I Am Not Your Mammy: Media Role Models, Size Discrimination, and “Fat” Black Women in the Workforce

Abstract

This paper deals with the issue of equity in the workplace and particularly with size discrimination against “fat” Black women. The 1984 publication of Judge Rosalie Abella’s report on equity in the workplace is the initial foundation of my research. The report found that race is a significant factor contributing to structured inequality among different ethnic groups in Canada. However, the report did not list size as a discriminating factor in the way that certain individuals were treated compared to their colleagues. Additionally, the topic of discrimination against size (sizeism, weightism, anti-fat prejudice, weight stigma, etc.) and the effects that this can have on employment equity has not received sufficient attention in scholarly literature relating to equity in the workplace.