Breaking Barriers Navigating Intersectionality: African American Women's Leadership in Predominately White Institutions

• In Event: AERA Roundtable Session Saturday 1:30 pm Four Seasons Ballroom 1
  In Roundtable Session: Dimensions of Intersectionality and Education: Challenges of Gender, Race, and Culture Within Institutional Hegemony (Table 3)

Abstract

Objectives
This study focused on the experiences, challenges and strategies for success of African American female senior-level executives at predominately white institutions (PWIs). This qualitative study used a phenomenological perspective to explore how African American female senior-level executives multiple identities inform their experiences at predominately white institutions (PWIs) as well as the relationships of intersectionality and leadership (Guido, Chávez, & Lincoln, 2010; Perl & Noldon, 2000).
Framework
The conceptual framework that informed the data analysis was intersectionality (Crenshaw, 1991; Collins, 2000). Intersectionality is an “analysis claiming that systems of race, social class, gender, sexuality, ethnicity, nationality, and age form mutually constructed features of social organization, which shape Black women’s experiences and, in turn, were shaped by Black women” (Collins, 2000, p. 320).
Methods
Qualitative approaches to research were based on a holistic belief that there was no single reality; reality was based upon the perceptions of each person and their experiences have meaning within a given situation (Guido, et al., 2010; Maxwell, 2005; Perl & Noldon, 2000). A phenomenological approach allowed the researcher to give voice to the study participants and identify the insider versus outsider phenomenon documented in the literature (Collins, 2000; DuCille, 1994; Lorde & Clarke, 2007).
Data Sources
This presentation will focus on findings from this research question: How did African American female senior-level executives describe ways their multiple identities inform their experiences at predominately white institutions (PWIs)? The target population is
(a) females that identify as African American or Black,
(b) who were currently or formally employed in a dean, provost, vice president or president position in administrative affairs, academic affairs, or student affairs
(c) at a predominately white institution in the United States.
Data for the study were obtained through interviews with African American female senior-level executives at predominately white institutions of higher education in the United States. The sample size for this study was twelve participants.
Results
Data analysis for this question was conducted using Intersectionality as a lens for understanding participant responses. The open coding findings were consistent with intersectionality. Intersectional analysis identified political, structural and representational oppression (Crenshaw, 1991). Most participants focused on the intersectional effects of race and gender more than other identities. But through interview analysis experiences were captured where participants mentioned how other dimensions of their identities affected the way that people interacted with them and in turn their experiences at the institution. Examples of these dimensions included age, origin and sexual preference.
Significance
The study contributes to the field by providing university leadership with information about salient recommendations that supported the positive experiences of African American female senior-level executives. The benefits for the institution included better recruitment and retention of African American females. The benefits of the study for African American females were two-fold: providing valuable information for African American professionals that were aspiring to senior-level executive roles in PWIs and supporting African American females that were currently in senior-level executive positions in PWIs.

Author

• Stella L. Smith, Prairie View A&M University