Abstract
This article explores adversity and the lived experiences of Black women in higher education leadership. Using phenomenology, this study specifically explores how Black women in higher education leadership navigate the adverse challenges of intersectionality, stereotype threat, and tokenism. Black women in leadership undergo adversity including limited role models, the concrete ceiling, and the intersectionality of racism, sexism, and ageism, as well as tokenism. The current findings validate that Black women in higher education leadership experience adversity. Some of the more salient codes that emerged were discrimination such as racism, sexism, ageism, and the intersection of these challenges with identity, cultural diversity and belonging, resilience, and leadership callings. Referred to as “superwomen,” Black women are resilient and strong. The results of this study reveal that Black women use adversity as fuel, thus helping them develop the necessary skills to prepare them for leadership. Their strength through adversity is driven by the resilience that has manifested as motivation factors such as family and relationships, mentorship and sponsorship, as well as the support of cultural identity and diversity. The current findings support the notion that adversity shapes Black women into leaders with an emphasis on higher education leadership.
Keywords
Introduction
Black women are continually emerging as leaders across all industries, organizations, nonprofits, government agencies, and academia (“The state of women-owned businesses,” 2018). Leadership ambitions of this group are high, such that Black women are nearly three times more likely to aspire to senior leadership with prestigious titles than their counterparts (Hewlett & Green, 2015). With these goals, however, come intrinsic and extrinsic challenges.
As a collective, Black people have and continue to face substantial adversity both personally and professionally. Nevertheless, overcoming adversity is routine of the Black community. Black women; however, are doubly affected when adversity and challenges are rooted in race and gender differences. Identity markers such as being a “woman” and being “Black” do not exist independently of each other, thus creating a complex intersection of potential adverse experiences. Black women experience more adversity and are given less opportunity such that they perceive that failure is not an option (Rosette & Livingston, 2012). With that said, Black women who have reached leadership success have done so by beating the odds.
Although there has been a significant amount of research on leadership through times of crisis and adversity (Banutu-Gomez, 2004; Beaudan, 2002; Boin & Hart, 2003; Burnett, 1998; Goleman, 2000; Pillai & Meindl, 1991; Valle, 1999) and on women in higher education leadership (Dean et al., 2009; Longman & Madsen, 2014; Madsen, 2008; Wolverton et al., 2009); research specifically investigating minorities in higher education leadership is limited (Bower & Wolverton, 2009; Gutiérrez y Muhs et al., 2012; Valverde, 2003). Furthermore, research on the adverse experiences of Black women serving in college and university leadership is minimal (Davis & Maldonado, 2015; Jean-Marie, 2006).
Black women in higher education leadership face significant challenges and adversity; therefore, there is a need to examine what that adversity looks like and how it has influenced professional Black women and their leadership development. The purpose of this phenomenological study was to explore and describe how Black women in higher education leadership navigate intersectionality, stereotype threat, and tokenism. The following questions guided this study:
What influence does a Black women’s identity have on her ability to lead in higher education administration?
What influence does stereotype threat have on Black women’s leadership in higher education administration?
What influence does tokenism have on Black women’s leadership style and ability in higher education administration?
While White men continue to dominate higher education leadership, the current research sheds light on Black women’s methods of advancement and retention in higher education leadership by exploring the adverse lived experiences unique to Black women. Ultimately, this research attempts to provide direction and guidance to all women while emphasizing the challenges of specific underrepresented groups attempting to advance in the pipeline of higher education administrative leadership.
Review of the Literature
There has been a great deal of emphasis placed on the need to increase the number of women in higher education administration positions in American colleges and universities based on the equality of civil rights (American Council on Education [ACE], 2017). There are recent trends in examining leadership research to help leaders in higher education and those striving for leadership to thrive in the multifaceted global environment and effectively prepare for the challenge of leading complex institutions. Thus, focusing on Black women who serve in leadership roles at colleges and universities will help expand the knowledge base on higher education leadership, Black women in leadership, resilience, and overcoming adversity, therefore opening up the door for more access by this population.
Black women have had to overcome significant adversity to achieve professional success (Assari, 2017). Some of the challenges the Black women in higher education leadership have faced include underrepresentation (ACE, 2017; Bower & Wolverton, 2009; Davis & Maldonado, 2015; T. B. Jones et al., 2012) due to White male/male dominance (Chun & Evans, 2016; T. B. Jones et al., 2012) limited vertical mobility and the concrete ceiling (Baxter-Nuamah, 2015; Davis, 2012) perpetuated by racism, sexism, ageism (and the intersection of these), stereotype threat, isolation, and tokenism (Bower & Wolverton, 2009; Bright, 2010; Kanter, 1977; Sobers, 2014; Woods-Giscombé, 2010).
Underrepresentation and White Male Dominance
Findings from the American College President Study reported that women are still underrepresented, accounting for only 30% of all president positions in 2016, which is slightly up from 26% in 2012 (ACE, 2017). The emerging changes in this field are allowing women to make strides; however, of this 30%, only 9% represent Black women compared with the 83% who are White women. The positions of chancellor or president have traditionally been held by older, White men (Kirschman, 2009). However, even when controlling for race, males still dominate this senior higher education leadership population. Of the 8% of Black college presidents, only 34% were women compared with 66% who were men (ACE, 2017). Furthermore, Black women in these leadership positions serve almost exclusively at community colleges and historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs; ACE, 2017). Thus, the barriers and obstacles that Black women in higher education administration face are not only personal, but also systemic.
Despite a few gains by women and minorities, leadership in U.S. higher education has consistently been dominated by White males (Chun & Evans, 2016). Western society is gradually moving toward equality between genders (Inglehart et al., 2003), yet there is a disproportional number of male versus female senior leaders of colleges and universities. That gap widens severely when specifically evaluating Black women compared to White men in higher education leadership (ACE, 2017).
Limited Vertical Mobility and the Concrete Ceiling
In academia, the glass ceiling has been restructured as the “concrete ceiling” for many Black women (Baxter-Nuamah, 2015; Davis, 2012). The concrete ceiling is a unique adverse obstacle that Black and other minority women face limiting their ascension into positions of leadership in business and academia. This concept is a metaphor for limiting upward career mobility and hindering Black women’s ability to coexist in an organization, depicting that Black women are underrepresented and face adversity in seeking or being in senior levels of leadership in higher education. Although similar, this differs from the concept of the glass ceiling that all women have faced for years. With the glass ceiling, women can at least see what they were being blocked from as well as have the ability to see, shatter, and breakthrough glass. Concrete however; blocks vision and is nearly impenetrable.
There are several factors that perpetuate the challenges associated with the concrete ceiling; one being the lack of positive Black women role models (Galloway, 2016). This opens the door to increased exposure with no guidance to adverse experiences that include discrimination, which is reliant on stereotyping (S. Jackson & Harris, 2007), racism, sexism (Galloway, 2016), and their intersectionality. Vertical mobility for Black women in higher education has been limited due to these dueling forms of discrimination. Discrimination works not only to keep women of color out of positions of leadership but also works against their authentic inclusion when they make it into those positions. The literature further suggests that discrimination increases for Black women, the higher they climb in higher education leadership. (Baxter-Nuamah, 2015). The levels of mental and emotional labor that is required for a Black woman in a position of leadership while maintaining her authentic racial and sexual identity has been identified as exhausting (Erskine et al., 2020). Alas, once the hurdle of the concrete ceiling has been overcome for these female leaders a new series of challenges present. Higher education’s power structure, gender-pay gap, and the limited access to power and privilege can result in feelings of tokenism and isolation, leading to diminished resilience thus presenting unique challenges for Black women in senior higher education leadership (Becks-Moody, 2004).
The Many Faces of Discrimination
Discrimination refers to the harmful and sometimes dangerous actions of some based on negative prejudice that is expressed in escalating levels of violence to others, ranging from spoken abuse to genocide, according to the seminal research of Allport (1954). Discrimination is fueled by stereotype threat and fear and is expressed as racism, sexism, ageism, classism, or ableism. Professional discrimination speaks to people’s unfair and unethical treatment based on race, sex, age, religion, health, socioeconomic status, and class. It looks like harassment, preferential hiring practices, wrongful terminations, intentional demotions, or unjustly denied promotions, to name a few. One of the real dangers of racial discrimination that people of color experience is racial trauma or race-based stress. Experiences of discrimination compounded with fear of a real or perceived threat can lead to symptoms that mirror those of posttraumatic stress disorder (Comas-Díaz et al., 2019). Black women have to manage their identities of people of color and as women when navigating society and leadership.
Intersectionality
For Black women navigating identity, “race does not exist outside of gender . . . and gender does not exist outside of race” (Parker & Lynn, 2002, p. 12) as such, they face the dual discrimination of the of racism and sexism. The overlap or interaction of the various categories of identity discrimination is referred to as intersectionality (Crenshaw, 1989). Studies have found that the intersection of racism and sexism in the workplace can result in biases that alter the perceptions of Black women’s competencies thus limiting their ascension into leadership (Hughes & Dodge, 1997; Moorosi et al, 2018; Patterson, 2006; Scott, 2011; Smith, 2016). This intersectionality has led to more examination and critique for Black women in administrative leadership, making it more difficult for them to succeed (Hughes & Dodge, 1997, Patterson, 2006).
Stereotype Threat
Stereotype threat is a construct that refers to the risk of self-confirming negative beliefs or stereotypes about one’s racial, ethnic, gender, or cultural group in the eyes of others or one’s self and has hindered professional advancement for Black women in and out of academic leadership. A growing body of evidence supports the notion that stereotype threat leads to the reduced performance of individuals that identify as part of the negatively stereotyped group. Other negative outcomes of stereotype threat include anxiety and increased use of self-defeating strategies (Stone, 2002), disengagement and disidentification (J. Steele et al., 2002), lowered academic performance (Croizet & Claire, 1998; Inzlicht & Ben-Zeev, 2000; C. M. Steele, 1997), and narrowed career options (Gupta & Bhawe, 2007; Murphy et al., 2007). C. M. Steele and Aronson (1995) speculated that decreased task performance caused by stereotype threat could specifically be due to factors such as narrowed attention, distraction, anxiety, self-consciousness, and reduced effort or over-effort. Alas, stereotype threat can adversely affect Black women’s experiences in higher education senior leadership and the workforce in general. As it pertains to stereotype threat, Black women who hold senior leadership positions in various organizations, including higher education, battle with the inner turmoil of self-doubt, negative beliefs, low self-esteem. They further struggle with external forces of a hostile environment of racism and sexism daily (Alexander-Lee, 2014).
Black women have unique experiences that other groups of women cannot relate to regarding the impact of stereotype threat and negative stereotypes. In a study exploring the experiences of Black women as part of the African American Women’s Voices Project, which collected data from 333 Black women from all over the United States between the ages of 18 and 88 years, C. Jones and Shorter-Gooden (2003) reported that 80% of Black women had been affected by a negative stereotype. For Black women in higher education leadership, the stigma of stereotypes has contributed to their underrepresentation and challenges in their climb to higher education senior leadership. Stereotype threat can further present a dissonance between what these women are perceived as opposed to how they feel they have to be as leaders instead of who they truly are and want to be as leaders (Beckwith et al., 2016; Brown, 2016). If stereotypes define these women’s leadership capabilities, it can be mentally and physically damaging to these leaders (Hill et al., 2016), potentially leading to isolation and tokenism.
Isolation and Tokenism: The Battle Between Invisibility and Hypervisibility
As a woman of color working in an industry predominantly run by White men, tokenism’s conflicting thoughts can further complicate an already difficult adjustment. Black women in academic leadership describe the challenges of discrimination and how it leads to marginalization and feelings of isolation and tokenism (Bower & Wolverton, 2009; Cho et al., 2013; Kaba, 2008; Miller & Groccia, 2011). Kanter (1977) described tokenism as the feelings and experiences of being one or few of a group in which they are the extreme minority, such as Black women in higher education. These feelings and experiences can include isolation, loneliness, limited support, and solo status associated with the organizational practices of meeting minimal legal and administrative compliance and public scrutiny in minority use and placement (Bright, 2010; Sobers, 2014).
As a social concept, tokenism stems from discrimination, marginalization, and oppression, as it refers to the practice of including a limited number of minorities to give the appearance of equality instead of true equality and diversity (Bower & Wolverton, 2009; Bright, 2010; Kanter, 1977; Sobers, 2014; Woods-Giscombé, 2010). Tokenism emerges from organizational calls for diversity and inclusion without genuine feelings of belongingness and equal access to resources. Tokenism in the workplace and, specifically, higher education can present in many ways. It can potentially look like hiring a minority person because of their race or ethnicity or an organization marketing their 1% minority population on their website to appear more diverse. In higher education leadership, Black women appointed to serve as a college/university president are continuously challenged and denied by their governing board at every impasse (Davis & Maldonado, 2015).
In the world of White academia, Black women, regardless of preparation, qualifications, or competency in administration, are invisible and isolated (Becks-Moody, 2004). Although the duality of invisibility and hypervisibility plague women in social settings, it significantly affects Black women in leadership positions (Dickens et al., 2019). Black women in higher education leadership are accounted for and visible when it comes to statistical reporting; however, they are discounted or deemed invisible when it comes to intelligence or academic ability (Baxter-Nuamah, 2015). The sociocultural phenomenon of Black women being invisible or going unnoticed or unheard is not rare. Sesko and Biernat (2010) found that Black women are more likely to be unheard, unnoticed, and least likely to be recognized in social situations. According to Benjamin (1997, as cited in Davis, 2012), the number of Black women in academia has increased; yet, they remain largely invisible, thus presenting as further adversity to overcome to have their voices heard.
Black women in higher education leadership are constantly challenged to prove that their success is justly due and achieved and not an effect of affirmative action, opportunity hiring, or tokenism (Baxter-Nuamah, 2015). Edwards (1997) notes that Black women are “more visible and equally isolated” because of their race and gender differences. Increased cognitive conflict can occur due to the token Black woman finding herself in situations where she is cognizant of her position as the only Black woman; however, she must “behave as though these differences do not exist” (p. 33).
Tokenism has significant effects and consequences. Lord and Saenz (1985) suggested that the token minority status in a group can cause deficits in cognitive functioning and memory, even in cases where a performance-relevant stereotype does not target that individual. It is further suggested that this is likely due to the outgrowth of the self-consciousness tokenism causes. Tokenism also leads to feelings of loneliness, isolation, and alienation; receiving heavy blame when there are adverse outcomes (Miller & Groccia, 2011); and exhaustion (Becks-Moody, 2004; Walker, 2016). These outcomes are all validated by early reporting’s from Kanter (1977), finding poor social relationships, dismal self-imagery, frustrations from conflicting demands, inhibition of self-expression, feelings of inadequacy, and self-hatred.
There are significant and critical challenges for Black women associated with tokenism in higher education specifically. For instance, Holmes (2003) explored the experiences of mid- through senior-level Black women student affairs professionals employed by predominantly White institutions [PWIs] and found that these women experience feelings of alienation and isolation. The study participants further indicated that they felt their race dictated their actions in and outside of the university. Research intensive institutions (R1s and R2s) of higher education and PWIs such as the University of Pennsylvania and the University of Kentucky have been notorious for creating environments where people of color, specifically women, have extreme difficulty feeling accepted and becoming successful (Kelly et al., 2019). Tokenism affects the hiring practices of institutions (Trusteeship, 2002). Tokenism further leads to Black female higher education leaders struggling to feel accepted and treated somewhat as equals and not just an object of compliance in the reality of the White, male-dominated world of higher education (J. F. L. Jackson & O’Callaghan, 2009).
People of color in higher education administration and leadership positions are almost always the liaisons on all issues dealing with diversity (Becks-Moody, 2004). Kanter (1977) suggested that this is because the member(s) of the token group will become the representative of the group in general, thus being viewed and treated as symbols rather than individuals. The number of Black women in higher education senior leadership is essentially due to these challenges, which hinders these women’s advancement and limits role models.
Black women have faced these challenges over the years yet, continued to strive for leadership success in all industries. With a focus on higher education administration and leadership, these adversities have been collectively examined to understand their influence on Black women in higher education and how they shape their leadership development. By exploring how these women overcome adverse experiences and applying that knowledge to the world of higher education leadership, we attempt to build the profile of a Black woman in higher education leadership. Understanding the processes and strategies these women have implemented will help develop and provide training and mentoring programs for Black women seeking leadership and advancement in higher education administration.
Methodology
The purpose of the current study was to understand better how Black women in higher education leadership navigate the adverse challenges of intersectionality, stereotype threat, and tokenism. The investigator employed a qualitative methodology using a phenomenological research design as most appropriate to understand the lived experiences of Black women in higher education leadership.
The investigator explored the impact of adversity on the leadership development of Black women in higher education leadership with a phenomenological inquiry. This approach allowed the investigator to explore and understand the participants’ lived experiences while maintaining reflexivity. Objectivity was achieved by bridling personal subjectivity and personal bias throughout the data collection and analysis processes (Vagle, 2018). The investigator ascribed to the hermeneutic school of thought, and although personally vested and experienced with the phenomenon, maintaining objectivity allowed the investigator the ability to interpret the data as appropriate (Moustakas, 1994).
Participants
Participants in the study were recruited by blending convenience, purposive, and snowball sampling techniques. The criteria for participation were (a) Black women, (b) President/Chancellor, vice president/chancellor, or provost of a 4-year college or university in the United States, which have/had been (c) obtained or completing a terminal degree. The investigator conducted an exhaustive internet search to identify potential participants. Convenience sampling like, the name suggests, is the request for participation based on participant availability; however, the participants had to meet the criteria as outlined, which is purposive by definition. Purposive sampling is also found to increase representativeness in field research (Vogt & Johnson, 2011). With such a unique and small population to sample, the pool of participants was already limited, thus allowing snowball sampling to access more participants that met the criteria for participation (Naderifar et al., 2017). By networking with peers and colleagues in various colleges and universities, as well as professional organizations, social media, and affinity groups associated with higher education, the investigator was able to generate a list of potential participants and ask for a direct reference or recommendation to connect them with the potential participant. The investigator successfully recruited nine participants for the study outlined in Table 1.
Participant Demographic Summary Data.
Procedures and Data Collection
After successfully recruiting each participant, the researcher then emailed preinterview documents that included the (a) Lived Experiences Timeline Activity (Figure 1), (b) a link to the demographic survey, and (c) a calendar request to schedule the interview. The results of the demographic survey are summarized in Table 1. The investigator required that the Lived Experiences Timeline activity and demographic survey be returned at least 2 to 3 days before the interview for adequate review time to personalize the semistructured interview protocol questions (see Table 2). Once all the preliminary documents were collected, semistructured interviews were scheduled and conducted via Zoom videoconference software.
Lived experiences timeline activity.
Interview Protocol.
The use of Zoom video conferencing software allowed the investigator to observe and recognize social cues such as body language and voice inflection during the interview (Opedenakker, 2006). This was beneficial as social distancing guidelines due to the COVID-19 pandemic has recommended avoiding unnecessary contact with people outside your immediate home. Along with using the interview questions and the timeline activity responses, the investigator took notes during the interviews as the participants shared their lived experiences. The notes helped guide the interview flow and assisted the investigator in understanding and preserving emerging themes during data analysis (Oltmann, 2016). The interviews were recorded digitally to allow for adequate and precise transcription. The study included the interview questions listed in Table 2.
Data Analysis
The audio recordings of the interviews were uploaded to Rev, an online professional transcription service. Once transcription was completed, the investigator utilized member checking by asking the participants to review the transcripts to verify the data’s content and accuracy. The participants were able to confirm truthfulness, which increases validity. Member checking has been described as “the most crucial technique for establishing credibility” (Lincoln & Guba, 1985, p. 314).
The researcher utilized Moustakas’s (1994) modified Stevick-Colaizzi-Keen phenomenological data analysis method to organize, analyze, and describe the findings. The investigator manually reviewed each transcript to identify possible codes and themes then used the qualitative data coding and analysis software, Dedoose, to further analyze the transcripts. Horizonalizing the transcripts’ data allowed the investigator to move from naïve descriptions to specific examples, thus revealing the essential structures of the experience. The investigator first developed textural descriptions of what the participants experienced, followed by structural descriptions concerning the context and setting that affect how they experienced the phenomenon. These general descriptions revealed the composite essential structure of the lived experience of the participants.
The investigator further engaged in the reflexive process of epoché through note taking, which involved reviewing bracketed information and reflection on the context for each code (Creswell, 2013). This bracketing practice of setting aside personal beliefs, experiences, biases, and preconceived notions about the phenomenon helped the investigator to capture the ideas essential to the research (Moustakas, 1994). Vagle (2014) expanded on the practicality of this process and further described it as bridling. Dahlberg (2006, as cited in Vagle, 2014) suggested, bridling involves the essence of bracketing in that pre-understandings are restrained so they do not limit the openness [and] is an active project in which one continually tends to the understanding of the phenomenon as a whole throughout the study. (p. 67)
This data analysis method further included interpretive pre-reflection by the investigator and the participants’ reflective descriptions to reach a “universal description of the experience” (Moustakas, 1994, p. 122). The intersectionality framework was used as a lens to observe, understand, and describe the themes that emerged. Multidimensional, phenomenological themes that expressed the participants’ meanings of their lived experience by identifying recurring content and patterns in the transcripts and drawing connections among the transcripts’ pages are discussed in the findings below. Additionally, the investigator further used member checking by asking the participants to validate the identified themes, strengthening the validity of the findings.
Findings
This study suggests that leadership development for Black women in higher education administration is a result of overcoming adversity fueled by resilience. On coding and analyzing the data, four primary themes and two subthemes emerged that addressed how Black women in higher education leadership navigate the adversity of intersectionality, stereotype threat, and tokenism: (1) Intersectionality: Navigating the -isms; (2) Identity, Cultural Diversity, and Belonging; (3) Doing what we have to do: The many faces of resilience . . . ; (3a) “I am strong, I am invincible, I am woman”: Motivations of the strong Black woman (SBW)/Superwoman; (3b) Networking, Mentoring, and Professional Support; and (4) Leadership: “I am the master of my fate, I am the captain of my soul.” Table 3 illustrates the themes and invariant meanings derived from the research question, connection to the theoretical framework, and frequency of mentions.
Invariant Meanings and Themes.
Theme 1: Intersectionality: Navigating the -isms
As previously discussed, intersectionality refers to the overlap or interaction of the various categories of discrimination (Crenshaw, 1989), such as the intersection of racism and sexism in Black women. This study’s participants have shared several experiences where they have had to navigate discrimination on various fronts, whether on sex, race, age, education level, social class, and so on.
Ruby discussed dealing with ageism, sexism, and racism in several of her lived experiences. When reflecting on her legal career before entering higher education, Ruby dealt with sexism in situations such as [women] being unable to “wear pants to the courthouse.” When referencing challenges due to her race, Ruby shared the following: Even after I graduated and I went to work for [a government agency], I wore a wig for the first 9 months because I was afraid that my natural hair would not be something that would be taken seriously. It would be too radical . . . plus I had lost my hair from chemotherapy. I remember that when I started growing my hair back and I had to make that decision to come out of my wig. I remember having this conversation with a woman in the bathroom and she said, “Oh, I see you cut your hair off.” And I said, “Yes.” And she said, “And I see that you are . . . ” I said, “Wearing it naturally like yours?” She just washed her hands and went out the bathroom. I just thought to myself, “Well, you’ve made a stand. If you can’t continue in this line of work, then you’ll just have to figure out something else to do.” It was important to me to be my authentic self. When my hair grew back, I didn’t go back to the wig and when people made those comments to me about my hair, I would just say, “It’s natural, just like yours.” We had Jewish people working there with kinky hair and curly hair. We had Italian people there. So, I did that. My thing was if I can do the job and do it well, you shouldn’t have any questions about my hair or what I wear. Those are accoutrements. That didn’t have anything to do with the quality of my work or my performance.
Once in higher education, Ruby further experienced not only racism and sexism but also ageism: More so because I was so young. I’m an associate dean and I’m so young. My Dean, he was 30 years my senior when he started doing the work that I was doing. Here I was in my thirties and I’m doing this work, but I think the imposter syndrome works differently for White women than it does for Black women. For Black women in the Academy, we really don’t have time to be imposters because we’re not seen as being equals anyway. It’s not an imposter because whereas White women and White men might say, “That female could be replaced, placing me as a primary character because they’re White and I’m White.” There’s no way anybody was going to look at and see me as a replacement for them because there were too many different characteristics. Not only am I Black, I’m a female, and I’m six foot one, and I’ve got this natural hair. The imposter syndrome wasn’t really the mechanism for me. For me it was more the age piece. You’ve got all these old White men. My Dean, thank God was a woman.
Amethyst shared the unique experience of being both supported and yet marginalized by a White, male superior at a point in time in her career: And absolutely he viewed himself as obviously incredibly intellectually superior, and he was a chauvinist, and you know I had some bizarre negative experiences with him. And so, while I say he was very supportive, and he professionally gave me lots of promotions and subsidized my doctoral work, on the flip side could also be incredibly . . . I had two children while working there. He didn’t speak with me for probably eight months. Like he literally stopped speaking to me. He reassigns some of my work and he just, once we were at lunch with the person who will be taking over something while I was with family, and he moved the centerpiece in front of my face. And directed her and talked to the other person.
She further recalled a conversation with the same boss which she was reminded of after getting off a plane: . . . the pilot, myself, and two other people and [the boss] is talking about another employee’s wife and who thinks she’s such a, you know, whatever. And I said, “I bet you talk about me behind my back too,” like I just kind of joke. And he goes, “No, actually I agreed with that until you got knocked up.” I mean, he was a chauvinist pig. He really was. And so, we don’t think about. I mean, again, we just always that . . . kind of compartmentalize that went away and keep doing work. And I think Black women probably do a lot more of that then probably said.
Jade came to a great epiphany during the interview when considering her actions and the impact of institutional oppression on her thoughts and behaviors: I don’t think I was as self-aware as I am now, so I think again, similar to some of my upbringing, I feel as though . . . in generalities, right? I think as women of color we’re . . . at least, I was raised very much on respectability, you dress a certain way, you act a certain way, you speak a certain way and you’ll be fine, and I realized that people were treated differently, but I don’t think, until I got to [HBCU], I realized how systemic and institutional racism is . . . I don’t know that I’m able to pinpoint and say, “Yep. It was definitely my race that was an issue” or whatever the case may be, because I don’t think . . . I was so programmed to think about, “Well, what did I do? Did I speak a certain way? Did I say something that I shouldn’t have? Did I do something I shouldn’t have?” Without realizing how institutional oppression is, if that makes sense?
However, sexism and ageism are some of the most prominent expressions of discrimination she experienced, according to Jade. She discussed a particular experience that led to her being temporarily unemployed a few years after undergraduate education: So, I had recently quit a job, being 20 something years old, when I felt as though I was being discriminated against. I had my boss tell me that I was, quote, and I’m not paraphrasing. Quote, “You are too young to be making the money you make. How old are you anyway?” Yeah. Again, this was when I was still in the corporate world. Shortly after that I was like, “Yeah, I’m out. I quit.” So, I was temping at various places while I tried to figure out what I wanted to do, so yeah. It was still relatively early in my career. I mean, I was only 6 years out of undergrad, but at that point, the job that I quit was a manager level position.
When evaluating her experiences in higher education, Jade shared that she has . . . worked at both PWIs and HBCUs. HBCUs are some of the sexist places you will ever experience. Very patriarchal, very male-dominated. I don’t want to say old school, but like this very. . . . Oh goodness, I should know the word for this. Everyone was Mr. so-and-so and Ms. So-and-so, no one was [first name] or [first name]. It was very formal and very old school in certain ways, so in that space, I wouldn’t say race played a role, but gender? Absolutely. Age? Absolutely. I was one of the youngest people on the cabinet and I definitely felt that. I felt kind of this undertone of, “Oh child, sit down. I could be your grandmother. You’re just going to do what I said because that’s what we always do.” Whereas at PWIs you get all of that. You have the race component, you have the gender, because it’s still very male-dominated, but not . . . I haven’t had anyone explicitly dismiss me, but absolutely I’ve been dismissed many a times.
Fluorite echoed some of these sentiments as she discussed her transition from [University] to [University]: I was really looking for an environment where I could thrive as a Black woman and kind of be celebrated in that, and interestingly enough it was really difficult in that environment. Because as an amazing of a place that [University] is, it is a place that kind of can tear you down. I didn’t experience any racial or gender microaggressions, but my age was a factor for people because when I started there, I was 33, and so everybody who worked with me and reported to me was all significantly older than me. And so that was very difficult for people to work with . . . I was constantly microaggressed about that.
Professionally, Diamond experienced significant discrimination: And then throughout my experience, sometimes your voice was marginalized. When men said something versus when a woman said something, but I didn’t experience it that much until I got to [University]. . . . Though there was gender discrimination at [University] to the point where even HR and the Title IX coordinator mentioned that I should file a complaint, I did not file a complaint. Because, when you file a complaint in higher education, whether you’re right or wrong, it follows you through your career and can impact future employment. The fact that you filed a complaint is a problem.
Navigating professional environments can be challenging when your physical self is not congruent to the expectations set on you; however, Opal is conscious that “it’s the intersection of race and gender that is a challenge. Showing up as a Black woman who believes in presenting her true and authentic self is challenging.” Although adversity can be subjective as it differs from person-to-person, there are overlapping similarities in these Black women leaders’ experiences in higher education. Some of the overarching similarities lie in the discrimination experienced, intersectionality, and identity, cultural diversity, and belonging for this group of participants.
Theme 2: Identity, Cultural Diversity, and Belonging
Second-guessing yourself, imposter syndrome, and tokenism are just a few of the challenges associated with these participants’ identities and belonging in academic and professional environments. Ruby summed up the notion of what it feels like to second-guess your talents and skills even when others see them: At [University], [mentor]was an incredible mentor. He’s the person who actually told me one day you’re going to be a president. And I was like, “No, I’m not going to be president.” He said, “In order for you to do that, you need to go to [Ivy League College].” And I was like, “[mentor], I’m not going to [Ivy League College]. I really appreciate it.” Now you talk about imposter syndrome. I was like, “I really appreciate the fact that you think I’m that smart, but I’m really not that smart. I took a major that I loved, and I augmented that with speech, which I loved, and that’s why I got good grades. So, don’t be trying to send me to [Ivy League College].” He was like, “Well, [a colleague’s] going to [Ivy League College].” I’m like, “She’s brilliant.” And he’s like, “[another colleague’s] gone to [Ivy League College].” I was like, “She’s brilliant.” And he was like, “And you’re going to [Ivy League College].” I was like, “I am not brilliant.” He put me in the IEM program, the management development program at [Ivy League College]. I’ll never forget, I got accepted into that program and I went in his office like a kid on Christmas morning. I was like, “I got in, I got in, I got in.” He just laughed at me like, “You silly girl, of course you got in. Do you know how good you are?” I was like, “No.” And I really, for a long time, I thought that he had pulled some strings and he swore, he didn’t do anything except for support, my application. He was one of the ones who first opened that idea.
Jade echoed this sentiment as she discussed working in her role as a vice president: Do they realize who they hired? I’m just some little girl from [an urban neighborhood] that . . . I shouldn’t even be in this space, and wanting to help, because I know other people feel that way as well and wanting to never have other . . . It’s 2020, why do we still feel that we shouldn’t be here?
Amethyst, who “grew up around almost entirely White people . . . in a mixed-race family in West Virginia, which is a 3% minority state,” talks about the challenge of reaching success based on identity and appearance as perceived by a subordinate: There was definitely a sense of “I made you.” Once he said to me, “you have everything it takes to be successful, you’re smart, you’re good looking, you’re tall. You’re dark but not Black.” What does that mean? Like, you know, are we talking about like skin tone or are we talking about, like, I don’t “act Black.” And I mean—I’m dark but not Black. Yeah. Like I had everything it takes to be successful.
Wonderstone shared that although she “always know[s] that [she’s] coming in and being a token . . . a twofer right, you get a female, and you get a person of color,” expressed how she has pondered at times “Do I belong, can I fit? What do I need to do? And you do have to learn how to check the boxes.” She was ever reminded of her uniqueness as she states, “I could look around myself and see, there weren’t many people that looked like me in the academy that were administrative positions.”
Morganite discusses the challenges of the sense of not belonging and wrestling with imposter syndrome as she stated, “I was something of a unicorn for them,” and being told by peers, “Oh, I like you, you’re Black. I like you, but I don’t like most Black people.” She goes on to say: I wasn’t particularly accepted anywhere so I learned how to deal with it, but certainly to my White colleagues - I mean, I was something of a unicorn for them. Most of them had never met or engaged with an equal Black woman . . .
For Black women in society in general, and specifically women in higher education senior leadership, this is a reoccurring theme. Wonderstone, cognizant of her position, goes on to say, “I was never a quiet token, so you’re not going to just mistreat me” when dealing with adversity in her positions. On the concept of tokenism, Diamond states, “it’s a very isolat[ing] experience,” whether in classes back in school or in the board room.
The participants are highly aware of their positions and how their race, gender, and age impact that. The ability to successfully lead in the face of discrimination sets these women apart from those who shy away from leadership due to being marginalized by their demographics. Regardless of the industry, Black women are expected to navigate the compounding discriminations they face daily flawlessly.
Theme 3: Doing What We Have to Do: The Many Faces of Resilience
Resilience looks different for all people. In the face of trauma, adversity, and the stresses of life, developing and maintaining resilience has helped these women get through difficult experiences and promote personal and professional growth. Resilience does not imply that a person will not experience adversity, trauma, or distress—on the contrary, this author finds that resilience refers to those protective factors and positive adaptations a person makes in light of those situations. The women in this study have identified several resilience techniques and resources they have used in the face of adversity.
These women have been motivated to be the best from their early academics up through their career development. For instance, Ruby recalled part of her motivations in undergrad that pushed and built her for success: You had to get up and out that day and go to class. You had to study, you had to do your work. You had to be serious because you were setting the pace for the next group. And that was something that was drummed into you, not only by [our] Dean and his staff but, also by all the other students that were there. We knew that we had a unique opportunity with our presence.
Wonderstone was significantly motivated by her grandparents as a child during the civil rights movement of the 1960s. Her grandparents instilled in her the “importance of education . . . [and] service,” and her grandmother would say, “people can take your house, your car, everything from you, but they can never take away your education.” Emerald echoed the group’s sentiments when reflecting on work ethic in that “you do it well or you don’t do it at all.”
Some participants recalled being motivated and inspired by their families (i.e., parents, siblings, children, and spouses), whereas others reflected on external and outside motivators. Ruby spoke of being able to see and hear Shirley Chisholm, the first Black woman elected to Congress, and to successfully run a full campaign for President of the United States, in person. She described it as a “galvanizing . . . life changing” experience that finalized her career goals of being “in service to others.” Amethyst, while navigating her identity issues, spoke of being motivated by people such as her mother-in-law. She was inspired to become a member of several public service organizations, as well as to strive for leadership in her respective career field as she “sought out Black women that [she] thought could teach [her] how to be a Black woman.” Several of the participants spoke of the supportive nature that their friends had provided them throughout their life and 1/3 of the participants referenced the supportive sisterhood of joining a Black Greek Letter Organization. Wonderstone summarized it best when she said, “you have different people in your life that you go to, depending on what it is that you’re dealing with. Whether it’s . . . in your personal life, you know you have a support system of others that are around you that you know will challenge you, listen to you . . . ” Last, but not least, the participants unapologetically revealed their faith and spirituality as personal motivations through adversity. Having the mentality to remain steadfast, or #unbothered as the youth call it, in the face of adversity has served these Black female leaders well as they reached and continue to reach professional success.
Subtheme 3a: “I am Strong, I am Invincible, I am Woman”: Motivations of the SBW/Superwoman
According to the literature, the SBW schema “is a race-gender schema that prescribes culturally specific feminine expectations from [Black] women, including unyielding strength, assumption of multiple roles, and caring for other” (Liao et al., 2020, p. 84). However, to the women who live it, it is just the norm, as indicated by this study’s results. Each participant mentioned their strength and resilience in overcoming adversity at least once.
Diamond shared the notion that “ . . . Black women can’t slow down” as she reflected on the resolve of her mother, that even after separation from her husband, she “kept working and tirelessly juggled multiple tasks.” Diamond further stated that as Black women, “ . . . that’s what we do, and we learned to do it. We learned to be superwomen.” Being a superwoman comes with its own unique set of drawbacks, however. In reflecting on professional experiences, Jade described it as “ . . . there’s always this ever-moving bar of justification and explanation of why you’re in this space, why you should be allowed to make decisions.” Setting clear boundaries of what will and will not be tolerated and accepted is critical. In reflecting on collective experiences of adversity, Amethyst wondered if Black women are “giving people license to treat [them poorly] because [their] resilience meter tends to be a little higher,” however, “that’s a coping mechanism, not nature.” However, having a strong work ethic does not translate into being unbreakable for anyone, and having to always be the “SBW” as a source of resilience has its drawbacks and benefits.
Resilience is often seen or defined as overcoming hardships or something easily obtainable; however, that does not paint the whole picture. This particular definition of resilience does not consider systems of power, privilege, and oppression that impact marginalized people’s lives every day. Black women in leadership have had to specifically take on the stereotypical role of the SBW or Black superwoman, uphold a ridiculous work ethic, and live by the mantra of having to work twice as hard to get half as far (or half the acknowledgment) than their White counterparts. Strength is undoubtedly a factor of resilience for Black women in higher education leadership.
Subtheme 3b: Networking, Mentoring, and Professional Support
These women’s resilience has further been supported by networking relationships, advocates, mentors, sponsors, and professional support systems. Having the right support system has helped the participants in this group reflect on their setbacks and learn from them, allowing them to do better in the future. Having the right mentors helped the participants see failures as learning experiences. Each participant spoke of a mentor, a teacher, spiritual leader, or administrator while they were in college, a colleague, or a supervisor.
Opal spoke of her mentors and how they “provide[d] advice in the roles [she held] . . . helped [her] job search, not only to think about what [she’d] need to look for in a position but the social aspect of the city too.” Fluorite had this to say of her mentors: They each play different roles depending on what is happening in my life. Is it personal, is it professional? Do I need to be boosted up, or do I need to be brought back to reality? I see them as like my own personal board of trustees. They tell me the good and the bad. They are there to support me and to push and challenge me.
Ruby describes the benefits of mentorship as follows: . . . more times than not, there are other people that can see greater things in you than you see for yourself. You need to listen to those people. Especially if they mean you well, you need to take their advice when they try to offer you opportunities and not shy away from them just because you can’t see it for yourself.
In summarizing the participants’ thoughts, having the right support system, whether it is mentors, sponsors, or advocates, is a valuable asset and resource to help advance professionals’ success in all fields and industries, with higher education being no exception. It is necessary to state that although professional sponsorship is similar to mentorship, sponsorship goes to the next level of advocacy. Whereas a mentor is someone you value with career experience and the ability to help shape and drive career goals, a sponsor is a senior-level executive that helps their protégés network. For Black women in leadership, it has been stated that other Black women in leadership make great mentors (Grant, 2012); however, White male allies in senior leadership positions are the most influential sponsors.
This group of Black women leaders has further found that networking and having sufficient mentors, sponsors, and professional support systems have contributed to their resilience and leadership success. These support systems have helped the participants in this group reflect on their setbacks and learn from them, allowing them to do better in the future, thus helping them view their failures as transformational learning experiences. Mentors and sponsors have provided them the necessary resources, knowledge, skills, and motivations to climb the leadership ladder.
Theme 4: Leadership: “ . . . My Head Is Bloody, but Unbowed.”
Leadership for these women is not about a title but about fulfilling a calling. Ruby stated, “you can lead wherever you are . . . it doesn’t have to be huge, you don’t have to have a title in order to be a leader.” For Black women in leadership, there are a series of compromises we make as people of color, series of compromises we make as women . . . to enable us to get to a certain level . . . and then once we’re there . . . we can begin.
according to Amethyst. Similarly, Wonderstone advises that one decide[s] where you’re going to be happy . . . you don’t ever want to be in a place where you’re miserable . . . [decide] if you want to advance, what does that look like where you still can be authentically you.
Jade understands that leadership comes with responsibility beyond the traditional workload as well. She states, it’s the representation, it’s the impact . . . for students to feel or to see someone [that looks like them] . . . You can’t aspire to what you don’t know. You can’t aspire to what you don’t see.
While Diamond suggests that one must “Lead with courage and integrity,” Morganite identifies as “ . . . a leader who thinks you have to connect with, engage, and see the humanity of the people you lead.” Opal further recommends as a leader remaining . . . cognizant of the choices one makes and be ready for the challenges . . . while you may not know what is ahead, mentally, you can prepare yourself for the best and worst . . .
Regardless, developing leadership through adversity requires resilience. Fluorite summarizes this notion as she stated, “I thoroughly believe that setbacks are setups for comebacks. Everything that happens can teach us something, and at times we have to be made uncomfortable in order to grow and step out on faith.” Taking ownership and mastering life’s challenges has helped to forge leaders out of this group of women.
“My head is bloody, but unbowed” is the final line of the second stanza from the poem “Invictus” written by William Earnest Henley (1919, p. 1019). The Latin word “Invictus” translates to mean undefeated or unconquerable. There is no group more befitting this title than the women in this study. This poem’s theme is resilience, the will to survive in the face of severe adversity, of which these Black female leaders in higher education have successfully done. This poem visualizes with metaphors overcoming hardships and personal adversities. Essentially, this poem imagines the practices of how a transformational leader resiliently overcomes adversity to achieve successful leadership.
Essence: Adversity Promotes Resilience and Yields Leadership Development
These findings suggest that for Black women, leadership development results from resilience, and the cost of resilience is lived adversity. As they have been exposed to greater adversity historically and culturally, Black women have naturally developed greater resilience. Research has suggested that Black women are socialized to be independent, emphasizing self-determination and education (Thomas & King, 2007). This sort of socialization promotes resilience over the oppression of the negative stereotypes and images. Therefore, these women are being taught at an early age to have tough skin and endure. Regardless of the adverse experiences these Black women have faced, they consistently found ways to rise above and overcome. Jade shared that she thinks “part of [her] ability to move up in the ranks” has been due to her resilience. Morganite affirms that her resilience prepared her for her role in higher education senior leadership by stating, “[it] is a job that will chew you up and you have to be able every day . . . you have to wake up and bounce back and have a renewed perspective, so I think that has helped.” Emerald’s words of advice when dealing with adversity further promote overcoming: You got to stay the course. You have to learn to be resilient. There’s going to be some hurt and harm along the way, but you cannot give up. If that’s your dream, you cannot give up on your dream. You just have to be resilient and keep on going.
Instead of folding under the pressures of adverse crucible experiences, this group’s resilience supports the development of their leadership potential.
Leadership Development
Learning and adaptation support a positive correlation between the lived adverse experiences and leadership development in Black women (Pulley & Wakefield, 2001). The participants in this study are no strangers to adversity nor resilience. By not giving up after experiencing adverse situations and events, these women sharpened their swords of resilience and pressed onward and upward, reaching academic, administrative leadership. When considering her lived experiences with adversity and overcoming with resilience and the impact that adverse experience had on her leadership development, Wonderstone stated that she always ponders “how character and strength is developed. [Her] resounding answer is when you have walked through the valleys of life . . . you grow and hopefully learn how to be resilient in the face of adversity.”
Although this group of Black women leaders is in higher education, many of them suspect the leadership skills and tools they developed along the way apply to any leadership position. Perhaps, Black women who experience adversity and overcome with renewed resilience will indeed make the best leaders (Gaudiano, 2019).
Discussion
This study explored how Black women in higher education leadership navigate the adverse challenges of intersectionality, stereotype threat, and tokenism. The results revealed that Black women in higher education leadership experienced and overcame adversity, thus revealing an association of their ability to develop the necessary leadership skills to advance their careers. The participants described their adversities as fuel to overcome, thus developing the necessary skills to prepare them for leadership. Their strength through adversity is driven by resilience. Resilience has manifested itself in many ways for this study’s participants, varying from motivation factors such as family and relationships, mentors, community support, and the support of cultural identity and diversity.
The data collected from nine participants provided various perspectives and narratives about their lived experiences, focusing on discrimination and intersectionality, prejudice and stereotype threat, and tokenism and the impact those had on their leadership development. All of the rich, textural data obtained from the participants and the literature provide a wealth of information for young Black women seeking guidance in overcoming adversity and leadership development.
Implications
This study aims to disseminate knowledge to enlighten the next generation of young Black women struggling through adversity and aspiring leaders to find Black women role models who have successfully broken through the barriers of race and gender (S. Jackson & Harris, 2007). Exploring Black women’s experiences in leadership and higher education expands the approach to analyze leadership development programs for women of color. Black women are still underrepresented at the top ranks of leadership in the academy and across the board, both domestic and abroad; therefore, educating and motivating other Black women with leadership potential to strive for leadership remains a high priority.
Closing the racial-gender leadership gap for Black women is imperative. The majority of leadership development and empowerment programs geared toward women have shortcomings regarding Black women; however, this disparity may not be by design. Conventional programs that emphasize specific skills such as speaking up, being assertive, negotiating, being confident, self-promoting, setting career goals, and developing a personal brand or image yield unfavorable responses for women of color. Black women are consistently challenged with the stereotype threat of being perceived as an “angry Black woman,” dressing appropriately to meet European beauty standards, not appearing intimidating or scary, and not appearing to congregate and socialize unprofessionally. As such, the duality of needing to be an assertive and confident female leader is continually struggling against the need to tone it down as a Black woman.
The results of the explored experiences of Black women in higher education leadership can further provide decision making individuals and bodies such as boards of trustee members, regents, and other key decision makers with information essential in evaluating Black women in higher education poised to assume leadership at 4-year colleges and universities (Gasman et al., 2015; Rein, 2017). Overall, the current findings intend to inform the readers about the participants’ experiences and provide themes or patterns that can be used to better understand Black women’s experiences who have assumed these roles.
Limitations and Future Research
Limitations of the current study must be addressed to protect the reliability and trustworthiness of the research. All research has limitations (Creswell, 2013; Moustakas, 1994), and this study is not an exception. The following exclusion criteria have delimited the current study: participants were Black women working toward or had completed terminal degrees, and participants are or previously had served as president/chancellor, vice president/chancellor, or provosts at 4-year universities in the United States. As there are not many Black women in this role from which to choose, there were challenges recruiting participants for the study. Furthermore, by the study only exploring the experiences of a small group (approximately 8-10) limited by race and sex in a specific and notable career, the findings are not generalizable. Nor can we expect the data to reflect all Black women’s experiences in higher education senior leadership at 4-year colleges and universities.
Although limitations exist, these findings speak to the investigator’s best effort to understand the lived experiences of the Black women in higher education leadership who participated in this study. These findings open the door to future research opportunities such as those related to the scarcity of Black women in higher education leadership in 4-year colleges and universities that are not HBCUs. It is evident how few Black women have reached higher education leadership. Further research is suggested to explore the experiences and perceptions of the Black women that have and do hold these positions with particular emphasis on PWIs and top-tier research schools. More advanced research will help understand the challenges these women face and their recommendations to increase Black women’s representation in these positions where they may not have initially felt they had a place.
Another future suggestion for research involves exploring the lived experiences of Black, Indigenous, People of Color [BIPOC] in leadership outside of academia. BIPOC women have been making significant advances in leadership in industries such as politics, government and military, automotive, retail, finance, technology, and emergency management, to name a few. Investigating how their lived experiences influenced their leadership development will expand the overall understanding of leadership development and women’s studies.
Conclusion
Black women in higher education leadership have overcome stereotypes and multilayered intersectional discrimination and pushed past organizational oppressions such as limited role models, the concrete ceiling, and tokenism with the use of resilience. Fortunately, these challenges have merely been speed bumps on the road to success for this group. They have been diligent in their drive to climb the ranks of leadership in the ivory tower. Factors such as resilience, social support, and leadership development all contribute to that climb.
There have been several strategies indicated by the participants for Black women to increase their likelihood of successfully achieving higher education senior leadership. They will need to be educationally prepared and credentialed, know themselves, have a mentor/sponsor, develop coping mechanisms to handle adversity, and most importantly, reach back and help others (Baxter-Nuamah, 2015). This interview process allowed the participants to be vulnerable and transparent when reflecting on and sharing their lived adverse experiences and their impact on their resilience and leadership development. This study has made evident that adversities shared, whether minor or significant, were not enough to break these women’s spirit, drive, and resilience.
Footnotes
Acknowledgements
First, I am beyond appreciative for the amazing participants in my study. You women, who are leaders and decision makers at your colleges and universities took time out of your extremely hectic and busy schedules to complete this research, and I am forever humbled and grateful. To say that I was inspired and motivated after the conversations with all these amazing Black women who are pioneering level leadership in their various institutions of higher education is an understatement. You all are #BlackGirlMagic #BlackExcellence and #MelaninMagic personified.
Declaration of Conflicting Interests
The author declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.
Funding
The author received no financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.
