This blog was written by SWE member, SWE African American Affinity Group Lead and Technical Service & Development Engineer with Dow, Inc, Bralade Emenanjo.
At the 1851 Woman’s Rights Convention in Akron, Ohio, without a microphone and with fellow women who, at the time, she could not share drinking fountains with, Sojourner Truth stood up and declared herself “a woman’s rights” advocating for every woman, everywhere. I wonder if she saw today and knew, that even in the tomorrow she sought, that gender equality would not be complete without race inclusion.
Whichever one of the contested versions of Sojourner’s famous speech you read, the definitive message is the same, “Ain’t I a woman?” Although our experiences are vastly different, I am a woman and a person just like you. Nell Irvin Painter, an eminent historian known for refuting the popular speech, concedes that “at a time when most Americans thought of slaves as male and women as white, Truth embodied a fact that still bears repeating: Among the blacks are women; among the women, there are blacks.”
The case of another woman being your ally is a perspective rarely explored. However, women everywhere have been doing that for generations- advocating, promoting, sponsoring and paving the way in the workplace and in society. At this intersection of Black and Women’s History Month, there are still lessons to be gleaned from Sojourner. The aptly themed #EachForEqual International Women’s Day is a call to every woman everywhere to see beyond gender to the intersections that inevitably make us allies for each other.
“May I say a few words? I want to say a few words about this matter”
Everybody has a voice to use to promote inclusion and to condemn discrimination anywhere and anytime because “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere” (MLK). As Shirley Chisolm adjured, we have brought our folding chairs to the proverbial table: now is the time to own the seat and speak up. The time to speak up is in the room where the meeting is taking place and another woman is being talked over repeatedly, not with the victim of bias.
“I am a woman’s rights”
As grammatically questionable as this may seem, the underlying message is that a person cannot be separated from their rights. Human rights cannot be conferred on any individual even though they can be violated. Per Hillary Clinton 25 years ago at the Beijing Conference for women, “Human rights are women’s rights, and women’s rights are human rights”. Nothing more, nothing less.
“I have as much muscle as any man, and can do as much work as any man”
Women have proven themselves to be just as capable as men across professions. Ability and capacity are vastly varying even within the sexes. “I am as strong as any man that is now…” and as smart and as (fill in the blank) for any person. Whatever profession any young girl dreams of, gender should no longer be a consideration for pursuing them.
“As for intellect, all I can say is, if women have a pint and man a quart – why can’t she have her little pint full?”
As inclusion makes inevitable progress, the issue of “exclusion” in some quarters is arising. The argument that Sojourners puts forward is as technical as it is simple, we all can have our due. The business case favors companies that nurture a culture of diversity and inclusion.
“But man is in a tight place, the poor slave is on him, woman is coming on him, and he is surely between a hawk and a buzzard”
The inevitability of equality is a real thing. Only history will tell who helped catalyze the movement or slow it down but it will happen. Women are now 51% of the world and minority women are projected to be the majority of the workforce by 2060. So, one day in the future, let that woman of color be able to “stand in front of you and say thank you for allowing her to succeed because of her workplace environment and not in spite of it.” (Michelle Williams at the Emmys, 2020).
“At a time when most Americans thought of slaves as male and women as white, Truth embodied a fact that still bears repeating: Among the blacks are women; among the women, there are blacks.”- Nell Irvin Painter
As Black History month gives way to Women’s History Month, the core theme of this year’s International Women’s Day, #EachForEqual, leaves no room for inaction- everyone gets to choose to be either an ally or an accomplice. Al Harrison, Katherine Jackson’s fictitious boss in the movie, “Hidden Figures” chose to be an ally while Vivian Mitchell, Dorothy’s boss, defended the status quo lamely with a “You know, Dorothy, despite what you may think I have nothing against y’all”. To all the “Vivians” in the workplace, in Dorothy’s words, “I know you probably believe that” but in the diversity and inclusion movement, accomplices are those who refuse to speak up in the face of bias and work towards real progress. There is space for nothing else except to be in the arena, “daring greatly” for equity and equality. (Thank you, Brene Brown & Theodore Roosevelt)
The employee experience for women of color is distinctly different and doubly so, because of intersectionality. As Chief Inclusion Officer for Dow, Karen Carter said, “As a woman and an African American, I know first-hand how exhausting it can be to constantly self-check – to waste vital mental energy worrying if my authentic self will be accepted. Worrying if I need to be twice as good, or even perfect because I am held to a higher standard.” “Being the only one does not allow space to be vulnerable” (Minda Harts) but inclusion happens when “somebody, somewhere stood up for me when it was risky, when it was hard, when it wasn’t popular… and with courage and clear purpose, they somehow managed to change the world” (Barrack Obama).
If you want to learn more about how to be a better ally as a woman, I recommend Minda Harts’ “The Memo”- a take on the “Lean-In” principle for women of color. In the end, “We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly (Martin Luther King)”. We rise together or not at all. As 51% of all of humanity, women, let’s change the world and speed up the journey to parity by being #EachForEqual.
About the Author:
Bralade Emenanjo is a Technical Service & Development Engineer with Dow, Inc and the lead for the SWE African American Affinity Group. She has studied and worked in three continents- Africa, Europe and America with Bachelors & Masters Degrees in Chemical Engineering from Nigeria & Northern Ireland.. Passionate about all things innovation and inclusion, Bralade is a STEM Volunteer and Employee Resource Group lead. She lives in Houston with her husband and three kids.
