Help with English Comp 101 Homework...?

Question

I need help with my essay. The topic is:
"Argue for or against to proposition that White women and African American men face the same barriers to employment in today’s professions. Refer to the essays by Woolf and Gates to support your position." I don't know what to put because "White Male" is a double majority while "Black Woman" is a double minority.
If you're talking about a "White Woman" that's one majority, one minority. Same with, "Black Man". However, does race or gender shine more? If they had the same credentials who would they pick? If race and gender shine equally then how would the hiring manager choose who to hire? If the black man had 4 years of college schooling and the white woman only had some experience (or vise-versa) who would get the job?
BTW: this is supposed to be a definition essay. If you have any suggestions on how to make this a definition essay and not a debate please help with

I don't know what side I'm on cause the pros and cons of each side seem to be the same.

Great advice so far. The race and gender thing threw me cause I wasn't sure what they were getting at. Also, when I googled it the articles would either talk about women's challanges, black's challanges, and things like that.

I see what you're saying about focus on the barrier and not the race and gender. That makes the project easier. The barriers I can think of (and that were suggested) are:
- glass ceiling
- education
- affirmative action (I was going to use this anyway, but now I have a different view point. I'll still use it, though)
- type of job (does that help?)

any other suggestions?

Answer 1

Seems that you're making this too complicated. Argue for or against the proposition that black males and white women face the same barriers in employment.
Has nothing to do with white males or black women.
Do you think black males and white women face the same difficulties in locating jobs, being called for interviews, being hired, being promoted, hitting the glass ceiling, etc.
Give this some thought.

Answer 2

deal with the common element forget the race/gender stuff...
The common element s are
w woman +blk man are generally the least educated or have fewer higher job skills.
As for the barriers to employment..that itself is an undefined subject...there are no "same" barriers--each job requires different skill sets some require specific physical abilities..(height.weight,ability to lift xxlbs. etc...
--contrary to popular belief by some...who gets picked for what is not always about race or gender....many spend great time and effort on creating theories to explain or blame natural events...
As a boss, I hire the person who has the right skill set,and the one that succeeded in convincing me that they would be a energetic and reliable employee.. I could care less about their gender or color...

Answer 3

1) in writing an essay, you need to pick a side.
2) in writing an educationally beneficial essay you need to pick the side that you tend not to agree with.
3) it sounds like you have to compare the BARRIERS to employment. e.g. THEY both have the barrier of employers prejudices, although those prejudices may be different.
4) there are still some affirmative action programs that apply to minorities but not to white women
5) i'm guessing the essay you need to refer to covers the barriers
6) define "same", define "barrier", and define "same barrier" and get your essay attitude on

Answer 4

the black man because the black man had more experience.