I Didn't Work This Hard Just to Get Married: Successful Single Black Women Speak Out

(Paperback)

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Description

Women once saw living single as a transitional period--singles marked time till they found "the one." But now marriage is the transitional stage, connecting one unmarried period of life to another. In I Didn't Work This Hard Just to Get Married, through lively and revealing interviews with women from various walks of life, Nika C. Beamon explores the challenges facing single black women who defy expectations. They candidly discuss aging without a man and reevaluate dating, single homeownership, career, children, and caring for aged parents. The book speaks directly to the black woman's experience, addressing challenges such as income discrepancies between genders, the high rate of male incarceration, and the Baby Mama Syndrome. Written in the best tradition of women talking to women, and girlfriend to girlfriend, the book delivers tales of lessons learned, hard times and good times, told by women who found ways to achieve their dreams by defying convention.

Reviews

Although I am an award-winning filmmaker, TV personality, and author, many of my family members feel as though I lead a shallow and empty life because I choose to be unmarried without children. In this well-researched and thoughtful tome, Nika Beamon has given a voice to true choice among women in this postmillennial era. --Abiola Abrams, BET host and author, Dare
An important addition to works on the lives and options of African American women, and an absorbing read. --Julianne Malveaux, president, Bennett College for Women
This book is for women of all ages . . . you will definitely enjoy this book from cover-to-cover. --APOOObooks.com, website dedicated to African American lit
Truly an insightful gift for single women. --Pat Stevenson, CEO and Publisher, Harlem News Group, Inc.

Author Bio

Nika C. Beamon is a writer/producer for WABC-TV Eyewitness News in New York City. She is the author of two novels, Dark Recesses and Eyewitness. She lives in Newark, New Jersey. Dr. Bella M. DePaulo is chair of the Board of Academic Advisors of the American Association for Single People and the author of Singled Out. She lives in Summerland, California.