Shared Sisterhood
How to Take Collective Action for Racial and Gender Equity at Work
-
- $25.99
Publisher Description
Gender equity can't happen without racial equity. We need Shared Sisterhood.
Bias persists in organizations and society. Despite efforts that have been made in the last few decades, gender and racioethnic equity still hasn’t been achieved. What's worse, Black, Indigenous, Asian, and Latina women are being held back more than their White counterparts.
We need to change how we strive for equity. We must move beyond individual solutions toward collective action, where people from historically power-dominant and marginalized groups work together, so that all women experience the benefits of professional growth and equity. We need Shared Sisterhood, and anyone, regardless of gender, can join in.
Professor Tina Opie first started Shared Sisterhood as a movement to drive gender and racial equity in organizations. Since then, she and professor Beth A. Livingston have worked together to spread the word to leaders across organizations, with thousands of followers joining the cause. In this book, they explain how to use vulnerability, trust, empathy, and risk-taking to build Shared Sisterhood and break down three key parts of the process:
Dig into your own assumptions around racioethnicity, gender, and powerBridge the divide between women of all backgrounds through authentic relationshipsAdvance all women across the organization and beyond
Balancing a mix of history, research, and real-life examples—including the authors' own experiences—this book encourages everyone to join Shared Sisterhood and advance equity for all.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
"Collective action is necessary to achieve equity for women in organizations, particularly those from historically marginalized racioethnic groups," according to this encouraging guide to workplace diversity. Opie, an associate professor of management at Babson College, and Livingston, an assistant professor of management at Iowa Tippie College of Business, make a case that women of different races must come together and push for equity. To do so, the authors lay out the practices of "Dig" and "Bridge." The former requires thinking deeply about one's own biases and preconceptions, and the latter consists of forming relationships with "people of different racioethnicities than your own." Self-reflection exercises appear throughout: readers are instructed to "identify your social identities," and to research power dynamics and ask themselves, "To what extent do you agree or disagree with what you have discovered?" There's practical advice for forming relationships, too: white women should "work to establish trust" with women of color by demonstrating empathy and vulnerability. The authors' message will leave readers hopeful: "Don't agonize, organize," they write, quoting "the rallying cry of the feminist movement." Readers aiming to create equality at work will find great takeaways here.
