today. It was a page controversial for not even being a poem: her timeline of South Asian female infanticide. 

As the name suggests, femicide is the intentional murdering of girls or women. Sexism to the point of murder is rooted in centuries of cultural norms, religious beliefs, patriarchal societal structures, and in specified cases, wartime. 

For decades, women have been subjected to several forms of violence and murder whether it be honor-killings, dowry-related, societal downpour, or even just pure domestic violence.[1] Historically, the most common reason for femicide is due to social stigma, often resulting in infanticide. As South Asia’s origins were rooted in deep-seated patriarchal structures, the thought of birthing a girl has been, and sometimes still is, negatively provoking. Today, in several South-Eastern Asian countries, including the likes of China, parents are prohibited from learning the sex of the fetus. From the 1990s to 2017, 10.7 million female infants were documented as missing in India alone.[2] The sex ratio for male versus female has always been off balance in the South-Eastern region, notoriously always favoring males. Today, several organizations in South Asia such as The Pushpa Project and the Invisible Girl Project have branched together to raise awareness and prevent female infanticide from materializing. However, this doesn’t mean cases don’t occur. On September 1st of 2024, a 28-year-old Khyala woman strangled her 6-day-old daughter to death. During the investigation, they found the newborn in a bag lying on the terrace of the house across from hers. The woman told the police she had already faced extreme social stigma for birthing three daughters previously and wanted to repel the suppositions that she was cursed.[5]

Honor killings usually occur when a woman is subjected as “impure,” usually through the breaking of purity norms. A woman’s actions that are deemed dishonorable to her family may result in a homicide, usually committed by a close male relative. The justification for this mindset can only be explained through the common systematic devaluing of women which can be found across many cultures historically. Honor killings are most prevalent in countries where family reputation, societal norms, and community cohesion is significantly important to daily living. In contrast to domestic violence, honor killing is a decision typically made carefully and under the right set of standards where the costs and benefits are weighed. One might assume punishment acts as a deterrent, but the prospect of jail time isn’t an impending concern when it comes to honor killing. Acts of impurity include: refusing an arranged marriage, courting a man other than her husband, divorcing and remarrying, or having an extramarital entanglement.[4] In some cases, the murder is even publicly announced in a boast of glee. In Syria, a woman remembered, “I had just reached the police station…when I saw my classmate Aziz joyfully descending a hill…and chanting ‘I’ve killed her and saved my family’s honour! I’ve killed my sister and have come to hand myself over for justice.’ The three of them strolled slowly into the police station, chatting amicably.”[3] Globally, it’s believed that around 5,000 to 20,000 female lives are taken from honor killing in a year alone. 

 Although the cited cases of femicide and female infanticide occurred in South-East Asia and the Middle East, domestic violence against women is a global issue—it’s everywhere. Regardless of location, gender-based discrimination persists in every society. In much larger and recent cases, when a country is subjected to wartime, gender violence heightens tremendously. The Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) has been engulfed by a savage war since the mid 1990s. Enriched militant groups have employed sexual violence towards women as a tactic of war, and hasn’t stopped. General Secretaries of the International Trade Union Conference (ITUC) Burrow and Warda wrote, “Violence against women is the worst manifestation of women’s powerlessness and subordinate position at home, at work and in society.”[6] A UN report announced over 55,000 cases of sexual violence documented in the second quarter of 2024.[7] Sexual violence is systematically being used as a method of war in places such as Congo and Sudan.[6] 

Femicide isn’t just a cruel grievance against the individual woman or girl; it’s a feature of a deeply-set sexist society that has failed to protect half its population. No law or paper will ever change the normality of femicide—it demands a change in cultural perseverance and a global commitment to valuing men and women equally. The ongoing difficulties women battle each day serves only as a reminder of the pressing problems we have to face. 

References 

[1]  CORRADI, C. (2021, November 22). Femicide, its causes and recent trends: What do we know? European Parliament. https://www.europarl.europa.eu/RegData/etudes/BRIE/2021/653655/EXPO_BRI(2021)653655_EN.pdf

[2] Cultural and Social Bias Leading to Prenatal Sex Selection: India Perspective. (2022, June 13). PubMed Central. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC9234277/

[3] Churchill Robert Paul. 2018. Women in the Crossfire: Understanding and Ending Honor Killing. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.

[4] Aksoy, O., & Szekely, A. (2025, April 11). Making Sense of Honor Killings. SageJournals. https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/00031224251324504#bibr11-00031224251324504

[5] Jalali, U. (2024, September 1). Female infanticide: Mother of three girls, Khyala woman kills fourth daughter. The New Indian Express. 

[6] ITUC. (n.d.). Violence Against Women in Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo.

[7] United Nations. (2024, September 30). DRC: MSF publishes alarming figures on sexual violence admissions. https://www.un.org/sexualviolenceinconflict

The Pink Tax: The Hidden Cost of Being a Woman

Posted on | by

The Pink Tax: The Hidden Cost of Being a Woman

Manushree Kanchi
June 2025

Even though it may sound like a government-imposed fee, the “Pink Tax” is not an actual tax. Instead, it describes the overpricing of products and services marketed solely towards women. This “tax” encompasses a wide range of items from drugstore to professional. Women are often faced paying more than men for the same items with the only difference being the color of packaging or the gender label. It is disparities like these that quietly add up over time to contribute to the expensive cost of being a woman.

Image by Freepik

In Everyday Life

A 2015 study by the New York City Department of Consumer Affairs studied an estimate of 800 products. The conclusion found that women’s products cost an average of 7% more than similar items that are marketed to men. The study also showed that there was a 13% upcharge on personal care products and even a 7% price difference for children’s items. Neutrally categorized items such as razors and lotions are usually priced higher for women. They are often packaged in pink and labeled “for her”. [1]

Not only do products reflect this gendered pricing, but services do as well. For example, the dry cleaners may charge more to clean a woman’s blouse than a man’s shirt, even when the materials are nearly identical. Haircuts for women tend to be more expensive than men’s, regardless of hair length. These patterns in pricing are integrated so deeply into everyday life that most people don’t even question them. However, these common occurrences do accumulate quickly and over the course of a year, can cost women over $1,300 more than men. [2]

Compounding the Wage Gap

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, women earn about 83 cents for every dollar a man earns. For women of color, the gap is even wider. Overall, women are often spending more while earning less. [3]

Critics of the term “Pink Tax” sometimes argue that women can just buy men’s products to avoid the markup of their own. While this is true, this dismisses the real issue at hand. Many women feel pressure to use products marketed specifically for them to meet societal standards of appearance or femininity. Some essential items like menstrual products have no male equivalent at all. In many U.S. states, feminine hygiene products have been taxed as luxury items. 

Legal Action & What Comes Next

There are some states that have taken steps towards addressing the issue. In 2022, California passed the Gender Tax Repeal Act, which prohibits businesses from charging different prices for “substantially similar” goods based on gender. [4] While there are a couple states with legislation like this in place, efforts to pass a federal Pink Tax Repeal Act have been stalled, leaving many American consumers unprotected from gender-based pricing.

Ending the Pink Tax isn’t just about lowering prices of personal products or services. It’s about economic fairness and gender equity. While women pay more when they earn less, society silently penalizes them for their gender. Advocates and lawmakers must continue pushing for change to ensure pricing becomes fair and truly equal.

References

[1] From Cradle to Cane: The Cost of Being a Female Consumer. (n.d.). https://www.nyc.gov/assets/dca/downloads/pdf/partners/Study-of-Gender-Pricing-in-NYC.pdf 

[2]: Taylor, K. R. (2023, March 8). Pink tax: What does price discrimination cost women?. Kiplinger. https://www.kiplinger.com/taxes/pink-tax-womens-products-price-discrimination 

[3] Ascott, E. (2025, March 21). Women still earn 83 cents to every dollar made by men, despite pay transparency. Allwork.Space. https://allwork.space/2025/03/women-still-earn-83-cents-to-every-dollar-made-by-men-despite-pay-transparency/#:~:text=Women%20 Still%20 Earn%2083%20 Cents,By%20 Men%2C%20 Despite%20 Pay%20 Transparency 

[4] California implements “Pink tax” law prohibiting gender-based pricing for substantially similar products | practical law. (n.d.-a). https://uk.practicallaw.thomsonreuters.com/w-037-9037?transitionType=Default&contextData=(sc.Default)&firstPage=true 

Is the Literary Industry Racially Diverse?

Posted on | by

Is the Literary Industry Racially Diverse?

Gabriela Castro 
July 2024

Did you know that 95% of fiction books published in the U.S. between 1950 and 2018 were written by white authors?[7] Considering the fact that 10.5% of the U.S. population were minorities in 1950 and that percentage has only increased in the years since, this shows a historical underrepresentation of authors of color in literature.[3][4]

Contemporary BIPOC Authors are Persistently Underrepresented

Needless to say, efforts to understand and address the racial disparity of authored works have been sluggish. Only two of the infamous Big Five publishing houses–which control over 80% of the publishing market–have just begun to show transparency in surveying the diversity of its authors.[7] Penguin Random House–arguably the biggest literary publishing conglomerate–published a survey review which found that 23.5% of its authors who published between 2019 and 2021 were people of color.[7] By comparison, in 2022 Hachette publishing disclosed its third annual report on diversity that 34% of book acquisitions were written by minority authors in 2021, an increase from 29% in 2020, and 22% in 2019.[7] Considering the fact that racial minorities make up about 40% of the U.S. population, this shows a persistent underrepresentation of authors of color in literature despite recent efforts by these two literary publishing agencies to amplify and publish BIPOC writers.[4]

Image by vecstock on Freepik

Pervasiveness of Whiteness in Publishing

A review of the literary agencies demonstrates that this diversity issue isn’t limited to authors. According to Lee and Low, approximately 72.5% of publishing, review journal, and literary agency staff are white.[5] While this report noted a moderate improvement from the 79% of publishing, review journal, and literary agency staff who identified as white in 2015, this data is misleading as minorities make up a 63.8% majority of literary interns but hold less than 30% of executive, editorial, sales, marketing, book reviewing, literary specialist, and literary agent positions.[5] It is dubious to claim that diversity in publishing has truly improved if minorities are holding the majority of entry-level literary positions but are lacking in associate positions or higher.

Not only are writers of color historically and persistently marginalized in the literary industry, but this disenfranchisement is pervasive in the staffing of those involved in the publishing industry. To underscore this issue, the vast majority of literary employees are straight (68.7%), nondisabled (83.5%), and/or cis women (71.3%), highlighting the need for LGBT+, disabled, and gender nonbinary personnel in the literary industry.[5] 

Representation in Literary Content

Among youth-centered literature, recently published books themselves have diversity on par with the population. In 2023, the Cooperative Children’s Book Center (CCBC) found 40% of total books for children and teens have at least one BIPOC primary character (fiction) or human subject (nonfiction).[8] This is also considering the fact that many published books may not include human characters or subjects since they are imaginative and intended for kids.[8] In terms of content, the CCBC noted that 49% of the children and YA books had significant BIPOC content, an increase from 46% in 2022.[8] 


The caveat to diversity in children’s and teen’s books is that it comes in the wake of scrutiny and pushback in the form of book bans.[6] While it is important to be critical of media consumption, especially for the safety of children, the drastic extent of book censorship can create an overly sanitized and homogenized selection of literature for readers to choose from. 

These book bans can hinder critical thought from young readers by preventing children’s exposure to an identity they would not otherwise understand outside of verbal opinion. In other words, banning books on the basis of them being “too diverse” or controversial leaves children susceptible to others’ bias and unable to form opinions of their own. Denying access to books that address social issues such as racism, sexism, or discrimination leaves children and readers in general liable to internalize and perpetuate stereotypes they hear or witness elsewhere. This can be mitigated by reading books related with various social transgressions. Books that are related to real-life issues can give children examples of ways people interact with each other that are not positive, or healthy. Such books can be used as lessons for children to learn how to productively and prosocially interact with others. This is supported by the fact that reading fiction books fosters empathy.[2] Giving children access to them the faculties and compassion to live inclusively with others. 

Additionally, readers from all backgrounds, but especially marginalized backgrounds, can benefit from being immersed in literature that focuses on characters both like and unlike themselves. Having more diverse authors allows room for more diverse experiences and creative stories. This way, young readers are exposed to literature written by authors who know from experience that they are not a monolith, but complex individuals with unique backgrounds, invaluable cultural backgrounds, worthy of being seen as they are and in places beyond their imagination.[1] It is important to inspire future leaders and adults of tomorrow.

Conclusion

To summarize, the vast majority of books published in the US have historically been written by white authors.[3][7] Not only have publishing agencies been reluctant to publish author demographics, but these disparities persist despite efforts by publishers to close such gaps.[4][7] The majority of staff in the literary publishing industry are white, cisgender, women, straight, and non-disabled, with racial minorities being concentrated in entry-level positions.[5] While we see a significant uptick in children’s books written by POC writers, these have equally been challenged by book bans in school districts across the country.[6][8] These book bans prevent children from learning about social isues, dismantling social issues in their own day-to-day lives, and simply seeing themselves or their peers represented in the literature they consume.[1][2] It is imperative to address obstacles to diversity in publishing because it is important for consumers and publishers of literature to see themselves in literary contexts and for people to practice the golden rule–-treating others how they would like to be treated.[1][2] 

References

[1] Adichie, C. N. (2009, July). The Danger of a Single Story . TED. https://www.ted.com/talks/chimamanda_ngozi_adichie_the_danger_of_a_single_story?subtitle=en

[2] Bal, P. M., & Veltkamp, M. (2013). How does fiction reading influence empathy? An experimental investigation on the role of emotional transportation. PLoS ONE, 8(1), e55341. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0055341

[3] Bureau of the Census. (1953). 1950 Census of the Population Advance Reports (Series PC-14 No. 13). U.S. Department of Commerce. https://www2.census.gov/library/publications/decennial/1950/pc-14/pc-14-13.pdf

[4] Ghosh, I. (2020, December 28). Visualizing the U.S. Population by Race [News Site]. Visual Capitalist. https://www.visualcapitalist.com/visualizing-u-s-population-by-race/

[5] Lee and Low Books. (2024, February 28). Where is the Diversity in Publishing? The 2023 Diversity Baseline Survey Results. Lee & Low Blog. https://blog.leeandlow.com/2024/02/28/2023diversitybaselinesurvey/

[6] Meehan, K., & Friedman, Ph.D. , J. (2023, April 20). Banned in the USA: State Laws Supercharge Book Suppression in Schools. PEN America. https://pen.org/report/banned-in-the-usa-state-laws-supercharge-book-suppression-in-schools/

[7] Reading Between the Lines: Race, Equity, and Book Publishing. (2022, October 21). PEN America. https://pen.org/report/race-equity-and-book-publishing/[8] Staff, S. L. J. (2024, April 4). BIPOC Representation in Children ’s Literatures Continues Its Slow Rise, According to CCBC’s Diversity Statistics. School Library Journal. https://www.slj.com/story/BIPOC-Representation-Childrens-Literatures-Continues-Its-Slow-rise-According-CCBC-Diversity-Statistics