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The image of Black women in popular culture remains troubling, writes Dr. Julianne Malveaux, president of Bennett College for Women, in the National Urban League's State of Black America annual report.

"The gyrating, undulating image of African-American women in rap music videos and, by extension, on cable television is as prevalent as ever," wrote Malveaux, adding that few news talk shows showcase Black women. Read more from Malveaux in the upcoming April 2008 issue of DiversityInc magazine on recruiting for corporate America.

Malveaux is one of several prominent Black women leaders to write an essay that was included in the State of Black America (SOBA) report. This year's edition, which was released Wednesday, specifically highlights the state of Black women.

SOBA uses the National Urban League's Equality Index to provide a statistical measurement of the equality gap between Blacks and whites across five categories: economics, education, health, civic engagement and social justice. Overall, the report indicates that gaps between Blacks and whites in education, wealth and health persist, but some gaps slightly decreased.

This year's index noted a slight reduction in the economic gap between Blacks and whites. There was also a slight improvement in the social-justice index because of the narrowing of incarceration gaps. But there was no improvement from last year in the areas of education and economics.

SOBA reports that Black women are more likely than white women to be the head of the house--45.8 percent of Black households are headed by women versus 13.6 percent of white households. That dynamic plays into the current subprime-lending crisis.

"The failure of public policy to create jobs and access to employment in the wake of urban de-industrialization puts African-American men at a particular disadvantage, and thereby places the burden of family survival on African-American women," wrote Malveaux.

Black women received far more subprime loans in 2006 than white men, wrote essayist Andrea Harris, president of the North Carolina Institute for Minority Economic Development, reported SOBA. (Read Blacks, Latinos Remain Top Targets for Subprime Lenders to learn more.)

"A recent report by the Consumer Federation of America notes that subprime loans have gone disproportionately to women, and that African-American and Latina women have the highest rates of subprime lending when compared to all other Americans, especially white men who receive the lowest share of subprime loans," wrote Harris. "Moreover, the disparity increases as income increases. In fact, upper income African-American women are more than five times more likely to receive a subprime mortgage than white men."

Harris added, "Nearly two-thirds of the wealth possessed by African-American families is in the form of home equity. Without homeownership, most of these households own very little and have few opportunities to build economic security." Is Black income declining? Our baloney meter checks it out.

Healthcare also remains a major concern. The gap in total uninsured increased, with the index falling from 56 percent in 2007 to 53 percent in 2008. And there was minimal change in the gap of children's health insurance, with Black children twice as likely to be uninsured as white children.

But some areas also showed promise for the state of Black America.

A third essayist, former Labor Secretary Alexis Herman, wrote about the increase in the number of Black women who start businesses. The percentage increased 147 percent between 1997 and 2006, compared to an overall business growth rate of 24 percent, wrote Herman. Read more from Herman in the March 2008 issue of DiversityInc magazine, out shortly.

Employment, education and jail sentencing also showed promising trends for Black America. With regard to unemployment, the Black/white unemployment gap decreased between 2007 and 2008. Did you know that one in 100 Americans are now incarcerated? Who's most likely to be behind bars?

The National Urban League's education sub-index showed that the dropout rate for Black high-school students decreased from 15 percent in 2007 to 13 percent in 2008. It also showed that the rate of enrollment for Black students within the 30--34 age range increased from 7.2 percent to 10 percent, with much of the school enrollment occurring at the college level.

The social-justice sub-index showed the most improvement, with jail sentencing for Blacks decreasing 15 percentage points, from 93 percent in 2007 to 77 percent in 2008. And, the average sentence for Blacks decreased from 44 months to 40 months, while the average sentence for whites increased from 34 months to 37 months.

Read Affirmative-Action Update: Ward Connerly Still Playing on Fear for more.

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