The Safe Place
A workshop to build safe spaces for active and effective listening, sharing & allyship in the workplace.
Black women face barriers throughout their lives, including in the workplace.
Located at the intersection of multiple social structures, Black Professional Women often find themselves in a shifting game of assimilation, conformity and negotiation of stereotypes in the workplace. Despite their valuable contributions to these organisations, they often encounter several barriers that can negatively impact their professional trajectories and hinder their progression to leadership positions.
Much of this can be explained by the fact that they live at the intersection of sexism and racism (at the very least), a system of perverse discrimination that perpetuates gender and race inequalities and prevents their career advancement.
Francisca Alvarez-Figueroa from the University’s Global Development Institute, Lydia Nelson, School of Arts, Languages and Cultures, Fernanda Teixeira, Allience Manchester Buniess School and Salwa Alhalafi, University of Lancaster are the co-authors of an upcoming research report Breaking the Glass: Understanding the barriers faced by Black Professional Women in career progression. Facilitated by the Collaboration Labs programme, based at The University of Manchester and funded by the Economic and Social Research Council.
The report is a comprehensive examination of the complex and unique barriers that stifle Black Professional Women in the workplace, produced in partnership with She Leads for Legacy, an organisation that supports women who are minoritised on the basis of the intersection of their race and gender.
The research forms the basis of an upcoming workshop taking place as part of the ESRC Festival of Social Sciences.
The workshop will feature an exclusive documentary, an interactive panel discussion and share a toolkit with practical recommendations for organisations, employers and staff to better support the development of Black female colleagues and address racial tensions in the workplace.
The free, virtual workshop taking place on 8 November, from 12 – 2pm, aims to be a collaborative, productive space for sharing, learning and empowering new conversations, and is open to all.