Move Forward...Don't Look Back

Can humanness be heard while you’re looking at a Black woman? (Jones & Shorter-Gooden, 2003)

To know where we're going, let's begin at the end.

[Concluding Excerpt from Black Millennial Women in Leadership]

This study has continued the conversation of Black women while adding Millennial leadership to the discussion. Although the study of Black women in general is still largely undeveloped, it is important to continue to add to the discussion to keep the conversation going. Only through open conversations, communication and honesty will the true core of Black women be understood. In contrast, the dynamic of Millennial leaders repetitively continues with great strides being made in the research. This only helps understand half of the Black Millennial Woman in Leadership. The goal of this descriptive study was to explore the emerging subculture of Black Millennial Women in Leadership who experience inner tension and meet conflicting expectations as they relate to race, gender and age. Remembering that Black women have already experienced the crisis of being dually oppressed, Black Millennial Women experience even more inner chaos as a result of being Millennial Leaders. As the group continues to adopt coping strategies, OD, a field rooted in social injustice, will seek ways to encourage authenticity from this group. I previous challenged the subject group to push back on cultural hegemony, but do not resist too much. Finding a healthy balance between accepting popular belief (cultural hegemony) and individual core values is the best way to remedy in-authentic behaviors.

Source:
Jackson, Jenny (2010). Black Millennial Women in Leadership. Queens University of Charlotte: Charlotte, NC.

References:
Charrisse Jones and Kumea Shorter-Gooden, Ph. D. (2003). Shifting: Based on the African American Women’s Voices Project. Harper Collins Publishers: New York.