Lace on Race

Notes from The Coronavirus Cubicle: Post 5

One day, maybe soon, when I have the spoons and the courage, we will have a real and brutal discussion about the myth that installing women, and people of color, and women of color in roles of influence would have a humanizing and ethical effect on the workplace.

Welp. This current crisis has shown this for the lie it has always been.

We have to talk about the lack of solidarity and of the willingness to do what white men have always done.

We all hoped they would be individual Esthers, transforming the institutions and corporations from the inside.

Brutally, frankly–this has not happened.

We need to talk about this.

Lace on Race Admin Staff

2 responses to “Notes from The Coronavirus Cubicle: Post 5”

  1. Rhonda Eldridge Avatar
    Rhonda Eldridge

    I am the Senior VP of Engineering at a Tech Company in Virginia. It is private company owned by a Hispanic man. I am the only Executive who chose to work from home and I have supported my entire team to work from home. Virginia is in ‘Phase 2’ but my CEO is supporting me and my team to continue to work from home until we are 100% comfortable returning to the office. I don’t know if I will be a successful ‘Esther’ in the long run, but I am proud of myself and my team for not giving in to the peer pressure to return to work because the other Executives have.

  2. Laura Berwick Avatar
    Laura Berwick

    It has seemed to me, in my limited experience of women in places of professional power, that a lot of them get into those places by exemplifying what gets men into those places, like ambition, ruthlessness in competition, buying in to the whole soul-swallowing ethos of long hours and dedication to a corporation. I haven’t seen a lot of women be promoted due to the excellence of their collaboration with and support of others. And once they’ve done all of that and seen the benefits…

    Thiiiiis is starting to sound a lot like white women in our racist and patriarchal society….

    And asking them to do so much in their own selves, in addition to actually performing the tasks of the job… sounds a lot like asking my one black friend to shoulder the emotional labor of representing the entire black community for me….

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