Do Black Women Really Have Imposter Syndrome?

It is likely that you have heard of “Imposter Syndrome”. It’s an inability to believe that your success is deserved or has been legitimately achieved as a result of your own efforts or skills. It produces anxiety for some and even paranoia for others. Since so many professionals today can relate to feeling “imposter syndrome” some or even most of the time, it’s now normalized and dismissed as no big deal. Even famous women such as Sheryl Sandberg, First Lady Michelle Obama and Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayo have confessed to experiencing it.

Being the curious person I am, I wanted to know why I was feeling imposter syndrome more strongly as my success grew. I began to ask the question, do black women really have imposter syndrome or is what we are experiencing our reality. In theory, I believe all women can relate to the rational around this phenomenon, but when I think about the centuries black people have been told we aren’t good enough, despite our education or experience, I have to wonder if Imposter Syndrome is a subconscious result of what we were conditioned to believe.

What I’ve learned is that we are?particularly vulnerable?to this state of mind. For black women, imposter syndrome isn’t just an imaginary voice in our heads. We can hear it loud and clear when we receive almost daily messages from society that we truly don’t belong. We are continuously bridling our tongues in the workforce to not be labeled the “angry black woman” and work twice as hard to obtain positions we deserve.

A study conducted by?Kevin Cokley, a professor at the University of Texas at Austin, found that?imposter syndrome can add to the stress?black women feel. In response to the microaggressions we experience in real life, we become our own aggressors, filling ourselves with negative internal dialogue that can result in poor physical and mental care. With imposter syndrome, it becomes too easy to believe the lies society tells us.

At the height of the pandemic, the world was paying more attention to the racial inequalities and seemed to be willing to right some wrongs. However, with recent news of businesses not following through on Diversity Inclusion Policies, we still don’t know if as much progress was made as we thought, but at least some companies have held true to their statements.

The fact of the matter is, while we move forward with this newfound momentum, we are still left with a lifetime of messaging that we don’t belong, and the only way that changes is by knowing who we truly are, not what anyone else says, but what is TRUE. We must renew our minds to negate the lies that we have been conditioned to believe, and although there is a lot of black pride conveyed throughout our community, there are still times when we are insecure and underestimate our value.

Therapy, faith, and validation from a network of women of all races and backgrounds can help, but ultimately, self-gratification helps the most. Believing in US has to become a daily practice that helps ward off imposter syndrome’s negative effects.