Date of Submission

Spring 2024

Academic Program

Sociology

Project Advisor 1

Jomaira Salas Pujols

Abstract/Artist's Statement

This study uses place-sensitive sociology to analyze how black women experience oppression in places of achievement, specifically white-collar occupations. I look to highlight the unique challenges faced by black women due to the pervasiveness and inescapability of racial and gender discrimination. I ask, do Black women continue to experience discrimination in high-level occupations? If they do, how do these experiences inform their treatment, approach to their work, and their perceptions of the self? I explore these questions through interviews with nine black women professionals and analyze their experiences with oppression in the workplace, as well as their strategies in navigating these predominantly white spaces. Given the underrepresentation of black women in white-collar occupations, I found that participants consistently faced microaggressions and underestimation by higher-ups, coworkers, subordinates, and clients. Consequently, black women in my study felt compelled to proactively manage the white gaze and discrimination, sometimes resorting to silence as a means of self-preservation against harmful stereotyping. I argue that the utilization of organizational hierarchies enables the white gaze to determine what bodies are deemed legitimate, and otherwise reinforce controlling images that portray the subjugation of black women as natural, normal, and inevitable. My study follows black women through their navigation of white-collar occupations, from silent strategies to cutthroat self-advocacy. Through my research, it is evident that through whatever strategies black women utilize, the stickiness of racism allows for the perpetuation of gendered racism even in the most privileged of spaces.

Open Access Agreement

Open Access

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License.

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