Week 1 - Angie Zhang

Angie Zhang
Section A03
Week 1

While reading Professor Valverde's "'Fight the Tower': A Call to Action for Women of Color in Academia," I found myself feeling increasingly uncomfortable and enraged about the process of how unfairly women of color are treated, which in this case, specifically those in academia. Like it or not, but there is no denying the fact that women face a much more difficult challenge when trying to achieve successful careers, such as attaining promotions, especially when being unfairly judged as “inferior” due to being Asian American. This article covers the frequently overshadowed issues that women of color face in the workforce, whether it is racism or sexism, or both. It also uncovers an underlying issue in universities that working women of color face. For instance, this article mentions that women of color are subject to being randomly targeted for reasons that do not seem apparent or relevant at all. Also, as mentioned in the article, women of color constantly have their opportunities sabotaged by other colleagues, whether they be men or women. I felt surprised as to how unsupportive men and some women can be towards other women based on the fact that they have different racial backgrounds. One other thing that struck me as insanely ridiculous is that society has made women of color who work fear even the slightest thought of motherhood. Women should not have to feel afraid of becoming mothers due to the possibility of it jeopardizing their careers. Although this article sheds light to a very sensitive subject, it also leaves me with a strong feeling optimism as not everyone was so unsupportive of women of color. The following image represents that we are not alone and that together, we stand strong and will one day change the way women are being treated by society.

Question: Why was the issue of racial discrimination in this case not publicized? How could this issue have changed if it got even more attention from the press?

References:

Valverde, K., (2013). “Fight the Tower”: A Call to Action for Women in Academia, 12(2), 367-419. Retrieved September 28, 2017.

Port, Britini. “5 Ways to Join: A #DayWithoutAWoman.” Retrieved September 28, 2017

www.uxibal.com/5-ways-to-join-a-daywithoutawoman/.