Black Women in Management: Paid Work and Family Formations

Citation

J. Goosby Smith (2015), "Black Women in Management: Paid Work and Family Formations", Equality, Diversity and Inclusion, Vol. 34 No. 4, pp. 346-347. https://doi.org/10.1108/EDI-01-2015-0001

Farmer, a leading scholar on gender, work, intersectionality, and diversity and equity, was born in Zambia and educated in the Middle East, North America, and Africa. Combining her top-rate education (PhD from the London School of Economics and Political Science) with her rich international residential and work experience, Farmer offers a rich, credible, and woman-affirming peek into the identity and experiences of the professional black African women she introduces in this book.

Black Women in Management is a scholarly treatment of how intersectionality impacts professional black African women living and working in Johannesburg and in London – two world class cities. In the book, Farmer provides a thorough history of black populations, colonialism, and imperialism in Africa and in the UK. Without this well-cited setting of the historical context in which these women exist, it would be extremely difficult to put Farmer’s findings into perspective. For this reason, her introductory chapters are “must reads.” She critically analyzes the epistemology about feminism without following the common, but erroneous, approach of homogenizing the experience of women. Her comprehensive review of the literature on feminism and of the intersection of gender, race/ethnicity, and class on women’s experience makes a strong case for the need to understand the experiences of underresearched groups of women, such as professional black women of African descent. For scholars taking this work further, this book presents a wealth of historical and current information upon which to base future research efforts.

One of the strengths of this book is that it uses feminist research methods (e.g. life histories, interviews, etc.) that honor her research participants’ situatedness and encourages them to speak for themselves – vs being spoken for, as has done so much previous research on marginalized groups, such as Sub-Saharan African professional women. Her participants are female engineers and business, healthcare, academic, and legal professionals. The accounts from participants were so rich, in no small part, because Farmer took extraordinary lengths to develop trust among these women such that they could feel comfortable being frank and discussing some very sensitive and personal topics.

Several noteworthy findings stood out for me. One was the sense of responsibility to the collective that some respondents displayed. This was prevalent in their expressed commitment to family, to going back home to help with family, or to going back home to help South Africa with what it needed to flourish. This is a contribution of Farmer not homogenizing the notion of “woman.” Had she not focused on this population, these prevalent themes would likely not have surfaced. The participants also addressed the importance of language and its relevance for gaining acceptance and for experiencing otherness. Language, socialization, and the exposure to elite or private (often white) educational schools was a salient theme in participants’ perceptions of otherness, identity formation, and social situatedness.

As in other parts of the western world, the notion of the “Old Boy” network was a prevalent determinant of these professional women’s experiences in the workplace. The notion of gendered work also spurred some of the women to strive to attain an education and achievement level that build upon and surpassed the domestic careers of their mothers. They had high goals for educational attainment so that they could excel in professional careers. However, those who were educated in elite environments somewhat took for granted that they would have professional careers. These nuanced findings were due to Farmer’s look at the intersections of race, gender, and socioeconomic status.

After discussing the importance of visibility, inequality, recruitment and selection issues, and stereotypes, study participants discussed issues about their careers: isolation, inclusion, career setbacks and progression, and the ability (or inability) to “fit in.”

I thought Farmer’s research approach (life history) and focus (intersectionality of race, gender, and class amongst black African women) provides a widely citable justification for the benefits of such an approach and focus. For example, in the USA, when work-life balance or work-family balance is discussed, it is using the “western” notion of family: the nuclear family with husband, wife, and child(ren). However, “family” is commonly conceptualized more broadly in the rest of the world, and even within racial/ethnic minority groups in the USA. For these non-majority groups, family is multigenerational and often non-biological. As such, I was excited to see that Farmer explicitly discussed and integrated the roles of daughters and “in-laws” in her research. Because of her focus on intersectionality, she was able to discern these impactful aspects of work-life balance. This is a repeated strength in the book. Farmer even discussed the role of faith as a method for handling the trials of life caused by work struggles, role conflict, and intergenerational and family issues. Without the use of her life history approach, we simply would not have the depth, texture, and concreteness in our understanding of how black African professional women deal with these issues.

In sum, I highly recommend Diane Chilangwa Farmer’s book, Black Women in Management. It is a tightly and well-written treasure of thought-provoking exploration of the complexities of how being black, female, African, British, professional, and a member of a given social class manifests itself in the lives of the woman Farmer brought to life in these pages. This book will be particularly useful to those teaching and researching in the areas of feminism, qualitative research methods, international management, African history, UK history, diversity, and inclusion.