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Now available in paperback with a new foreword from Victor Ray
You Don't Look Like a Lawyer: Black Women and Systemic Gendered Racism highlights how race and gender create barriers to recruitment, professional development, and advancement to partnership for black women in elite corporate law firms. Utilizing narratives of black female lawyers, this book offers a blend of accessible theory to benefit any reader willing to learn about the underlying challenges that lead to their high attrition rates. Drawing from narratives of black female lawyers, their experiences center around gendered racism and are embedded within institutional practices at the hands of predominantly white men. In particular, the book covers topics such as appearance, white narratives of affirmative action, differences and similarities with white women and black men, exclusion from social and professional networking opportunities and lack of mentors, sponsors and substantive training. This book highlights the often-hidden mechanisms elite law firms utilize to perpetuate and maintain a dominant white male system. Weaving the narratives with a critical race analysis and accessible writing, the reader is exposed to this exclusive elite environment, demonstrating the rawness and reality of black women's experiences in white spaces. Finally, we get to hear the voices of black female lawyers as they tell their stories and perspectives on working in a highly competitive, racialized and gendered environment, and the impact it has on their advancement and beyond.
List of contents
Acknowledgments
Foreword
Introduction: What We Talk about When We Talk about Diversity
1 Black Women's Burden
Color-Blind Racism
The Significance of White Racial Framing
Systemic Gendered Racism
The Invisible Labor Clause and the Inclusion Tax
2 You Don't Look Like a Lawyer
White Castle
American Beauty
Fitting In
Built for Comfort
Acknowledgment: The Chronic Case of Mistaken Identity
3 The Outsider Within
The Social (and Professional) Network
That Old Outsider Feeling
When in Doubt
4 All the Women Are White, All the Blacks Are Men
The Confidence Gap
Great Expectations
Time Waits for Men
Sacrifices
Gender in Black and White
The Women
More of the Same
A Boost at the Start of the Race
Gender in Black and Black: Part I
"If It Don't Fit . . ."
Code Switchin'
Blue in Green
Same but Different
Gender in Black and Black: Part II
Black Women Are Unique
5 Where the Boys Are
Members Only
Exclusion. Alienation. Discomfort. Disadvantage.
Managing Women and Blacks 101
Boys Don't Cry
Can I Hang Out with You Guys?
Mentor, Friend, or Foe
6 "Can You Please Pass the Royal Jelly?"
Cheap Frame
How to Make Friends and Influence Partners
Rain or Shine
We're Just Not That into You
Addendum: White Knights
The Hours
7 Conclusion: The Importance of Being Earnest
Appendix: Research Methodology
Notes
Bibliography
Index
About the Author
About the author
Tsedale M. Melaku is a sociologist and postdoctoral research fellow at The Graduate Center, City University of New York. Her work has been featured in the Harvard Business Review, New York Times, The Washington Post, Bloomberg Law, The Boston Globe, Fortune,and various peer-reviewed journals, including Gender, Work & Organizations, American Behavioral Scientist, and Ethnic and Racial Studies.
