Compounding Bias: How Racism and Other Types of Bias Exacerbate the Effects of Sexual Harassment and Discrimination

This is part 4 of a series of articles on sexual harassment, assault, and discrimination in financial services. You can read more about the genesis of the project, as well as the other installments to date on the series landing page.

Race, age, sexual orientation, citizenship status, and disability all factor into discrimination and harassment. Women in those and other marginalized or underrepresented groups face a compounding factor; racism and other types of bias can exacerbate the negative effects of sexual harassment and discrimination.

Below are stories of incidents in which women who self-identify as part of an underrepresented group experienced harassment because of their identity as part of that group. The stories are told by the women-in-finance who experienced them. The stories are shared with their permission, in the words of the women who wrote or spoke them to me. I edited some submissions for clarity, length, and to remove identifying details of all parties.

At a conference a white man asked me to get water for him because he assumed I, a black woman, was the “help.”

I am a military spouse and I worked at a wealth management firm for many years. I loved working at that firm and feel they loved me. Despite my performance reviews and feedback being as positive as possible, I was never promoted to be a lead advisor where I could have my own book of clients. I pressed my manager about this and she finally told me, behind closed doors, that the owners were concerned that because I was a military spouse, I could leave at any time. I started my own business shortly after that meeting with my manager. I never wanted to be an entrepreneur (I prefer being an employee with a steady paycheck) but felt I had no choice.

I was invited to my company’s senior leadership meeting. I was nervous about everything from wardrobe to handshake technique. I walked in the room during breakfast. Holding my head high, I tried to project confidence as I walked along the row of tables looking for a friendly face to sit next to. And then… a managing director who I’d never met before stood up and handed me his empty plate because he thought I was there to serve him. In the moment that I stood there looking at him with a confused stare, he realized what he had done; he mistook the brown girl as the “help”. He quickly took his plate back and apologized profusely. He is a good man, a nice man. He made a regretful decision based on unconscious bias. And I could not recover for the remainder of the two day meeting. My confidence was gone. Did everyone think I was the help?

From a Latina professional: I was invited to speak at a conference for a large investment manager. I was on a panel with 3 white men, moderated by another white man (this is not unusual). One of the panel members was running late. The other 3 panel participants, myself included, were standing at the back of the room having already been fitted with our lavalier microphones. Then the last panel member came rushing in, dashed to the back of the room, turned around in front of me, lifted his blazer and said “just attach the mic to my belt”. Looking at his backside, I said “Hi. I’m [name redacted]. I’m on the panel with you”. He quickly re-adjusted himself and realized that the AV person was to my left, holding up the microphone. There was no apology, only an awkward introduction. I had to take my bruised confidence on stage barely 60 seconds after this encounter.

From a queer financial advisor: Colleagues and clients frequently ask about my husband. Which is a weird thing to assume with anyone but this happens with surprising frequency. “So, what does your husband do?” “Does your husband stay home with your kid?” With colleagues, I always come out as queer because my job as an independent financial advisor isn’t dependent on those colleagues. With clients, I’ve waffled with pronouns or truth depending on circumstances.

From an androgynous presenting lesbian financial planner: In the early days of my financial services journey, I interviewed for a Paraplanner role with a Caucasian, cisgender, conservative financial planner. (I was unaware of his political leanings until we met in person). Over the course of the interview we discussed my qualifications and previous experience. He was very impressed with me, my knowledge, and my passion for the field. At the conclusion of the interview, I asked him if there would be anything that would prevent me from moving forward within the interview process. He told me that while he was impressed with me and felt that I was well-qualified for the position, he didn’t feel did I would resonate well with his market niche. It was this interaction that nearly prevented me from moving forward to become an LGBTQ financial planner.

I was in a casual conversation with three of my male colleagues and manager during our afternoon break. I don’t remember what the original topic was about but the conversation somehow moved into pies and what kind of pie they like. I’m an immigrant, and English is not my first language but my English skills are good enough to be able to finish my master’s degree and work in a top bank. However, American slang, especially sexual innuendo, is not something I learned. Imagine, then, my confusion when the subject switched to pies, and my male colleagues and male manager laughed so hard, especially when I tried to join in the conversation and offer my pie preference. Later that day, I mentioned it to my husband and he explained that “pie” is a sexual reference. I felt very troubled by the conversation and how my colleagues, especially my manager, seemed to enjoy the conversation at my expense, enjoying carrying on a sexual discussion in front of me.

Now What?

How can we make financial services an inclusive field for women of color, women immigrants, women who identify as LGBTQIA, women with disabilities, and women from other underrepresented groups? This is a complex problem, and dismantling the problem involves both self-reflection and action on the part of leaders at all levels of an organization.

I don’t pretend to have all of the answers but below I’ve offered one idea to consider at the systemic level, and a couple at the individual behavior level.But before we jump to working on solutions, I urge you to first continue listening to womens’ experiences to better understand the problem. To keep listening on this topic, please check out season one of the 2050 Trailblazers podcast. The stories there are illustrative and moving, particularly the interview with Angela Moore.

Systemic: Consider engaging a professional company, like Vaya Consulting, Future Work Design, or Ready Set, that specializes in helping organizations foster equitable workplaces.

Individual Behavior: Do a deep dive of learning, reading, and listening in this topic. 2050 Trailblazers Resource Page has good guides. You can find additional learning resources on page 15 of this paper I coauthored.

Intentionally expand your network so you can listen to perspectives of women from groups that are underrepresented in our industry, for example: women of color, women from the LGBTQ+ community, women immigrants, women English language learners, women with disabilities, women veterans, and women military spouses. Social media can be a useful tool here that allows you to listen/ read perspectives that you might not have in your office or work community (yet!).

If your company is working on this issue, I would be happy to share learning resources, and I would be pleased to help you advance the conversation at your next conference or event.

Sonya Dreizler is a speaker, author, consultant and subject matter expert on Impact Investing, ESG, and SRI. She is the founder of Solutions With Sonya and a former financial services CEO with 15 years of industry experience. Her clients include RIAs, BDs, custodians, mutual fund families, and fintech firms. Find out more or connect with Sonya on LinkedIn or Twitter.