Racism in the workplace - A landmark report

Dr Cheryl Diane Parkinson Dr Cheryl Diane Parkinson
Jun 11, 2022 - 20:56 Updated: Jun 11, 2022 - 22:21
Racism in the workplace - A landmark report

Racism faced by Black Women in the Workplace - A ‘landmark report’ explores and documents the experiences of 2,000 women of colour in workplaces across the UK. 

‘De nigger woman is de mule uh de world’ -  this quote by Zora Neale made in 1937 is still relevant today. Black women seem to be the last considered group in society, their labour ( like mules) are still exploited and not valued as much as their white counterparts. Black Women and the ones that work the hardest and receive little praise or pay reflective of their work. Women of colour face racism and discrimination in a different way to men. White women also face barriers within the workplace, but the amount of women of colour facing barriers is almost double that of white women.

Three quarters of women of colour have said they have experienced racism at work. The Fawcett Society, which is the leading gender equality organisation have released a landmark report which examines and records experiences of 2000 women of colour in workplaces across the UK and evidences, (unsurprisingly to some) the harmful and ingrained racism that women of colour are forced to live through at all stages of their careers. An enormous 75% of the 2000 have experienced racism at work and 27% have suffered racial slurs. 

The report which is entitled Broken Ladders is the largest of its kind detailing the shocking racism that women of colour have had to endure. The report includes the following data:

  • 50% of women of Pakistani or Bangladeshi heritage and 48% of women of Black African heritage stated that they had been criticised for behaviours other colleagues get away with at work, compared to 29% of White British women.
  • Black women of Caribbean heritage, and women of East Asian and Chinese heritage were the least likely to report ‘often’ or ‘always’ feeling comfortable in their workplace culture, at 43% and 41%, respectively.
  • Muslim women were significantly more likely to make changes to themselves at work than non-religious women or women of other religions. 53% of Muslim women changed the clothes they wear at work ‘a great deal’ or ‘quite a bit’, compared to 37% of Christian women and 32% of non-religious women.

Dr Halima Begum, CEO, Runnymede Trust, said: 

“Women of colour face a double jeopardy. From school to the workplace, there are structural barriers standing between them and the opportunities they deserve. Our landmark research exists to support these women to thrive in their workplaces, and to challenge employers to harness the talents, skills and experiences of their employees, or risk losing them. Women of colour know first-hand the myth of meritocracy, from the mental gymnastics of constantly code switching to being repeatedly passed up for promotion, in 2022 it is high time we invest in them. Until we do so, we will continue to lose them as they leave the workplace, resulting in a huge waste of talent.”

Black women, again, are at the bottom. Broken Ladders reveals that 39% of women of colour commented on their overall wellbeing being affected by a lack of progression compared to 28% of white women. The refusal of promotion also led to loss of motivation. 43% of women of colour admitted that they were no longer enthused about applying for promotions - the myth of being ‘rewarded’ for hard work is just that for black women: a myth. And to add insult to injury, this rejection is after women of colour have changed themselves in order to fit into this white world.

For those women of colour who work in the white dominated workforce, it isn’t news that they have to change who they are in order to become ‘socially acceptable’.  These changes may be the way they speak, adhering to standard English, or wearing hair extensions or even weaves. Some wear conservative formal clothes to fit into the workplace, and  many have even taken the route of straightening and dying their hair blonde so that they can become more socially acceptable within the workplace. 

In light of this report, a video on YouTube has resurfaced of a black model, Irene Major, being interviewed by Phillip Schfield and Holly Willoughby, defending her right to lighten her skin on This Morning. 

Irene Major, with her blonde weave, compared lightening her skin to tanning and dying her hair. It was purely a cosmetic choice. “It is a free world, we are okay to do so as long as we aren’t harming anyone.” she argued. However, a British television presenter  AJ Odudu, also on the interviewing panel, challenged that argument. She commented about it being more than just ‘personal choice’ it was colourism.  

AJ Odudu highlighted the issues around colourism and the pressure for black women to look more white in order to be socially more acceptable or more successful. “We should be taking steps forward. It should be us who set the beauty standards. If we were all to make our skins paler, I think that would us conforming to what the beauty standards are currently set as.” These current beauty standards which some black people conform to, are white beauty standards.

Beauty standards though are not the workforce but this attitude permeates every aspect of society. Many are now challenging these colourism ideas that are a hangover from slavery and colonialism. Plantation politics are still at play. Black people were divided back then by colourism - the closer to white you were, the higher up they were in the social hierarchy.

In the second half of the 19th century, in America, census data helped drive scientific theories of race that were used at the time to justify discrimination. Categories such as ‘quadroons’ and ‘octoroons’ were used to label and identify the percentage of black within a person. According to Laris Karklis and Emily Badger, who recorded these categories,

'Mulatto,' [was the term used for] those persons who have from three-eighths to five-eighths black blood; 'quadroon,' those persons who have one-fourth black blood; and 'octoroons,' those persons who have one-eighth or any trace of black blood. 

The less black blood a person had, the lighter their skin would be. Which in turn would afford them certain privileges and help them elevate in a society that places white skin at the top and black skin at the bottom. This is similar to the Barbados ‘Slave Code’ and ‘Plantation Politics’ which practices Colourism - the lighter your skin, the higher the social status. Today that lighter skin/higher social status can relate to what is deemed as beautiful as well as acceptability within the white world. And this acceptability equates to progress and success within the world of work. Evidence of plantation politics and colorism can be seen in British educational institutions as well as other work forces across the country.

Plantation politics are embedded in the everyday workings of universities—in not only the physical structures and spaces of academic institutions, but in its recruitment and attainment strategies, hiring practices, curriculum, and notions of sociality, safety, and community. (Plantation Politics and Campus Rebellions. 2021)

Colourism divides the black community.  White slave owners used skin colour as a visible marker to show ones position in society. They ‘promoted’ certain black people in order to create discord and separation among the black slaves. To avoid them coming together. The white fear of black people coming together for a common purpose is one that still lingers. This ‘game’ of dividing black people has been played since before the creation of black overseers.

Dianne Abbot famously said in her tweet, ‘white people love playing divide and rule, we should not play their game.’ Her inflammatory tweet was later defended by saying that the tweet was not racist, but it was about the British Empire, and she had not been able to give a full explanation with a 140-character limit on twitter. However, many black people will completely understand this idea (without the lengthy add on that twitter doesn’t allow) which has been used since colonial rule. This  dividing of  black people and conditioning them to hate their own black skin (as well as envy white) along with white people keeps us as second class citizens. And today, in order to be successful in the workplace black women, according to this survey, have felt the pressure to change who they are in order to fit in.

61% of women of colour say that they have changed one or more of the following by ‘a great deal’ or ‘quite a bit’, compared with 44% of white women:

  • the language or words they use (37%)
  • the topics they talk about (37%)
  • their hairstyle (26%)
  • the food they eat (28%)
  • and even their names (22%) at work.

Women of colour were most likely to change their clothes (54% did so), the language they used (50%), the topics they spoke about (46%), their hairstyle (39%), and accent (29%).

The discrimination begins at the begining of the workplace journey: recruitment. 52% of women of colour have experience discrimination at this stage. This continues through to decision making at leadership level, with 34% of women of colour reporting that they needed to have their white colleagues to vouch for them in order to have their ideas accepted. This is compared to just 23% of white British women.  And yet black women are ambitious. 64% of black women surveyed said that it was important to get promoted over time, compared to 49% of white women. This research suggests that women of colour are being told to lower their ambitions and have had their promotions blocked by managers. 42% of women of colour reported being passed over for promotion despite positive feedback ( compared to 27% for white women.)

Urgent change is needed. The Fawcett Society and The Runnymede Trust are calling on the Government to:

  • set-up and back a business-led initiative to tackle ethnicity and gender pay gaps and accelerate change on progression and representation
  • legislate to ban salary history questions and require salaries to be published on job advertisements.

One may argue that this report may  suffer the same fate as previous race reports commissioned by the governments. That is to say advice is not acted upon, and yet again we see Martin Luther King's White Moderate in action. One can only watch, wait and challenge the status quo where one can. Black women fight on.

 

 

View the Broken Ladders report here: 

www.fawcettsociety.org.uk/broken-ladders 

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https://www.fawcettsociety.org.uk/the-pay-and-progression-of-women-of-colour-literature-review