I hear stories like Meghan Markle’s every day in my anti-bias work
Once upon a time, a woman of color got a new job.
The interview process was…unusual. And she didn’t have the standard “pedigree” for someone in that role.
But, even so, she was coming in with some solid relevant experience and demonstrated competencies:
public appearances
subtle impression management
portraying different emotions than the ones you are feeling
sharing opinions on public policy
charity work.
The new job would require some adjustment. Like relocating to Europe, and learning a whole new set of technical protocols. And a whole new institutional culture, not to mention a new country culture.
In addition, the leadership team at this new firm was entirely white. Very, very white.
And… the firm had made the majority of its money by extracting resources from people of color in other countries. One of the ways they had justified this resource extraction and exploitation was by claiming that the people they were stealing from weren’t fully human.
This dehumanization showed up in all kinds of ways.
Ranging from the more obvious – like chattel slavery, in which people of color were the property of white people – to the more subtle, like speaking about people of color as if they were savage, unintelligent, barbaric, uncultured, greedy, uneducated, vicious, not in control of their emotions, and more.
So, although the (more) progressive young leader who brought her into the team had full confidence in her capabilities, the new firm was actually not a welcoming place for this woman of color.
And, in fact, they treated her so badly, so abusively, that after just a few years, she felt compelled to leave the firm for the sake of her mental and physical health. Their treatment of her, and their refusal to protect her, had actually driven her to suicidal ideations.
Meghan Markle is unusual in that she married into the world’s most prominent royal family. And in that her story is the subject of worldwide scrutiny and discussion.
But the foundations of her story? The mechanisms of discrimination and bias that she encountered? The public discussions of her “failings”?
I hear them every day in my anti-bias research and client work.
I'll go through just a few parallel examples.
Hiring
Duchess problems: Markle didn’t have the usual pedigree for entrée into the British royal family. She isn’t British, she isn’t from the aristocracy or gentry, she doesn’t come from hereditary wealth. And she is only half white.
This meant she wasn’t a “culture fit.” And resistance to bringing her in to the firm was there from the beginning.
Regular problems: I have collected story after story of people who were hired thanks to their pedigree rather than demonstrated competencies. This is especially common in tech, where being male and graduating from the right computer science department makes you an “obvious choice.”
In fact, I know more than one company where the entire engineering department is made up of men with CS degrees from just one or two top schools.
By contrast, I have collected many examples of people who were not hired, or hired only with great reluctance, because they didn’t demonstrate the right pedigree.
This can mean a less prestigious college; bootcamp instead of college; or just not being a “culture fit” (which is a common legally acceptable way to say “not the right race” or “not the right gender”).
Onboarding
Duchess problems: Markle asked for training on the technical aspects of and protocols for her new job. “The firm” did not provide that training.
Regular problems: I hear about similar onboarding issues all the time. Sometimes it’s just that a company’s onboarding process hasn’t been worked out yet.
But often, it’s that women of color – along with other types of underrepresented people – aren’t seen as worthy of investment.
These underrepresented people are also less likely to have mentors, either inside or outside the organization, to guide them on the many “unwritten rules” that make up a company culture.
And, when they haven’t grown up in the same social or socioeconomic milieu, all kinds of other cultural rules may be invisible or unclear. Meaning that without training or guidance, it is easier for people who haven’t had the “right” lived experiences to make mistakes.
Contribution Blockers
Duchess problems: When Markle was pregnant with her first child, at least one member of the royal family had more than one conversation with Harry about that child. Specifically, that royal (or royals) expressed concern that the baby’s skin might end up too dark. And how would that look for the British Royal Family?
(Note that Markle is light-skinned enough to “pass,” and maintains a very straight, long hairstyle that meets European and British Royal beauty norms.)
Regular problems: In 2019, California became the first US state to pass a law protecting people from discrimination due to their “protective” or “natural” hairstyles. This law was needed to counteract the bias and discrimination Black people face every day for their afros, braids, locs, twist outs, and more.
I have more than one example in my database of Black women who were blocked from client interactions or high-profile internal work because their natural hair was perceived as “unprofessional” and “not a good representation of this company.”
In both the royal and regular cases, this shows a limited – and straightforwardly biased – mental categorization for what is “professional” and “appropriate.”
Performance Evaluations
Duchess problems: Markle has a colleague, Kate Middleton, who has been at her mostly parallel job a bit longer. But in addition to having more experience, Middleton is fundamentally different: British, upper-crust, and white.
Regular problems: My examples database is filled with women of all races and people of color who were evaluated differently from their white and male colleagues. For doing the same exact thing. Or sometimes, even better work.
For example, did you know that a study of a large set of performance evaluations found that the word “abrasive” was only used to describe women? Men, by contrast, were described as “passionate” or just needing to be “a little more patient.”
So, on this International Women’s Day in March of 2021, there has been a lot of discussion of one particular International Woman – Meghan Markle. Discussion of her appearance, work performance, and discriminatory treatment by her most recent employer.
When you hear and read about Markle’s experience, it is a great time to think about your own organization.How does it treat women of color? Especially in high-ranking roles?
Is there even one woman of color in a high-ranking role?
What are your hiring rates for women of color? Does your organization lose good candidates because it is too focused on pedigree instead of competency?
What are your retention rates for women of color? Do they see a culture where they are mistreated and go right back out that revolving door?
What is your organization’s treatment of people who point out bias and issues of unfairness at work? Is it a genuine consideration of their concerns? Or rejection, retaliation, and a follow-up smear campaign?
On this day and month devoted to women, we can use Meghan Markle’s encounters with bias and discrimination to take a critical look at our own “regular people problems” and figure out how we can do better.
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