Last week’s confirmation hearings for Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson cast a spotlight on the challenges women of color face in the workplace, from having their qualifications scrutinized, to enduring microaggressions, to feeling the pressure of representing an entire race in their responses and behavior.
Black women, and other women of color, saw their own experiences play out on a national stage while business leaders (at least those paying attention) were forced to confront the bias ingrained within their own companies. One thing is clear. Corporate America can’t go back to business as usual.
In 2021, research revealed that one in three women of color was thinking of leaving her job. At a time when there is more focus than ever on keeping employees, WOC, as a cohort, are more actively looking around and jumping ship whenever they can.
As a former senior partner at Deloitte who left to start a company that helps women of color find their power through safe space and community, I get calls every week from senior women of color desperate for advice.
Some are six months into their new jobs, calling because they have yet to be given what they were promised: a reasonable budget, staff, direct reporting to the CEO.
Instead of celebrating that they’ve made it, the women of color I hear from wonder if they should leave. Others call wanting to share that after decades of suffering within existing structures they are ready to exit, to spearhead endeavors where they can create more welcoming cultures.
Last week’s hearings only opened the door for more women of color to leave. Why? Because professional women of color have always been victims of–and sometimes unconsciously complicit in–the “inclusion delusion:” the conundrum of being highly visible as the first or only woman of color at their organization and at the same time never feeling like they belong, are respected, or have power. Until recently, we have been taught to ignore these problems and keep working harder.
Companies have stepped up to the plate to hire us, flaunt us in team photos and charity dinners, and offer us up as evidence that they have a diverse workforce. However, they don’t pay attention to how challenging it is for us to feel a part of their cultures or what they can do about this.
The inclusion delusion fools employers, as well as the women of color who accept their job offers. When we arrive, we think our title and position of power will give us the opportunity to create change. Then the truth sets in: What’s being asked of us is to fit into an existing culture, not to evolve it.
This article was written by Deepa Purushothaman, author of The First, the Few, the Only: How Women of Color Can Redefine Power in Corporate America (HarperBusiness) and cofounder of nFormation,
It was published on Fortune.com on 03/28/2022.
