How Women Can Be Better Allies
Written by Katie Johnson, WIN Staff
There are dozens, if not hundreds, of articles about how men can be better allies for women in the workplace. And they should be. To create a more inclusive and engaging workplace, having male colleagues back up women helps enable change. Including men in the discussions around gender equity makes diversity and inclusion efforts more successful. But allyship requires intersectional efforts. When discussing diversity and inclusion, all women’s voices should be amplified.
When challenging their treatment or how they are perceived, not every woman's experience is a shared experience. People from different backgrounds, races, genders, sexual orientations and identities, ages, and abilities encounter circumstances that can inhibit or accelerate their careers. The fight for gender-inclusive workplace practices is typically grounded in the white, straight, cis-gendered female experience. This can lead to overgeneralizations that exclude the experiences of those whose identities are at the intersection of multiple-stigmatizations. At its core, allyship needs to be intersectional, because sustained biases and stereotypes only act to keep minorities from reaching their full potential in the workplace.
In 1989, Kimberlé Crenshaw, a professor at both Columbia and the University of California Los Angeles, coined the term “intersectionality”, to describe how race, class, gender, and other individual characteristics “intersect” with one another and overlap. For decades, it was an obscure concept used only in academia but the term has become more mainstream since its addition to the Oxford English Dictionary in 2015.
Sexism is only one intersection of discrimination that women can experience. Every layer of identity brings its own level of implications which can bring varying layers of challenges. If you are a woman of color, you have dual-stigmatized identities which can lead to discrimination in the form of racism and sexism. If you are a disabled woman of color, you have triple-stigmatized identities which can add a layer of ableist discrimination.
Did you know, 76% of employees and 80% of leaders with disabilities choose not to be transparent about their disability at work?
It is common to have intersecting identities. Although each identity can bring a varying degree of challenge, it can also bring a level of privilege. For instance, if you are an able-bodied woman, you have the privilege of not needing special accommodations. If you are a white, queer woman, you have the privilege of not having to worry about how your skin tone will affect your job opportunities. Recognizing the privilege that your identity lends will help you understand how you can be a better ally to others.
The mission to create a more inclusive work environment is not a simple one. Jennifer Brown breaks down allyship as a continuum from apathetic (clueless and disinterested) to aware (has some grasp of the issues but not at all active or engaged in addressing them) to active (well-informed and willing to engage in equity efforts, but only when asked) to advocate (routinely and proactively champions inclusion).
An ally is any person that actively promotes and champions a culture of inclusion through intentional, positive, and conscious efforts that benefit people as a whole. Women across the board struggle to be heard more fully, but that does not mean we cannot equally make an effort to help champion other women in the workplace. Everyone has the ability to be an ally, not just white, cis-gendered men. The ability to champion equality is intersectional.
To be a better ally is a constant process of becoming, it is not a destination one reaches. Being a woman that empowers and supports other women is not difficult. But it does take reflection and action. The same is true for women who want to be stronger allies in the workplace.
This Women’s Month we challenge you to take these few simple actions that can help foster a more inclusive environment:
Really listen. Reach out to the underrepresented people in your workplace and ask them for their honest feedback. Ask other women in your workplace how you can become a better ally for them, and really listen to what they suggest. Don’t take feedback personally, but instead practice empathy. Listen to the people you are trying to reach and regularly check-in.
Attend a bias training to educate yourself on the systematic inequalities that exist. The best way to challenge sexism and all the other -isms that hold women back in the workplace, is through ongoing training programs. Explore what it means to adopt allyship, and challenge yourself and your peers to check their unconscious biases through continued learning.
Recognize your personal privilege. This is the most daunting and uncomfortable thing you can challenge yourself to do. Reflect on the systematic and societal issues that may have played in your favor (Here’s a list to help get you started). This could be an economic, racial, heterosexual, or abled privilege. Taking the time to understand each of these areas of privilege can help you identify how you can use that privilege to amplify the voices of those who don’t have it.
Follow diverse voices. Learning does not happen unless you are challenged. Find voices to follow on social media that are different from you. Broaden and deepen the analysis of your own biases by addressing the needs of non-privileged women.
Become a sponsor. Being a sponsor means being an advocate for someone. More than being a mentor, you’re speaking up for this person, championing their growth and recognition within your company. More than giving advice, you are actively involved in aiding their career. Traditionally, this kind of sponsorship is done for people of the same identity (gender, race, sexual orientation, etc.). If possible, find someone who does not share your same cultural and social characteristics and help champion their growth (If you’re not sure what it takes to be an effective sponsor, check out our workshop with Crystal Martin.).
The “broken rung” is still a major issue for all women. According to the 2020 Women In the Workplace Report by McKinsey, for every 100 men promoted to manager, only 85 women were promoted, with an even larger gap for women of color (71 Latinas, and 58 Black women). Globally, women only hold 29% of senior management positions and there are still nearly 13 companies run by a man for every company run by a woman (Catalyst). These numbers can make women feel as if there are not enough opportunities to go around and that other women are the “competition”. Yet, there are enough seats at the table for all women. If we shift our mentality from “How can I reach a more powerful position?” to one of “How can I help enable other women to reach more leadership positions?” then we can truly enact change for all women in the workplace, across all identities.
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