Black Women in the Workplace are the “Canary In The Mine”
Before the advent of miner’s safety lamps and the invention of the “electronic nose”, miners would take canaries in cages into mines. The build-up of carbon dioxide and other poisonous gases could reach dangerous levels and miners would asphyxiate before they realised anything was wrong. A canary would sing if the conditions within a mine change. If the conditions became dangerous the canary would stop singing and die. This would warn the miners of danger before it was too late to act.
Black women are the canaries in your workforce.
Why do I say this?
It’s likely that depending on the industry, the number of Black women in proportion to other races and ethnicities is the lowest in your company, especially when compared with the proportion of Black women in the nation. Because of this they are likely to
- suffer racial discrimination, harassment and abuse.
- be passed over for opportunities and promotion.
- receive more grievances, Personal Improvement Plans (PIP) and disciplinary procedures when compared with their colleagues.
Your attention might have been drawn to my last point about PIPs, grievances and disciplinary procedures, but the reason for this is foundationally based on the previous two points. And also, because a Black woman:
- Who speaks up, is accused of being too forceful or aggressive (the Angry Black Woman trope)
- Who stays quiet, is accused of not being a team player or not leadership material.
- Who is being spoken over and raises the matter, is being too sensitive.
- Who gives an opinion only to have that opinion restated by a white person and accepted, is ignored.
- Who when dealing with the struggles of existing while Black in white dominant societies, is gaslighted about her experience as being the same for everyone.
I could go on.
For these reasons a like a dead canary in a mine, a Black woman will seek an exit from this toxic environment at her earliest opportunity.
If you want to get some insight into how Black women are treated in organisations, read this brilliant story based on real experiences called “Hush Money” by Jacquie Abram
Your company board members are likely still predominantly male. And even if there are women on your board but it is predominantly white, then it’s highly probable that you will not notice anything wrong in your organisation until it’s too late; when the litigations start rolling in.
So if you are proportionally seeing a higher turnover of Black women, it is likely that all of your DE&I efforts are performative and your environment is generally toxic. Your employees will experience this at varying levels of toxicity based on where they fit within the primary dimensions of diversity and the intersections between them.
I would advise you to listen to your canaries and make sure your workplace environment focuses on their needs. When you do this you will find that your DE&I policies and initiatives will work for everyone else in your company.