Understanding the Barriers: Women of Color in the Workplace

Meeting ID: 862 6641 5891

Passcode: 126641

This paper identifies and challenges the roots of many barriers faced by Black women and women of colour in the Greater Toronto Area workplace. The methods for this paper include conducting semi-structured interviews of four self-identifying Black women or women of color to better understand the experiences they faced, and may continue to face, throughout their careers, as well as any potential solutions and best practices they have observed. The data collected from the semi-structured interviews is used to extract emergent themes in which some Black women and women of colour face barriers. The resulting themes included religious visibility, microaggressions, unconscious bias and stereotyping, advocacy, community and solidarity, allyship and sponsorship, and sectoral differences. The results show that sectoral differences, in particular, highlight problematic practices in almost every sector, with experiences from each participant. The recommendations include fostering and supporting solidarity in the workplace and its potential to minimize co-worker conflict, a high level of job satisfaction, and a strengthened ability to collectively advocate for change. Furthermore, systemic change in higher education and development programs for youth are needed to better support youth in spearheading and innovating solutions for diversity, equity and inclusion. A focus is also given to self-reflection before action, particularly in the context of institutional and individual white allyship. Policy driven change is believed to be by one participant key to driving change at a systemic level. A final recommendation is a call for future research particularly as it relates to the experiences of Indigenous women in the workplace, the fragility of white allyship and ‘co-signage,’ and institutional microaggressions.