Is Your Workplace Intersectional? 21st Century D&I Best Practices

I joined Ellevate back in 2013, now seemingly a lifetime ago. I was excited about our mission to bring gender equality into the workplace, to lift women up, and to provide a community to lean on. My passion was driven in large part by my own experiences as a woman in the workplace and that was the lens through which I initially looked at the problems we were solving. Later on I was at an event with a town hall format – the room was filled with hundreds of experts in diversity, business leaders, and great thinkers. All women. After lengthy discussions on best practices for women in the workplace, being a working mom, and how to support female employees, the moderator asked a question that stuck with me to this day: 

How do we tackle gender equality specifically for black women? 

All of a sudden, hundreds of experts who were racing each other to raise great points one after the other put their hands down, the room got quiet. When solutions were put forth, more likely than not the solutions would apply to all women — not specifically to the unique barriers and challenges that women of color face every day. 

What was seemingly a simple question added an additional layer to an already complex problem: intersectionality. The term intersectionality dates back to 1989 as coined by sociologist Kimberle Crenshaw to describe the interconnected nature of social categories – more often than not creating overlapping systems of discrimination or disadvantage. In the gender equality world, that would mean a woman could be going through a completely different experience in the workplace based on her race, ethnicity, ableism, sexual orientation, religion, age, and countless other factors. 

Although 30 years have gone by since the term was introduced, the interpretation and implementation of intersectional approaches in the workplace are far from caught up with academia. In fact, in a recent Ellevate poll, 73% reported that intersectionality almost never comes up at their organization. 

But the research is crystal clear: just by looking at the gender pay gap we see that the 80 cents a white woman earns to a white man’s dollar goes down to 65 cents for African American women and 61 cents for Hispanic women. Not only that, but when we look at one of the biggest root causes of the gender pay gap, the disproportionate percentages at which men versus women are promoted – or what we call the opportunity gap, research shows that women of color are more likely to stay at individual contributor positions instead of becoming managers.

Now, it might seem like I’m painting the horrible picture of what really goes into gender equality in the workplace – but trust me, there is hope.

Even though the quantitative research on intersectional experiences of women in the workplace is in abundance, the business world is still in search for the best practices to achieve intersectional D&I. 

This past year, we took the question of intersectionality to some of the elite organizations we work with worldwide. At five different roundtables made up of over 40 company representatives, we turned our attention to those who are closest to figuring out the magic of intersectional D&I policies. Through endless hours of discussions and data collection, months of qualitative research, a deep analysis, and an intensive review process, we compiled our second white paper, Driving Equality in the Workplace, with a section dedicated to intersectional identities.

In addressing gender equality from an intersectional point of view, the most successful practices all had three key steps in common: Recognize, Understand, Communicate, and eventually be a catalyst for change.

One of my favorite quotes from the writer and a true feminist icon Audre Lorde reads:

“It is not our differences that divide us. It is our inability to recognize, accept, and celebrate those differences”. 

Indeed, the best policies came from a place of recognition. The first step HR professionals and executives took was to review the research, pre-existing studies, and recognize that the group of women they were trying to label and put into a single giant bucket was actually composed of diverse experiences and backgrounds. They were also able to identify their own privileges. For example, even though I’ve faced difficulties in the workplace because of my gender, I also come from a point of privilege because of my race. Just like that, professionals who, like me, had been seeing from a singular lens started looking at their workplaces from a multitude of different angles. Some successful practices even took a step further to consult and engage with their employees to figure out how different their experiences could be.

The next common step we have identified was the organizations’ pursuit to understand the problem and address the root causes. To achieve this, organizations took a closer look at not only the legal compliance under equal pay law, but more specifically the promotion, raise, and hiring decisions from an intersectional lens across all levels of the organization. For example, looking at a company’s gender breakdown and seeing that it’s composed of equal portions of male, female, and non-binary employees and equal portions of different races is not necessarily enough to say the organization is highly diverse. In fact, it might be the case that 70-80% of the companies racial diversity stems from diversity amongst men and not women. We’ve seen that organizations that conduct similar analyses for every different level at their organization and every possible lens of someone’s identity were able to pinpoint where their problems lie.

Third comes clear communication. Tossing the old diversity handbook is no easy task for any organization. It requires patience, commitment, and a pledge to transform our workplaces so that all employees can bring their full true self to work, regardless of their identities. This is a top down and bottom up effort. Inclusion and equality can’t simply be a cornerstone of the D&I brochure nor can it be driven by HR alone. How are new hires, managers, senior leaders, and everyone in between trained, supported, and communicated to about the importance of acknowledging and accepting all identities? I recall that when we sat down years back to draft what would end up being the values of Ellevate today, we knew we wanted to make diversity an emphasis for the entire company. So, the very first of our six value statements shaped up to be “There is power in diversity”. And I know we’re not alone. Organizations that make a true commitment to making equality a reality for everyone communicate it every single day through their values, structures, and work culture at every level of the organization. 

Finally, be a catalyst for change. We’ve seen that the companies that were able to take action were those that that made action easy. For example, monthly reports for all managers that covered intersectional metrics for promotions, hirings, and firings. If decision makers can easily see where they are succeeding or falling short then taking steps to rectify becomes more evident. Everyone in the audience, regardless of your role in business, academia, or society can be an advocate for yourself or another person. It can be easy to go day to day and feel that systemic change is overwhelming or unattainable. But it takes that initial act, that spark of inspiration to create the lasting movement. Through our research, we’ve learned what’s working at top companies and the plan to get started. But at the end of the day, even company-wide change starts by one person being brave enough to speak up. At an individual level, being a catalyst for change boils down to the exact same steps: if you recognize something, make an effort to understand it. Once you understand, communicate it. And once you communicate, at a company or individual level, demand to see change. Be persistent. Don’t expect to create change overnight, and do not give up. 

Our research showed that the companies truly redefining what diversity and inclusion should look like recognized that experiences and people vary, understood where they stand through an intersectional analysis, and effectively communicated to involve their entire workforce in the conversation. However, there is still tremendous progress to be made. By continuing to bridge the gap between academic research and organizational practice, we have the opportunity to redefine the work culture for generations to come. What sparked my passion to build an inclusive, intersectional, equal future was a simple question a few years ago: How do we tackle gender equality for black women?

Now, I ask you to take this question and many others with you to your research, your workplace, or your studies: How do we tackle gender equality for black women? For Latinas? For female veterans? For women who are members of the LGBTQ+ community? For Muslim women? For women with disabilities?

Because the truth is – if we’re not equal for all, we’re equal for none.