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For us corporate sisters and minority women in a sometimes hostile and challenging corporate environment, and despite our most valiant efforts at keeping positive and unbiased, it is hard to get away from the race factor in the workplace. From noticing how very few of us there are out there in the corporate jungle, to struggling to decipher or simply face signs of sexism, racism, or both, there is no denying that, in the corporate game, the “race card” is hard to avoid. “Playing the race card” is commonly described as the exploitation of racist or anti-racist attitudes by accusing others of racism. And we’re not talking about this popular, common, negatively connoted “race card”….What we’re talking about is the other Race card, the somber, dark reality of negative bias faced by minority women in addition to the traditional gender inequality.
While some of us wonder if it’s all in our heads, or why we keep hitting a dark glass wall despite our best efforts, others tend to internalize the resulting professional struggles, failures and setbacks as a sign of our own inadequacy. As Dr. Cornell West put it so well, race matters, in the corporate landscape as in everywhere else. And despite not believing in New Year’s resolutions (check out our article on why you should not make New Year’s resolutions), one decision we have made this year in our small group of corporate sisters here is to dig out the “race card”, the other one…And it’s not what you may think it is…
While the intent is not to play an ineffective and demeaning game for all parties involved, it is necessary, as we look at our careers and professional paths, to have the courage to dig out all the racial realities, connotations and implications associated with these. As we devise career strategies, plan for opportunities, and prepare for professional success, we also need to consider the invariable variable, the “elephant in the room” that is seldom talked about: the Race factor!
In the era of “leaning in” and women empowerment, as Sheryl Sandberg confidently ushers all women to sit at the corporate table so that “there are more women in leadership roles giving a strong and powerful voice to [women’s] needs and concerns”, minority women (fortunately and unfortunately) get lumped into an ideal that negates reality. The reality that at Corporate America’s table, the gender equality game is still missing a card: the “Race card.” Without confronting the meaning and implications of race in the corporate space, and without a real, hard look at how we can challenge this “race card”, gender equality has only meaning for a select few. And if equality is not equal, it’s not really equality, is it now?
The “Race card” (the other one) is a tricky one, a difficult reality to confront and even more challenging to address. Yet without it, the corporate game is but deceptive and misleading, especially for us. Good or bad, the realities that this “Race card” reminds us of are the same realities we need to understand, confront and make others face, for a better tomorrow. And while it’s not a card that should be played maliciously, it is one that should be openly laid on the table for all to see, challenge and ultimately correct…
Will you be digging out the other race card this year?
The Corporate Sister.
