Black women with disabilities are turning to self-employment as the talent market shifts, providing a path to potentially strengthen their career development and overall well-being, according to the results of a study conducted by researchers at Georgia State University and Wayne State University.
The research, published in the Journal of Multicultural Counseling and Development in June, analyzed U.S. Census Bureau data including responses from 91 Black women who identified as having physical or mental disabilities. Approximately 44% of this group said they were self-employed.
The findings provide insights for counselors who work with this population, particularly because employment is a “key social determinant of health,” Gemarco Peterson, assistant professor of clinical rehabilitation counseling at Georgia State, said in an American Counseling Association press release on the study.
“Black women with disabilities can create their own paths to financial independence, and they can thrive and survive in the labor market with the right tools,” Peterson said.
Researchers also found that Black women with physical disabilities were more likely than Black women without disabilities to have a graduate degree and have an annual income in excess of $50,000.
That self-employment could aid Black women’s career development is notable given previous research on the barriers that women of color face within typical corporate pipelines.
Women of color have traditionally struggled to advance to leadership positions within organizations and continue to be “vastly underrepresented” in those roles despite some gains over the last decade, according to a 2024 McKinsey & Co. and Lean In report. Women of color held 7% of C-suite roles analyzed by the firms’ report that year, compared to the 22% held by White women.
The same report found that Black women experienced the greatest drop in representation within the typical corporate pipeline in the transition from entry to managerial level. Women overall received a declining share of managerial promotions in the years since 2018, according to McKinsey & Co. and Lean In, but Black women had the lowest such share among all female racial groups in 2024.
Additionally, Black and disabled workers are generally seeking jobs with flexible work arrangements, a 2024 Flexa report found. Fully remote jobs were of particular interest to both groups, even as more companies began to push return-to-office policies at the beginning of 2025.
The Georgia State and Wayne State professors’ research comes at a time of heightened unemployment for Black U.S. workers generally, with the Black unemployment rate reaching 7.2% in July, up from 6.3% one year ago, USA Today reported.
