Three major reports have been released in the last three months showing that black women are not treated the same as their peers in the workplace: specifically in relation to hair discrimination, wage inequality and an increased risk of pregnancy discrimination.
But we don’t need reports to know that; we’re experiencing it for ourselves. We’re two black women lawyers who walk the halls of the court system with the fire of our authenticity, passion and innovation, only to have our flames continually quenched by misogyny, humiliation and outrage. As we navigate anti-blackness in the workplace, we both—like many black professionals—have been told to “play the game.” But the game, rigged with limited boxes, stereotypes and implicit biases beyond our control, is designed for us to lose.
This is part of a larger problem of how the concept of professionalism, which theoretically applies to everyone, “is used to monitor and regulate people of color in a variety of ways, including hair, tone, and food scents,” as Leah put it in an essay for the UCLA Law Review. Standards of professionalism are not applied equally to all, and when a person of color deviates from the status quo, even to challenge workplace injustices, they are often labeled as “unprofessional.” This is especially true for black women, who are often belittled in the workplace and feel the least respected. For Black women, the pendulum can swing from being perceived as professional when they quietly tolerate toxicity to being viewed as unprofessional when they react, defend themselves, or push back.
We see this happening again and again.
It happened to Angel Reese of the Louisiana State University women’s basketball team: she was called a “classless piece of shit” and a “bloody idiot‘ for pointing to her ring finger and making a ‘you can’t see me’ gesture to her opponent Caitlin Clark. Critics slammed Reese for poor sportsmanship, but her opponent Clark was not criticized as she recently made the exact same gesture.
The story goes on
It happened to Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson when she endured slurs and public humiliation to prove her worthiness at the US Supreme Court hearing. She remained calm during the attacks, but would no doubt have been labeled unprofessional if she had defended herself or challenged the vitriol.
It happened to Angela Bassett, who drew criticism online for her reaction to losing Best Actress in a Supporting Role category at the Oscars (for her role as Queen Ramonda in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever) to Jamie Lee Curtis. When Bassett heard Curtis being announced as the winner, he didn’t clap.
But it’s not just about clapping or smiling more. Studies show that every aspect of Black women’s bodies is monitored in the workplace: Black women who wear their hair in its natural, unprocessed state are often perceived as less professional and less likely to get interviews; Darker-skinned black women face more discrimination in the workplace than lighter-skinned black women.
How we show emotions is monitored: A study discussed in the Harvard Business Review found that any expression of anger by black professionals is viewed as a personality defect, often resulting in lower performance ratings and leadership ratings. Even how we show ambition is monitored: A 2022 study found that 59% of Black female leaders want to be top leaders, compared to 49% of female leaders overall. Despite these efforts, black women are more likely to receive indications that advancement is not possible.
Black women often experience all of these barriers just getting their jobs done — and still get paid 64 cents overall for every dollar paid compared to white men. The surveillance of black women in the workplace under the guise of professionalism must end. The question isn’t whether Angela Bassett should have clap; The question is who gossips for black women?
One way to support Black women is to speak up when disrespect or misogyny is directed at us. We as a society need to move away from questioning how Black people respond to racism or outrage and instead focus on correcting and admonishing the actual behaviors that are prompting the response. By constantly praising or obsessing over a person’s calm response, we all normalize what’s called the “prejudice threshold” — exactly how much people of color are expected to endure aggression, racism, and humiliation in the workplace. It’s never a real win to call a person a consummate professional based on how well they handle a toxic workplace.
Another way to support black women is to listen when we talk about abuse. Consider calling Black women “extra” or “irrational” just for questioning disrespectful behavior. It is no coincidence that blacks who had been enslaved and freed during the antebellum era were diagnosed with drapetomania – or the “disease of making a slave run away” – and that blacks who challenge injustice sometimes come with a bias language are attacked.
We need to change how we treat black women in the workplace and in schools. So we applaud Kecia Thomas, whose research coined the term for the “pet to threat” phenomenon, charting how many black women go from mentor to marginalization in the workplace. We applaud feminist scholar Kimberlé Crenshaw, who coined the term “intersectionality” to acknowledge various marginalized identities, including those of black women who face very specific, intersecting forms of oppression. We salute Hattie Canty, a labor activist and one of the greatest strike leaders in US history, who fought for fair wages and healthy working conditions. We applaud Angela Bassett, who portrays a kaleidoscope of black women on screen with brilliance and excellence, and for helping pave the way for other black actors.
And we applaud all black women everywhere who are undervalued and underappreciated in the workplace, in court, and in college.
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Originally appeared on Teen Vogue
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