It seems that in 2018 racial issues are still an impact factor when it comes to executive and high-status professional jobs; this needs to be changed, it’s not possible that people who even have their MBA at a such recognized university like Harvard, are still not obtaining the jobs or positions they deserve and some people that are probably not as qualified or prepared, have better jobs or positions.
For all black women that have made it to the top, it has not been easy while dealing with one too many obstacles and prejudices towards their race, they have also had to overcome the difficulties that come along with being a woman in the workforce. As if it wasn’t enough to deal with racism they also have to deal with the day-to-day challenges that are presented to women at work, not only it is hard for them to achieve what they want but they are a lot of times oppressed by their appearance and are forced to change their looks in order to fit in the “standard” work look. To talk a little bit more about black men in the professional area, some careers that are dominated by males, have opened some opportunity to black professionals dedicated to these careers mostly occupied by white men. It is clear in these cases that the percentage of men is higher, but the percentage of black men is very low considering that they are still a minority.
Rosabeth Moss describes what women experience when they take over a male position, the majority of women that take over those positions are white, so they are constantly receiving recognitions for their work but for men this was different. Black men are often occupying “white men positions” and even though they represent a minority, they manage to have good work relationships with their coworkers without distinction of race or gender. Women in the other hand are always dealing with sexism with having to be cautious when they socialize with men, employees and people with higher ranks, so they don’t cause the wrong impression and don’t look like a “know-it-all”. So, men were always in an advantageous position when it came to socializing with their coworkers without being pointed at or judged by their behavior, unlike women, and one of the factors or advantages men have to achieve this are the subjects that are in the most part topics of interest for men, just like sports, and this is why even if black men are a minority, they have it easier than women, just by the fact that they are males, they can use their gender as an advantage to build a friendship or good relationship with their coworkers and bosses because men only face the difficulties from being African-Americans and not also gender exclusions like women since it is no secret that men in general are the ones dominating executive and management positions.
Even though men have it easier than women when it comes to overcoming gender exclusions, they do face racial exclusions, they are still isolated or not taken into consideration when it comes to expressing themselves or earning the jobs they deserve compared to white men, stereotypes are still a big issue in work environments over almost all the US. Opportunities should be given equally to all men and women regardless of their gender and race, and it seems that only white men are benefiting from working in female dominated positions, with this being said, we can see that black men are not entirely immune to gender-race exclusions as they still face them in some work fields.
Sources:
Adia Harvey Wingfield, “Black Professional Men Describe What It’s Like to Be in the Gender Majority but the Racial Minority” 2018, April, 11, https://hbr.org/2018/04/black-professional-men-describe-what-its-like-to-be-in-the-gender-majority-but-the-racial-minority, Accessed on 9/27/2018
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