Black women face the double-barrelled shots of sexism and racism in the workplace, especially when they’re in charge. With their own mini armies of haters and backstabbers, some members of Team Kamala Harris worry how much worse it would be for her as president – the ultimate woman in charge.
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“As a Black boss, the number of people who stabbed me in the back is hard to count,” one woman said in an online chat. That’s one reason so many women take advantage of life coaches, career coaches, girlfriend getaways, massages and prayer pillows.
They’re sick of being left out of the meeting before the meeting, having their numbers questioned, being talked over, being talked about and enduring other insecure attempts to undermine their authority.
They have dents in their armor, burnout from working twice as hard, a simmering rage from being mansplained and bitemarks on their tongues for all the times they didn’t go off on someone questioning their qualifications.
“If someone says something offensive to me, I have to think about how to respond in a way that does not make me seem like an angry Black woman,” a professional said in the Women in the Workplace report from LeanIn.Org and McKinsey & Company. The report also notes that only 58 Black women make it out of entry-level positions into management for every 100 men. No wonder only 1 in 25 Black women are C-suite executives.
The intersection of racism and sexism in the workplace cuts deeper for Black women, says Glynda C. Carr, president and CEO of Higher Heights for America PAC.
“From the workers at Wendy’s and Target to our teachers and the women in the C-suite — we all have felt what it’s like being a Black woman in the workplace,” Carr said. “That is why we see hair discrimination, pay inequity or being overlooked for promotions.”
By extension, concerns about Harris are legit, says political strategist Tamia Booker, who witnessed President Obama’s challenges over the Affordable Care Act — even over Republican concepts embedded in Obamacare.
“I can’t imagine her not going through something very similar if not worse,” said Booker, who worked in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services during the Obama administration. “It was a crazy time.”
And it’s about to get real. “The name calling is just getting started,” Michael Steel said on MSNBC’s “Andrea Mitchell Reports” after Rep. Tim Burchett (R-Tenn.) called Harris a DEI hire.
“It’s ridiculous, but it’s dog whistle and code word for racism,” says Peggy Lewis, who worked in the White House under both President Bill Clinton and First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton.
“Her record speaks for itself,” Lewis says. They are losing their minds in the grasp of the straws.”
“This is white supremacy on another level.”
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