I’ve been working in academia for two decades now. My colleagues would probably describe me as someone with “an upbeat personality,” who’s obsessed with learning and being a good peer. I might even describe myself, or the side of me that shows up for work every day, in the same way.
But there is another side that lives in me too. I’m an Asian American woman who has fought her way into the position of tenured professor. I’m the daughter of Vietnamese refugees who came to the U.S. to build a better life. I’m the youngest of 14 children and the mother of two. And while I consider my background one of many blessings, I’ve faced a great deal of racism and sexism throughout my career as a result of who I am and where I come from.
When people think about what a successful professor, or leader, looks like, they usually think of a white man: Women represent only 22% of full-time professors in business schools, or those employed at the highest rank. Only 3% of full-time professors are female and Asian in all academia.
You observe things from a special vantage point when you live in a world and work in an industry that was built to hold you back. The perspective, blind spots and biases of people who have never questioned their right to take up space or fought to be heard becomes obvious.
In almost every industry, women of color receive less support and experience double standards, microaggressions and unconscious bias, making it much more difficult to advance our careers in rank and pay. This kind of discrimination needs to be addressed at the institutional, organizational and leadership levels. It is their problem to solve, not ours. Nonetheless, when you are trying to excel inside these environments, it’s a lot to go up against.
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I want to share some tools I’ve developed over the years to protect myself, my career path and my mental health in an industry that I was never meant to succeed in.
ALLYSHIP
The most important lesson I’ve learned over the years: There is power in numbers. This is true at every level of an institution.
People tend to favor those who look like them, meaning those in positions of power tend to look, sound and think in similar ways. In general, it’s harder for women of color to establish networks that can help them navigate their careers in predominantly white industries.
The “model minority” myth made this difficult for me in my early career. I came from a low-income family with limited economic resources and a lack of social networks, but I was expected to excel with little structural support. The myth not only erases the individual struggles Asian Americans face, but also ignores the role racism plays in the struggles of other racial/ethnic groups, and worse, it pits people of color against each other when we should really be allies.
To create change in any industry, our voices need to be heard. The more voices there are, the louder we will be. Use this knowledge to connect with people who may feel disconnected and overlooked themselves.
CONFRONTATION
When people make assumptions based on my appearance, I don’t assume they are hurting me on purpose, but I still feel hurt. Every year, I watch people act on their implicit biases to judge my character, abilities and potential. No matter how conscious, unconscious or seemingly kind a bias is, it has the same outcome: inequality, exclusion and reopened wounds.
Even though the issue lies at the institutional level, it’s personal. For my own mental health, for my survival and growth, I’ve had to get comfortable confronting these biases when they confront me.
Here’s what I’ve learned about confronting biases:
— Schedule a private one-onone meeting. Conversations that take place at the same eye-level in a neutral space are most respectful and, therefore, helpful.
— Focus on the other person’s behavior. More often than not, there are bad behaviors, not bad people.
— Speak in a matter-of-fact tone. You want your message to take center stage, not your emotions.
— Don’t bring up past events that could be misconstrued as a personal attack and derail the conversation. Focus the conversation on a single incident.
— When discussing the incident, make sure you can articulate and support your point with evidence.
— If the conversation gets heated, suggest a coffee break and reconnect in 10 minutes.
— Really listen to what the other person says when they respond.
— End the meeting by thanking the other person for taking the time to engage and listen.
DISRUPTION
Pain usually accompanies growth. The biggest milestones in your young adulthood are going to come with challenges that are unique to you and your situation. People of color often face additional challenges because we have fewer resources to support us.
In academia, women of color are tasked with the emotional labor of mentoring students who feel marginalized, which can decrease our research productivity and our chances of getting promoted. If you are also tasked with this, thank you! Your work is needed. However, if this work is going unrecognized and decreasing your productivity in areas that are recognized, you need to either stop saying yes to service or begin to work collaboratively with top leaders at your organization to build service into your reward model.
I’LL LEAVE YOU WITH THIS
If your experience is anything like mine, you may have been expected to quietly “go along” for most of your life. People may want you to be nonconfrontational, easy to work with and docile — a stereotype that is especially common for women of Asian descent. It took time, but today, when I speak up or do things that are different from what is expected of me, I make no apologies.
I’m still sometimes perceived as difficult, out for myself and bossy. But the expectation that you should agree with a point you don’t support or go along with an idea without asking “how” or “why” is absurd.
We should never forget that it is ultimately the responsibility of the institution and the organization to address inequalities. And although many women of color struggle with feelings of acceptance, those same feelings can ignite a fire in us. Use this fire to find purpose in your work, to find your allies and to challenge the status quo.
You deserve to take up space and be heard.
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