Part 1: Sí, Carlota, todavía ha racismo.

Leaning In Latina Style: Stepping Out and Rising Up

Part 1: Sí, Carlota, todavía ha racismo.

Love Sheryl’s book, Leaning In, but it did get me thinking of what Leaning In Latina Style is all about. Yes, we lean in, but when we lean in American style—in American Corporations headed by white men and women, we often get pushed out. We try to lean in, but the door only opens, the chairs is only pulled out, and the table is only set for whomever they decide to let in the door, sit in the chair or take a place at the table.

It is hard for someone, like Sheryl, who has not lived it to understand this, and this is not to demean or diminish her accomplishments, I truly admire what she has been able to do and the heights she has been able to reach. However, when Cherly leans in, it is different from when a Latina leans in especially in white male dominated corporate America.

Our stories are many and they are filled with women—beautiful, wonderful, accomplished, and competent Latina women—leaning in and getting pushed out. They get pushed out by the fear, the uncertainty, the lack of awareness, lack of understanding that comes with White corporate America.

You see, what Sheryl cannot see, because she is on the ‘inside” is that some of us are on the “outside” and if you are on the outside, leaning in, then you can get easily pushed out. We Latinas, as double minorities, are not quickly invited in the door, to the chair, or to the table by the fathers, uncles, husbands, grandfathers, cousins, friends, colleagues, or associates, that invite Sheryl and her friends in.

Truth be told, white America still controls the door, the chair, and the table and they still choose who to invite into the boardroom, only those they want to be there, will be invited there and they tend to go with those who they know, those who look like them.

 

However, when forced, when pushed, when shamed into it, they will invite those who look different, especially if they are their daughters, their nieces, their granddaughters, their aunts, their moms, their cousins, and their colleagues, and their associates. They will invite in other white women, albeit reluctantly, as evidenced by Sheryl’s statistics. Nevertheless, white women are invited in first, accepted first, feared less, and understood more than people of color. People of color are suspect, their values are different, they are not always understood, and they are not easy to relate to.

Men of color, because men share a certain affinity, will also be invited in before women of color. You see, women of color are invited in last, are least understood, and are asked to change the most. Sí, Carlota, todavía ha racismo. Yes, Sheryl, we do still deal with racism and we deal with it while being a double minority. And when we lean in, it is risky, it may not work out well, we get pushed out, we are asked to give up our essence, and we are not always given a place at the table. The barriers and obstacles you describe for white women are double for Latinas trying to lean in at Fortune 500 companies.

Con un pan y cafecito,

Seguimos adelante

Zulmara Maria

 

Por fa: Come back for Part 2: My Story-Reclaiming My Divinity