08/10/2023

Investing in Black Women Leaders

There's dream capital they need - now

Black women have always stood up and pushed for social progress—despite being deeply marginalized by the very systems they push to change. But today, as our democracy inches closer to its breaking point, and our leadership is needed more than ever, Black women are too often invested in as fuel for short-term social progress rather than as humans imagining and building multi-generational change. This approach is coming at a real detriment to our emotional and physical well-being.

The last three years have only exacerbated this unsustainable dynamic. After the murder of George Floyd ignited nationwide protests, many of us were hopeful that we would see progress. And rather quickly—we did. We saw unprecedented corporate and philanthropic commitments to racial justice initiatives. The hiring of DEI roles spiked up to 168.9 percent, and funding increased for organizations focused on narrowing the racial wealth gap for Black girls and women.

But as we have sorely seen, these pledges have fallen flat—failing to close massive funding gaps and widespread burnout much less catalyze real, systemic change and progress. Recent reporting continues to echo these inequities, revealing that Black professional women experience significant burnout due to stress from the workplace, and that it’s aging us at an accelerated rate—7.5 years—compared with white women. 

Please select this link to read the complete article from SSIR.