Black Women in White Institutional Spaces

The Invisible Labor Clause and The Inclusion Tax

Datos Bibliográficos

ID4932765
AutoresTsedale M Melaku (0000-0003-1188-4991, Baruch College, City University of New York, New York, NY, USA, autor de correspondencia)
Año2022
Volumen66
Número11
Páginas1512-1525
Fecha de publicación2022-10-01
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessSí
TipoARTICLE
RevistaAmerican Behavioral Scientist (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 0002-7642 • E-ISSN: 1552-3381
EditorialSAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1177/00027642211066037
OpenAlexW4210337617
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas29
Referencias citadas30

The dual pandemics brought on by COVID-19 and racial violence has played a significant role in uncovering how systemic racism is deeply entrenched within white spaces in America. This article examines the experiences of Black women lawyers in elite law firms to demonstrate how white institutional spaces are racially organized with embedded colorblind racist practices that work to obscure the insidious perpetuation of white supremacy. Black women are required to perform added, unrecognized, and uncompensated labor to maintain their positions. This invisible labor manifests in the form of an inclusion tax that they must pay to be included in white spaces. This article discusses how being one of very few Black people in white spaces creates a myriad of issues that require significant invisible labor including navigating white narratives of affirmative action, negotiating how dominant white culture functions to normalize the white experience, and adherence to white normative standards

Affirmative action · Criminology · Inclusion (mineral) · Narrative · Negotiation · Normative · Political science · Racism · Sociology · White (mutation) · White supremacy · Gender Diversity and Inequality · Gender Politics and Representation · Gender Studies · Law · Law, Rights, and Freedoms