Dear Karen: Get Your Stiletto Off My Neck! Examining Racialized Allyship and the Sisterhood Myth

• In Event: White Epistemic and Affective Violence: From Gaslighting to Innocence

Abstract

This mixed-methods study examines Queen Bee Theory which suggests that women supervisors may precipitate their female employees’ turnover. The research questions are: RQ1: Are women employees more likely to leave male supervisors than female supervisors? RQ2: Are Black women employees more likely to leave women supervisors when compared to white women employees? With a total sample of n= 219, the chi-square analyses confirmed that Black women are more likely than white women to leave regardless of the supervisor’s gender; and second, that Black women are more likely to leave women supervisors. Both findings are statistically significant. The content analysis findings indicate that the presumed solidarity that women anticipate with female supervisors does not extend to Black women.

Author

• Leah P. Hollis, Pennsylvania State University