Hi Professors,
Have you ever seen the diagram that is entitled “The ‘Problem’ Woman of Colour in the Workplace?” It’s a simple one-page infographic that gets shared frequently on social media, and it’s also one that seems to have a lot of resonance in the current moment.
For this eleventh episode of the Rise with Clarity Podcast, I want to spend some time discussing this diagram as well as some of its implications for women of color faculty like you, especially as you navigate challenges on the tenure track and work environments that may be less than supportive.
This is a tool that was first developed by the Safehouse Progressive Alliance for Nonviolence, and then further adapted by The Centre for Community Organizations, which is a charitable organization whose mission is to support the health and well-being of community organizations in Québec, Canada.
For those of you who are not familiar with the “’Problem’ WOC” diagram, I encourage you to check out the link that I provide in the transcript for this episode.
But in the meantime, let me describe this to you.
The “Problem” Woman of Color in the Workplace
In the diagram you see an abstract image of a minoritized woman wearing a hijab, who is hired into an organization with white leadership. The diagram takes her through four different stages:
- A Honeymoon period, where she is welcomed and feels needed and happy.
- The Reality, where she starts to point out some issues within the organization and tries to push for accountability.
- The Response, where the organization denies, ignores the problem, and places the responsibility of fixing the problem on the woman of color.
- Retaliation: The organization decides that the woman of color is the problem and decides to target her, and then labels the conflict “a communication issue” or claims that she is not qualified or a good fit for the organization.
The final section of this diagram shows the woman of color employee leaving the organization.
Pretty stark, huh? Well, rather than presenting this as a foregone conclusion, The Centre for Community Organizations (COCo for short) uses this diagram as a tool as a starting point for discussions about race, racial dynamics, policies, and practices within a non-profit organization.
There’s also an animated video that COCo released in 2020 called “Walk with Me: A Woman of Colour’s Journey in Nonprofit Organizations” that has an alternative, more hopeful ending, which you might want to check out on your own time.
I first came across this diagram in a private Facebook group for women and nonbinary people of color in academia. When I first saw it a few years ago, it caught my attention immediately. I could not only see some of my own experiences, but those of other WOC faculty that I knew.
Even though this diagram was originally intended for WOC in non-profit organizations, it strongly resonates within the corporate world and also in higher education. I’ve seen it posted over and over again in private Facebook groups for WOC faculty as well as on LinkedIn. There’s something to this.
Writings by Black Women Scholars and Other Minoritized Scholars
And there’s a longer trajectory to consider here. There are Black Women Scholars and other minoritized scholars who have been writing about their racialized experiences in the corporate and higher ed workplace for quite some time now.
These scholars have spoken and written about their challenges of being recruited into institutions that have not adequately supported them. Some of their research topics include (see sources at the end of the transcript):
•Feeling like the tokenized hire
•Being labeled as incompetent
•Being the lonely “only” in a department at a PWI
•Experiencing microaggressions and racialized aggressions in the workplace
•Experiencing the shifting of goalposts for promotion cases
•Facing retaliation when pointing out double standards or issues within the organization
And I want to single out here an important study that was published more than 10 years ago, by Drs. Kecia M. Thomas, Juanita Johnson-Bailey, Rosemary E. Phelps, Ny Mia Tran, and Lindsay N.Johnson.
They conducted research among Black women faculty at the mid-career level and they coined the phrase “pet to threat” which is a trajectory they’ve observed in their research where Black women were initially celebrated and praised for their achievements in their jobs, only to later be perceived as a threat by their workplaces.
And this is a quote from the study: “Pets seem to work in environments in which they are given mixed messages of being both valuable and valueless, invisible yet hypervisible. And women who identify with the threat construct may be considered rebels—going against the grain of social roles and expectations” (Thomas et al., pp. 282-283).
Perhaps not surprisingly, these scholars realized that their research also applied to other minoritized and racialized women faculty in higher education as well as in other types of workplaces. In the same study, Dr. Thomas and the other scholars also offer helpful tips to women of color professionals dealing with being a “pet” or a “threat” or both.
So, is this a phenomenon that you recognize? And if yes, how are you managing this right now?
Have you actually pondered leaving your institution in search of one more supportive?
Reframing the Narrative of the “Problem” WOC in the Higher Ed Workplace
In the case of the latter scenario, I’ve always wondered, what happens to the WOC after she leaves her workplace? In the diagram that we talked about for instance, we never see what happens AFTER the WOC exits her organization. Does she find a better place to work where she can eventually thrive and be happy? And who gets to tell her story?
In my own experiences in higher ed over the years, I have heard a few different narratives of WHY women of color have left their academic positions:
- She left for a better job.
- She never finished her book.
- She had poor teaching evaluations.
- She was difficult.
- I don’t know what happened to her. She just disappeared.
- She left academia.
- And the classic, “she just wasn’t a good fit.”
What all of these narratives have in common is that none of them were told from the vantage point of the WOC.
How many of us listen to the reasons for departure from the WOC faculty themselves?
Now, sometimes there is just silence. This may be because some WOC may be prevented from speaking publicly about their experiences through NDAs and others may choose to start the page fresh and leave the past completely behind. Regardless, I think this is a question worth reflecting on.
Because it’s my guess that there is a lot to her story that we can learn from.
So for those of you who are currently contemplating a career pivot within your institution, applying for another faculty position, or planning a pivot out of higher ed, what is the narrative that you’d like to tell about your own departure and your new beginning?
This doesn’t have to take the form of a social media post (although you certainly could choose that route if you like). It could simply be through conversations that you have with fellow academics in your field. Sharing your story one-on-one could help in correcting the false and damaging narratives that often circulate.
It can also help to reframe what seems to be an isolated case of the individualized “problem” WOC into a pattern that is pretty consistent and indicative of larger systemic issues that negatively impact the growth, support, and retention of WOC faculty.
This is just a suggestion, of course. In the end, you should do what feels most appropriate and comfortable for you. Seek allies who can support you in this challenging process. And make sure to take care of yourself in this transitional period.
I’m also happy to help—whether that is through my 6-month Signature Program for WOC faculty, a strategy session, or by referring you to relevant resources. Feel free to reach out to me anytime through my website at RisewithClarity.com
That’s it for today. Thanks for listening.
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Additional resources
Ahmed, Sara. 2021. Complaint! (Durham, NC: Duke University Press).
Ahmed, Sara. 2012. On Being Included: Racism and Diversity in Institutional LIfe (Durham, NC: Duke University Press).
Allen, Antija M. and Justin T. Stewart, eds. 2022. We’re Not OK: Black Faculty Experiences and Higher Education Strategies (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press).
Comas-Diaz, Lillian and Beverly Greene, eds. 2013. Psychological Health of Color: Intersections, Challenges, and Opportunities. (New York: Guilford Press).
Evans, Stephanie Y., Stephanie Shonekan, and Stephanie G. Adams, eds. 2023. Dear Department Chair: Letters from Black Women Leaders to the Next Generation. (Detroit: Wayne State University Press).
García Peña, Lorgia. 2022. Community as Rebellion: A Syllabus for Surviving Academia as a Woman of Color. (Chicago: Haymarket Books).
Gutiérrez y Muhs, Gabriella, Yolanda Flores Niemann, Carmen G. Gonzalez and Angela P. Harris, eds. 2012. Presumed Incompetent: The Intersections of Race and Class for Women in Academia. (Boulder, CO: University of Colorado Press).
Niemann, Yoland Flores, Gabriella Gutiérrez y Muhs, and Carmen G. Gonzalez, eds. 2020. Presumed Incompetent II: Race, Class, Power, and Resistance of Women in Academia. (Logan, UT: Utah State University Press).
Thomas, Kecia M., Juanita Johnson-Bailey, Rosemary E. Phelps, Ny Mia Tran, and Lindsay N. Johnson. 2013. “Women of color at midcareer: Going from pet to threat.” In The Psychological Health of Women of Color: Intersections, Challenges, and Opportunities (pp. 275-286). (New York, NY: Guilford Press).
Videos
From Pet to Threat: International Panel Part 1: Black Women and Toxic Jobs (featuring Kecia M. Thomas, Juanita Johnson-Bailey, Lissa Appiah, Busiswe Hlatswayo, Olanike A. Mensah, Adelle Thompson, Janelle Walcott-Small, and Monica Cox)
From Pet to Threat: International Panel Part 2: Black Women and Toxic Jobs
Pet to Threat: Smashing the Glass Ceiling (featuring Niani Tolbert and Shelomi Gomes)
The Origin of the Phrase “Women of Color” (featuring Loretta Ross)
Articles
“The Persistence of Pet to Threat” by Dr. Kecia Thomas
“POV: Where are the Tenured Black Female Professors?” by Dr. Malika Jeffries-EL
“How Many Black Women Have Tenure on Your Campus? Search Here” by Audrey Williams June and Brian O’Leary
“Why Faculty of Color are Leaving Academia” by Joshua Doležal
