On the cusp Black History Month and Women’s History Month, we want to center Black women. Ibram X. Kendi says, “A racist policy is any measure that produces or sustains racial inequity between racial groups.” The intention of the policymaker does not matter, says Kendi.
Over the last year, Trump and the Republicans have rapidly rolled back women’s rights. These attacks have particularly harmed Black women, who were already more likely to experience higher rates of unemployment, less access to health care and fewer resources to raise their children than women generally.
Last year, hundreds of thousands of women were forced out of the workplace, fueled by the Trump administration’s firing of federal workers, elimination of anti-discrimination protections for women and DEI policies, and the defunding of child care for low-income families, as well as their broader economic policies.
These actions fell disproportionately hard on Black women, who lost more than three times as many jobs as all women in professional and service occupations. While Black women made up just 12 percent of the federal workforce, they were 33 percent of federal workers who lost their jobs. Black women’s unemployment rate rose from 5.5% in January 2025, peaked at 7.3% in December, and is 6.3% as of last month.
Black women also suffered harder than white women from Republican attacks on reproductive health care. The “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” defunded Planned Parenthood, the largest provider of reproductive health care to low-income women, leaving many communities without access to cancer screenings, STD testing and contraceptive care. Because Black women utilize Planned Parenthood services at higher rates relative to the U.S. population, Planned Parenthood closures has left many Black women across the country without basic health care and more likely to experience unintended pregnancies. Republicans are now redirecting federal tax dollars toward unregulated pregnancy centers that spread dangerous misinformation about contraception, pregnancy and abortion. These centers target low-income people without health insurance by offering “free” services that disproportionately lure Black women and girls and subject them to their dangerous practices.
The Trump administration’s campaign to eliminate access to abortion has had devastating consequences for Black women and girls, resulting in escalating levels of maternal mortality and morbidity. One of the first things Trump did when he took office was reverse a Biden-era policy requiring hospitals receiving Medicaid dollars to provide life-saving abortions to patients with pregnancy complications. As a result, women are dying around the country — many of whom are Black women, such as Ciji Graham, Porsha Ngumezi, Tierra Walker and Amber Nicole Thurman. The maternal mortality rate for Black women is more than three times higher than white women. The Trump administration’s support for bans on emergency medical care for pregnancy complications is increasing this disparity.
If Black mothers and their babies survive birth, they face a dwindling social safety net, shredded by Republican policies implemented in the first year of the Trump administration. The “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” imposed over one trillion in cuts to food assistance, health care, education programs and student loan services — the largest cut in U.S. history — while giving massive tax breaks to the wealthy and corporations. Congress cut the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) by $187 billion, leaving millions of low-income people vulnerable to losing food assistance. Republicans and Trump cut over one trillion dollars from health programs, primarily Medicaid, which disproportionately impacted low-income families, reducing health coverage for an estimated ten million families. The law also expands work requirements for benefits, which is projected to cause over five million low-income adults to lose Medicaid coverage. These Republican policies disproportionately impact Black women and children.
Trump policies also hurt Black women’s educational opportunities. Black women disproportionately benefit from federal student loans, and hold more federal student loan debt. Republican’s “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” changes federal student loans and repayment that particularly harm Black women. For example, the law limits parents’ ability to borrow money to send their children to college, eliminates affordable repayment options and loan forgiveness for parent borrowers, dramatically limits graduate school loans, and imposes higher student loan repayment costs, meaning many borrowers will likely default, and ends deferment for economic hardship or unemployment for future loans.
“Black women are often seen as a bellwether when it comes to looking at what’s happening with the economy,” said Gaylynn Burroughs of the National Women’s Law Center. “They tend to feel the effects of an economic downturn pretty early on, and have a harder time recovering from job loss.”
Advocates for women workers are fighting back against sexist and racist policies that hurt women. They have launched the 75 Million Project, for the 75 women workers, a campaign to hold policy makers accountable and to support a national working women’s agenda. The agenda demands and defends policies like paid leave and affordable child care to create equitable and inclusive workplaces.
Carrie N. Baker is a professor in the Program for the Study of Women, Gender and Sexuality at Smith College and a regular contributor to Ms. Magazine. Mira Lora is a senior at Smith College majoring in Statistical Data Sciences and the Study of Women, Gender, and Sexuality.