A community is a collective. It is a theory that emphasises support, solidarity, companionship and sharing of resources, knowledge and more. The concept of a community has been cemented for generations and has progressed and developed as the world has.
For Women of Colour (WOC), inclusive communities created for them and by them have existed for decades in the western world as liberating, safe, protected spaces where they can exist authentically, with comfort. WOC-exclusive communities have, for generations, held particular importance and continue to do so in the changing face of the world.
In the western world, WOC must grapple with multiple instances of pervasive structural discrimination, biases and stereotypes because of their intersecting identities. Across multiple sectors, including professional, educational, medical and more, WOC are treated as space invaders. With structural inequalities beginning for WOC as they enter the education system and continuing throughout when navigating the employment and healthcare sector, WOC are made to feel an ‘otherness’.
Alongside this feeling of ‘otherness’, WOC also experience other severe obstacles and barriers including pay inequality, a lack of career advancement and poor treatment, which can detrimentally impact WOC and their experiences across sectors. As a result of their treatment in professional spaces, WOC often experience an emotional tax. The emotional tax that comes from simply existing in predominantly white settings renders WOC riddled with feelings of impostor syndrome, patterns of invisibility and hyper-visibility, and uncertainty from the experience of microaggressions. The lifetime of experience in overcoming people’s perceptions of our capabilities and qualifications sometimes results in the outperforming and overperforming of WOC to the point of exhaustion and total burnout.
The toll these experiences take on WOC is damaging and feeling unaccepted and othered can create diametrical impacts.
A protected, inclusive community created for WOC by WOC will always be necessary in the western world. It is vital that there are spaces where WOC are understood and accepted and can be themselves wholly and without thought. WOC must have therapeutic and freeing spaces to express themselves authentically so they can exist without fear of judgement or misunderstanding.
Alongside this feeling of ‘otherness’, WOC also experience other severe obstacles and barriers, including pay inequality, a lack of career advancement and poor treatment, which can detrimentally impact WOC and their experiences across sectors. As a result of their treatment in professional spaces, WOC often experience an emotional tax. The emotional tax that comes from simply existing in predominantly white settings renders WOC riddled with feelings of impostor syndrome, patterns of invisibility and hyper-visibility, and anxiety from the experience of microaggressions. A lifetime of experience in overcoming people’s perceptions of our capabilities and qualifications sometimes results in outperforming and overperforming to the point of exhaustion and total burnout. The toll these experiences take on WOC is detrimental, and feeling unaccepted and othered can create damaging impacts. A protected, inclusive community created for WOC by WOC will always be necessary in the western world. It is vital that there are spaces where WOC are understood and accepted and can be themselves wholly and without thought. WOC must have therapeutic and freeing spaces to express themselves authentically so they can exist without fear of judgement or misunderstanding.
WOC need a reprieve from the exhausting microaggressions, the tiresome inequity and the constant tiptoeing that we must do from structurally discriminatory worlds. We must create, support and sustain these communities through services, provisions and more so that WOC can have protected and safe spaces built entirely for them by them. Below are our top tips on how to create and support inclusive communities for WOC.
Create What is Missing
In looking for a community that serves you, there is a chance that you might not find what you are looking for. For so long, our needs, wishes and wants have gone unmet and unacknowledged, and as a result, you might need to pioneer and create the space that you know your community desperately needs. As a WOC creating a space, you could address issues and create a community while preserving and upholding a safe space for intersecting identities. Creating services, provisions or resources to address society’s inequity against WOC can be instrumental in creating change and allowing WOC to feel protected, heard and valued.
Amplify Voices
Being the first or only WOC in any space can be tiresome and incredibly daunting. And as we look to find a community, it is essential that we amplify voices wherever we can. In creating spaces that are exclusively for us that are by us, alongside ensuring they remain safe, representative and inclusive, we must also spotlight and support these community spaces to ensure they can grow and continue to accommodate and serve WOC.
Find the Right Resources
Upon creating and supporting community spaces and organisations, we must be able to sustain and grow these spaces to ensure WOC have consistent, protected spaces that can continue to cater to their needs. Through finding the right resources, these WOC spaces can continue to exist and do the essential work of supporting a WOC-inclusive community.
There are countless resources available that can make an essential difference in the amount of support that any organisation or community can offer its members. Whether it is finding a mentor that is in a position of power who can offer advice, support and guidance on how to advocate for WOC and our community or finding funding to sustain these community spaces, there are many options available to ensure these spaces continue to exist.
Our very own Dream Fund exists for this very reason. Our Dream Fund invests profits back into our own community and fellow WOC. We know how difficult it can be to begin an organisation and find funding to tackle issues and create actual change. Our Dream Fund was created to support WOC-led/founded organisations to do amazing things and work to challenge systemic inequity and disparity, support our fellow WOC, and work to make the world a better place.
Finding the right resources can ensure community spaces for WOC are uplifted, supported and sustained and that WOC continue to have spaces dedicated entirely to them and their wellbeing.
