Anti-fat bias, fatphobia and racism at work

In today's episode Guilaine shares a personal statement that encapsulates her personal position, politics and solidarity around the genocide happening in Palestine, and then reflects and expands on that.Her base position is that she stands in solidarity with Palestine from the wounded margin of Black liberation, but that she will not, and should not take the lead in this struggle. Particularly when there are current struggles against genocide and war in South Sudan and the DRC that are less public, and given the histories of colonial violence and anti-blackness for the Black African Diaspora.Subscribe, rate and review on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music or wherever you get your podcasts.

In today's episode Simone reflects on the experiences of people who go through pregnancy and birth whilst navigating and trying to balance that with employment.They begin by with a note about why they are using more inclusive terms to cover this subject and some definitions of cisgender, transgender and intersectionality. And suggest we keep all of this in mind during the episode as most of the research talked about does not apply this kind of inclusivity.They then discuss, with reference to a 2013 report from the Harvard Business School, the ways that race and work status affect judgement of mothers, acknowledging that mothers get a lot of personal judgment within society despite  facing a lot of structural forms of inequality. They suggest that mothers should  generally be understood as multiply marginalised people.They talk about the "Motherhood penalty” relating this to their own lived experience. They cover some of the stereotypes that impact this judgment of mothers and how this relates to their treatment in the workplace. Mothers are judged as less competent and less committed than other applicants and employees and so are less likely to be hired or promoted. This relates to stereotypes from the gender binary such as women being nurturing and domestic.They consider that the majority of studies of motherhood discrimination focus on how white mothers are treated in the workplace but obviously race plays a huge role in how Black mothers and other mothers of colour are treated. There are studies that suggest that Black mothers who don’t work experience more prejudice than those who do work based on racist stereotypes of irresponsibility, whereas with white mums it is often seen as better and more responsible if they don’t work. For example a study suggested that white families are more likely to receive loans if the mothers stay at home with the children, whereas Black and Latino families are more likely to be granted loans if the mother works outside the home. Then they think more about the race-based double standards between working and stay-at-home mums, and how divisions around who are “better” mothers, and if mothers should work, play into patriarchy and white supremacy. They then look at a more recent Time magazine piece about how the pay gap for working mums is a race issue and disproportionately impacts women of colour particularly Black women. This isn’t about women’s choices but about structural possibilities and foreclosures, and in particular a lack of institutional policies supporting them. They conclude with the idea that for things to change there needs to be structural and cultural changes implemented within workplaces with an understanding of how these policies impact communities differently. For example paid family leave, men taking leave too, affordable childcare, flexible time, paid sick leave, and much more!References:Gender and Work: Challenging Conventional Wisdom https://www.hbs.edu/race-gender-equity/symposium/Pages/2013-symposium.aspxPrescriptions and Punishments for Working Moms: How Race and Work Status Affect Judgments of Mothers by Amy Cuddy and Elizabeth Baily Wolf https://www.hbs.edu/faculty/Pages/item.aspx?num=50970Mama, PhD: Women Write about Motherhood and Academic Life https://www.amazon.co.uk/Mama-PhD-Women-Motherhood-Academic/dp/0813543185 Why the Pay Gap for Working Moms Is a Race Issue Too by Jennifer Siebel Newsom https://time.com/5848269/moms-equal-pay-day/Subscribe, rate and review on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music or wherever you get your podcasts.

In today's episode following two queries on social media for her to do so, Guilaine reflects on the Police officer being found not guilty for the fatal shooting of Chris Kaba.First she thinks about the reasons she was hesitant to talk about this subject, she hasn’t read or studied the case in an in-depth way as she finds anti-Black police brutality particularly activating/triggering because of experiences witnessing it growing up. She can talk about the theory around it but to actually view and witness it is very difficult for her. From here she considers how our histories and our formative years influence our politics and the positions we adopt in relation to equality and oppression and how her childhood gave her an introduction to injustice and structural violence.She reflects briefly on the trial and wonders about its validity and if the Police acted with proportionality but as she is not a firearms expert she cannot fully comment on this. However she has expertise on how institutions function when they have to defend against charges of institutional racism, so connecting the case to the workplace, she focuses on character assassination. And also points out that we are thinking about these issues in terms of morality and ethics rather than legality, because what is legal is not always what is moral or ethical.She looks at how the press has reported on Chris’ character. She thinks about how Black men are disproportionately assessed as posing a greater risk than other people, which we can see from various studies and data including ones looking at the Police force and mental health services.Looking towards the workplace she discusses how people tend to utilise the most usable applicable tropes to reduce cognitive dissonance. In this case it was the trope of dangerousness. In employment when people want to justify exclusion usually if they are a woman they will be seen as difficult and if they are a man they will be seen as dangerous. She ends posing some questions to consider around these areas when thinking about the workplace, this legal case, and about society in general.Subscribe, rate and review on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Amazon Music or wherever you get your podcasts.

In today's episode Simone reflects on autism, neurodivergence and racism in relation to work.They begin by talking about how and why they decided to cover this topic, reflecting on how they are autistic and work supporting autistic people, and how autistic and neurodivergent people are often unable to remain in employment or are unceremoniously fired. How these stories are systemic but are often carried as individual shame.They remind us that neurodivergent is an umbrella term, autism is part of this umbrella but that the terms shouldn’t be used interchangeably. Then they explore a TikTok account by Professor Sol that summarises a variety of studies regarding autistic people: https://www.tiktok.com/@better_solThey consider the statistics that only 16% of autistic people are employed. And that autistic employees face the biggest pay gap and are the most under employed group whilst being the most overqualified group of all disabled groups. Then they reflect on how in addition to this people who are not cisgender white men are often misdiagnosed/undiagnosed as not autistic because of the way that white autistic men are the stereotype associated with autism in the media and in general. They discuss how for multiply marginalised people self diagnosis and self advocacy is incredibly important and valid. And how the criteria developed and employed around autism is fed by white supremacy and white “western” ideas, and how self diagnosis is a way of reclaiming experience.Then they think about how racism, classism, sexism and other systems of oppression exacerbate autistic people’s difficulties in workplaces and with employment. How this contributes to autistic burnout and autistic shutdown and seriously effects people's health. They look at the study "Intersectional Stigma for Autistic People at Work: A Compound Adverse Impact Effect on Labor Force Participation and Experiences of Belonging https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/36777372/ One of the things highlighted in this study is how little research exists about autistic people at work because the majority of autistic people don’t work. They think about what “work” means within our current cultural moment and whether “work” works for any of us. The study found that white autistic people living in the global north are more likely to have jobs and to have jobs that are accommodating for autistic people, And that women, non binary and transgender people feel less included at work and that feeling that someone cares is more important than accommodations.They conclude by talking about accommodations that can be made but also that there are larger systemic adjustments that need to be made, and that employers and workplaces need to be attuned to intersections of oppression, to be attuned to how autistic people are not to be cured, fixed or exploited. But that this is a tough conversation for autistic people to have because the stigma means that many people don’t feel safe to be openly autistic in their workplaces.Subscribe, rate and review on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Amazon Music or wherever you get your podcasts.

In today's episode Guilaine reflects on White Liberals, and on her past inclination to take people straightforwardly based on the words they write and the face they present to the world. She considers how experiencing the duality and complexity of people presenting as anti-racist publicly who in their personal interactions reveal themselves to be anti-black, has led to her trying to be more cautious about her tendency to trust people.She thinks about her lived experience, widens it out to consider how people can understand and even agree with the theory but fail consciously or unconsciously to enact the practice. And she also ties this duality to her own experiences visiting the Congo.She concludes by considering how this duality and complexity impacts the workplace and encourages people, particularly in relation to tribunals, to remember and consider this when addressing issues around race where for example a white person accused of race discrimination may be presenting as polite, reasonable and an outstanding member of the community.The episode "Reflections on a trip to the Congo" is referenced in this podcast: https://www.buzzsprout.com/1623760/episodes/14947769If you would like to send us a question, query or dilemma that we could reflect on and respond to on the show please email [email protected] or [email protected] Subscribe, rate and review on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Amazon Music or wherever you get your podcasts.

In today's episode Simone reflects on the COVID 19 pandemic and how it intersects with racism and ableism. They begin by thinking about the Olympics in relation to a lack of COVID mitigations and how we need to have conversations about COVID and racism in relation to workplace inequality. How so many things are connected; with racism, xenophobia, classism and white supremacy at the root of it all.They then consider the way that the first year of the pandemic played out in 2020, drawing on both their lived experience and the studies and data that we now have. Thinking about who could shelter and who could not, and especially how people of colour experienced what has been described as the duel pandemic.They then look at the article "COVID and Racism Cause Nurses of Color to Face “Dual Pandemic” by Kitta MacPherson: https://www.rutgers.edu/news/covid-and-racism-cause-nurses-color-face-dual-pandemic which sites the study "Effects of Race, Workplace Racism, and COVID Worry on the Emotional Well-Being of Hospital-Based Nurses: A Dual Pandemic” from Charlotte Thomas-Hawkins, Peijia Zha, Linda Flynn & Sakura Ando: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/08964289.2021.1977605They consider the pandemic happening in the context of the murder of George Floyd making it a very specific experience for Black people, and the anti-Asian racism that was exacerbated by the way the virus was being discussed making it a very specific experience for East-Asian people. And those racisms being seen in relation to communities of colour experiencing the highest rates of cases, deaths and hospitalisations, and nearly half of all health care workers with infections being among workers of colour, with nurses being the hardest hit.Reflecting on anti-Asian racism they look at the article "Research: How Anti-Asian Racism Has Manifested at Work in the Pandemic” by Jennifer Kim and Zhida Shang: https://hbr.org/2023/03/research-how-anti-asian-racism-has-manifested-at-work-in-the-pandemic  Then they reflect on workplaces currently within the ongoing pandemic: how this impacts disabled and at risk people, how employers and governments are failing to recognise this, how there are ways we could immediately make workplaces safer that are not being implemented. They consider the way the loses we have due to this are not just from death and disability, but also from workers and students quitting their workplaces and educational establishments, and the knowledge and experience we lose when this happens.The episode ends by considering the way COVID has both harmed disabled people disproportionately and created more disabled people, and so going forward we need to include disabled people and attempt to mitigate dangers in our workplaces, and look after and support people if they do get sick.Subscribe, rate and review on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Amazon Music or wherever you get your podcasts.

In today's episode Guilaine continues her reflections on relationships between Black people, continuing on from her thoughts in this episode: https://www.buzzsprout.com/1623760/15451884She addresses a question she has been answering for a long time and that keeps coming back: Should people of colour only receive therapy from therapists/analysts/psychologists/mental health professionals of colour. She focuses on psychotherapy which is a very specific field of work, but asks a question that may be of interest or use to people of colour from all workplaces.Three reasons why black therapists may wound their Black clients:It is not enough to match people on their race aloneJust because someone has black skin doesn’t mean they have done the professional work when it comes to training around racial trauma. (And a lot of training is designed and delivered by white people so this is also a structural issue.)Just because someone has black skin doesn’t mean they have done the personal work around their relationship to whiteness, their heritage, their ancestry, intergenerational wounds, colonialism, etc…Two more things to consider:There are other skills that therapists may have that are not specifically related to racial trauma that will help people experiencing racial trauma such as anxiety management and other core skills.It’s understandable why Black people might prefer Black therapists, primarily for reasons of safety and traumaHer conclusion is that everybody would benefit from having skills for working with people experiencing racial trauma, and all training institutions and providers should offer training in racial trauma that is thorough, and supports people to work with people who are experiencing racial trauma and race based injury regardless of their racialisation. And that often racism gets in the way of working therapeutically with people of colour.Subscribe, rate and review on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Amazon Music or wherever you get your podcasts.

In today's episode Simone reflects on the relationships between racism, sexism (and other systems of oppression) and anti-fat bias. They begin by thinking about how the curves of people’s bodies are seen and understood through a very racist lens, and how pregnant people are seen as if their bodies belong to the public. Situating all of this within histories of White Supremacy and how these prejudices become bureaucratic elements of policy and are enforced systemically.The rest of the episode is in conversation with the article "Weight based discrimination in the workplace is real. Here’s why talking about it matters.” by Jordan Ziese: https://www.ywboston.org/weight-based-discrimination-in-the-workplace-is-real-heres-why-talking-about-it-matters/They go over the various work, movements and resources that have existed around combating anti-fat bias and some of the big issues within this such as the pernicious influence of the debunked measurement system BMI, and studies that show that fat people are paid less and discriminated against in other ways within the workplace.The episode ends with recommendations for employers in terms of how they deal with anti-fat bias in the workplace.Here are some resources mentioned:Fearing the Black Body: The Racial Origins of Fat Phobia by Sabrina Strings https://nyupress.org/9781479886753/fearing-the-black-body/Belly Of The Beast: The Politics Of Anti-Fatness As Anti-Blackness by Da'Shaun L. Harrison: https://www.pagesofhackney.co.uk/webshop/product/belly-of-the-beast-dashaun-harrison/Maintenance Phase podcast: https://www.maintenancephase.com/Subscribe, rate and review on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Amazon Music or wherever you get your podcasts.

In today's episode Guilaine reflects on a question that has come up in her personal conversations with siblings, how do you navigate tensions between Black people in the workplace that might be described as being related to internalised anti-blackness/negrophobia.She thinks around the theory that surrounds these concepts, considers how many of the concepts we have explored on the podcast as being primarily being perpetrated by non black people can also be enacted by people racialised as Black. She considers the reasons why this topic can be controversial and why it is often not addressed or named. She then discusses some observations from her experience within group analysis during the high level of racial tension that came with the murder of Gorge Floyd. In addition to all the other theory and explanations for these tensions she encourages us to think with complexity and multiplicity about the function these tensions have within groups and institutions, how these conflicts serve power hierarchies  That conflict can be a gladiatorial entertainment and distraction, and that conflict can be a displaced version of tensions with the people at the top of the organisation that cannot be targeted safely, and that those people in positions of power are always implicated when there is tension within their teams.This episode touches on many issues previously covered in podcast episodes such as these:Black Authority in the Workplace: https://www.buzzsprout.com/1623760/8252930Envy: https://www.buzzsprout.com/1623760/8728416Subscribe, rate and review on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Amazon Music or wherever you get your podcasts.

In today's episode Guilaine responds to, and reflects on, a dilemma from a listener who is a Black woman dealing with the way that workplaces tend to view her as overqualified, is having difficulty navigating these dynamics, has ended up moving from job to job, and increasingly feels the need to hide her knowledge and experience.Guilaine thinks through the issues around this problem, keeping it general because she doesn’t have the full information and also wants to keep the listener anonymised. She goes over the questions she would ask in group analysis or in one on one coaching or therapy. And considers some of the issues previously covered in podcast episodes such as these:Envy: https://www.buzzsprout.com/1623760/8728416Location of Disturbance and Scapegoating: https://www.buzzsprout.com/1623760/8127268Black Authority in the Workplace: https://www.buzzsprout.com/1623760/8252930Racial Trauma at Work: https://www.buzzsprout.com/1623760/8033907Subscribe, rate and review on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Amazon Music or wherever you get your podcasts.