Purpose: intersectionality and the workplace

Workplace expert and executive coach, Melody Wilding explains intersectionality in the workplace and what it means for women at work.

Transcript

00:00

Intersectionality is understanding how different parts of someone's identity converge.

00:09

Someone may be a woman. They also may be Black. They also may identify as LGBTQ, for example.

00:19

And those-- that's at the intersection of all their different identities and affiliations. And it's really important we consider

00:25

this when we look at gender and pay disparities in the workplace. [MUSIC PLAYING]

00:32

I've worked with many women who are in technology. So they're in male-dominated fields to begin with.

00:38

And then they may have another marginalized identity, a Black woman or an Asian woman, for example. And in that case, they face multiple barriers

00:48

not just because of their gender, but also because of their race.

00:55

I've seen really unfortunate situations happen where women of color are not promoted,

01:03

and their male counterparts are, even though their male counterparts don't have the same credentials or the same performance reviews

01:10

that they do. Workplaces bear a lot of responsibility in creating more equitable situations

01:17

for women of all types and people of all backgrounds and colors. But we can take control.

01:24

And we can move faster than the system can as a whole. And so I think we also have a responsibility to ourselves

01:32

to do what we can do to improve our situation not only for us, but for other people. [MUSIC PLAYING]