Shared Sisterhood: How to Take Collective Action for Racial and Gender Equity at Work

by Tina Opie, Beth A. Livingston

Overview

Gender equity can't happen without racial equity. We need Shared Sisterhood.

Bias persists in organizations and society. Despite efforts that have been made in the last few decades, gender and racioethnic equity still hasn’t been achieved. What's worse, Black, Indigenous, Asian, and Latina women are being held back more than their White counterparts.

We need to change how we strive for equity. We must move beyond individual solutions toward collective action, where people from historically power-dominant and marginalized groups work together, so that all women experience the benefits of professional growth and equity. We need Shared Sisterhood, and anyone, regardless of gender, can join in.

Professor Tina Opie first started Shared Sisterhood as a movement to drive gender and racial equity in organizations. Since then, she and professor Beth A. Livingston have worked together to spread the word to leaders across organizations, with thousands of followers joining the cause. In this book, they explain how to use vulnerability, trust, empathy, and risk-taking to build Shared Sisterhood and break down three key parts of the process:

1. Dig into your own assumptions around racioethnicity, gender, and power
2. Bridge the divide between women of all backgrounds through authentic relationships
3. Advance all women across the organization and beyond

Balancing a mix of history, research, and real-life examples—including the authors' own experiences—this book encourages everyone to join Shared Sisterhood and advance equity for all.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781647822835
Publisher:	Harvard Business Review Press
Publication date:	10/11/2022
Pages:	240
Sales rank:	1,059,110
Product dimensions:	6.40(w) x 9.50(h) x 0.95(d)

About the Author

Tina Opie, PhD, is an Associate Professor of Management at Babson College and an award-winning teacher, researcher, and consultant. She is a sought-after speaker and has advised large firms in the financial services, entertainment, media, beauty, educational, and health-care industries. Her research has appeared in such outlets as O Magazine, the Washington Post, the Boston Globe, and Harvard Business Review and has been published in multiple academic journals.

Beth A. Livingston, PhD, is an Associate Professor in Management and Entrepreneurship at the Universityof Iowa's Tippie College of Business. She is a researcher, speaker, and consultant, working with companies and nonprofits such as Yves Saint Laurent Beauty, HNI, John Deere, and Hollaback! Her research has been highlighted in the New York Times, Harvard Business Review, and on NPR and has been published in several top academic journals.

Connect with Tina Opie at drtinaopie.com and Beth A. Livingston at linkedin.com/in/bethalivingston

Table of Contents

Preface ix

1 Shared Sisterhood to Dismantle Inequities 1

2 Sisterhood across Different Levels 23

3 Digging into Dig 43

4 Bridging across Differences 67

5 Collective Action 105

6 Roadblocks to Shared Sisterhood 127

7 Calls to Action 157

Notes 177

Index 195

Acknowledgments 205

About the Authors 209

Editorial Reviews

07/25/2022

“Collective action is necessary to achieve equity for women in organizations, particularly those from historically marginalized racioethnic groups,” according to this encouraging guide to workplace diversity. Opie, an associate professor of management at Babson College, and Livingston, an assistant professor of management at Iowa Tippie College of Business, make a case that women of different races must come together and push for equity. To do so, the authors lay out the practices of “Dig” and “Bridge.” The former requires thinking deeply about one’s own biases and preconceptions, and the latter consists of forming relationships with “people of dif­ferent racioethnicities than your own.” Self-reflection exercises appear throughout: readers are instructed to “identify your social identities,” and to research power dynamics and ask themselves, “To what extent do you agree or disagree with what you have discovered?” There’s practical advice for forming relationships, too: white women should “work to establish trust” with women of color by demonstrating empathy and vulnerability. The authors’ message will leave readers hopeful: “Don’t agonize, organize,” they write, quoting “the rallying cry of the feminist movement.” Readers aiming to create equality at work will find great takeaways here. Agent: Alia Hanna Habib, Gernert Co. (Oct.)

Publishers Weekly

Named one of the 10 Best Business Books of 2022 by Forbes

"Readers aiming to create equality at work will find great takeaways here." — Publishers Weekly

Advance Praise for Shared Sisterhood:

"A hopeful and inspiring work that shows us what can be accomplished when White women choose solidarity with their Black sisters." — Robin DiAngelo, author, White Fragility and Nice Racism

"If you, like millions of us, desperately wish to find a way to understand each other, bridge our gaps, and work together toward creating a kinder, safer, and more equitable world for everyone, Shared Sisterhood is the way forward." — Amy Cuddy, social psychologist; bestselling author, Presence

"In this powerful book on how to build bridges across race and gender divides, Opie and Livingston share actionable advice for handling difficult conversations with compassion and vulnerability—and advancing structural and cultural change in your workplace." — Adam Grant, #1 New York Times bestselling author, Think Again; host, TED WorkLife podcast

"Grounded in the power of partnership of heart, mind, and soul of women, Shared Sisterhood offers a novel approach for overcoming the diversity challenges organizations face." — Tsedal Neeley, Naylor Fitzhugh Professor of Business Administration and Senior Associate Dean for Faculty Development and Research, Harvard Business School; author, Remote Work Revolution; coauthor, The Digital Mindset

"Shared Sisterhood is a blueprint for how women can work together across fraught divides and establish new models of collaboration that have the potential to change the workplace and our lives." — Mehret Mandefro, CEO, Truth Aid Media

"Opie and Livingston make a deeply compelling case for the importance of authentic connection between people—and offer a clear, actionable pathway for how we get there as leaders and change makers, one powerful step at a time." — Frances Frei, professor, Harvard Business School; author, Unleashed

"Shared Sisterhood provides a step-by-step guide on how to heal relationships across racial differences and use those relationships to form the basis of collective action and actual change. This book is a must read." — Minda Harts, author, The Memo, Right Within, and You Are More Than Magic

From the Publisher