Why aren’t more Black women valued in the workplace?

MAISHA HOWZE SPEAKS ABOUT HER NEW BOOK, “HIDDEN GEMS: BLACK WOMEN IN THE WORKPLACE.” (PHOTO BY J.L. MARTELLO)

Maisha Howze’s latest book is ‘a call to action’

Have you ever offered a suggestion, or solution, to your co-workers or supervisors at work, and it was, for lack of a better word, ignored?

But then someone else later on has the same suggestion or solution, and the workplace acts like they’re the hero, like they’ve solved the Pythagorean Theorem?

According to local author Maisha Howze, it happens to Black women all the time at work.

In fact, her second book, “Hidden Gems: Black Women in the Workplace,” touches on that difficult subject and other topics throughout its seven chapters and 118 pages. The book was released on March 25 during a release party at Ascender, on Penn Avenue in East Liberty.

MAISHA HOWZE HOLDS A PROCLAMATION, WITH MANY OF HER SUPPORTERS AT ASCENDER IN EAST LIBERTY. (PHOTOS BY J.L. MARTELLO)

Howze pulled together a group of 25 Black women in 2022 to discuss what it was like being a Black woman in the workplace. It’s a topic that has been studied for decades. A survey concocted by the Gallup Center on Black Voices in 2020 found that Black women were “less likely to feel they are treated with respect in the workplace,” and “less likely to feel like a valued member of their team.”

MAISHA HOWZE, CENTER, WITH DARNICE WARD, DANETRIA CRAIG, SHIRLEY CRAIG AND KHAMIL BAILEY

A survey conducted in 2022 by the consulting firm Every Level Leadership found that Black women reported lower job satisfaction, more challenges to career mobility and a greater likelihood of leaving their current job for a new job. Out of the 19 focus groups and 1,431 Black women surveyed: Seventy-eight percent had never participated in a mentoring program sponsored by their organization; Only 33 percent believed that job performance was evaluated fairly; and just 41 percent trusted that their co-workers would stand up for what is just.

“Companies aren’t creating solutions that will help those who sit at this intersection of being a Black person and being a woman,” said Ericka Hines, founder and principal consultant at Every Level Leadership, in an article from CNBC on the topic in 2022. She said that Diversity, Equity and Inclusion efforts would “fall short unless you take into account those who are the most affected.”

“The book is a call to action,” Howze told the New Pittsburgh Courier in an exclusive interview, May 20. “I believe that often we’re hidden but we’re really the people who are shining throughout the (work) project.”

MAISHA HOWZE WITH SALA UDIN AND HIS WIFE, JACKIE.

A lot of the Black women in Howze’s focus group shared the mental pain of going through the struggle of getting a college education, being more than prepared for the position they’ve acquired, only to turn up invisible at some points at the job.

“The thing that pulls at me the most is not being heard the same in a space,” Howze said. “I attribute that to when you’re in a space, when you are the minority, whether it’s a woman or being Black, but you’re the only one, you’re really not present. Physically, you’re there, but they don’t see you.”

Howze continued: “I’ve spoken to women who say something in a room full of men, but no one hears it. Then that man says the same thing and all of a sudden it’s a great idea.”

Howze, founder of In Touch Consulting, told the Courier that at age 50, she’s had her fair share of jobs. She said she’s seen the micro-aggressions, the subtle (and not-so-subtle) prejudices…she’s been the person to not get the promotion when she felt it was warranted…she’s taken the phone calls from her fellow Black female friends about that “terrible” day at work…

But the craziness that many Black women experience at the workplace is actually hurting the entire company, Howze said. By not valuing that Black woman’s opinions or ideas on a project, “you’re affecting the effectiveness of the project,” she told the Courier.

And for those who are “in the room,” meeting-style at work, who may not be Black? “If you’re in a space, you have a responsibility to speak up, for the health and wellness of that organization. When you have these Diversity, Equity and Inclusion issues in the organization, it begins to affect the productivity of the organization. It’s not a singular issue.”

 

 

 

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