Discrimination can be sneaky: Calling out microaggressions for an inclusive workplace

By: Kimberley Curtin, PhD, Former Postdoctoral Fellow, Policy, Location and Access in Community Environments (PLACE) Research Lab 

March 21, 2022

Imagine you are in a meeting discussing a how to manage staff time most efficiently during the year. Two of your colleagues happen to be Chinese. Someone brings up a complicated question about allocation of resource modelling and your supervisor immediately turns to your Chinese colleagues for help, assuming they should be proficient in mathematics. On the surface, this act may seem like a compliment to your Asian co-workers, but the assumption of this stereotyped ability is a classic example of a microaggression.

To unpack this situation, I am going to stray from the ‘calling out’ title of the article, to challenge us all to engage in ‘calling in’.  By ‘calling in’, we replace blame for problematic behaviours, like the one described in the example above, with compassion and patience. Despite our best intentions and efforts to create culturally safe workplaces, one of the biggest challenges to doing this is our unconscious biases. These biases are little mental shortcuts formed based on our upbringing and experiences, exposures, and stereotypes. Unfortunately, these mental shortcuts can lead to microaggressions that can be isolating, insulting, invalidating, and embarrassing for those experiencing them. For example, asking questions like what are you? Or saying things like “you don’t sound Black... you sound White” can be well-intentioned comments or inquiries but are actually very demeaning.

So what is a microaggression?

Microagressions are defined by Derald Wing Sue, a professor at Columbia, as “brief and commonplace daily verbal, behavioural, or environmental indignities, whether intentional or unintentional, that communicate hostile, derogatory, or negative racial slights and insults toward people of colour”1. These are not limited to people of colour, but that’s where I will focus in this article.

So how do you know if you have committed a microaggression, or if you’ve experienced one? A classic signal described when people recall experiencing microaggressions is that they may think they are over-reacting or question their reactions, especially if the act is disguised as humour. While one microaggression in itself seems like a small slight, the cumulative effect can be likened to that of 1000 paper cuts. To make this concept clearer, I will use some examples from a study based on interviews with immigrant professionals and work by Sue and colleagues1,2.

Verbal microaggressions: Sarcasm or comments deemed simple humor can be extremely insensitive.

Examples:

  • Making fun of an Indian person’s accent using references to popular media like the Simpson’s can be very hurtful. This is one reason you may not see Apu in this series anymore3.
  • Claiming “colour blindness” shows that a person is not willing to acknowledge race and the associated history and experiences of people of colour.

Attitudinal microaggressions: Stereotypes come into play here when a person is expected to have a certain skill or behave in a certain way.

Examples:

  • One immigrant professional described the experience of disbelief of her heritage – “you don’t look Mexican” which could make a person feel they need to defend their racial identity.
  • An Asian worker who was expected to be exceptionally intelligent and competitive was unsure how to perceive complements calling them “smart” after they received some awards.

Professional microaggressions and microinvalidations: Negate, exclude, or nullify the thoughts or experiences of another.

Examples:

  • A professional’s credentials and qualifications are challenged because of an accent, especially if a person is sensitive about their accent.
  • Commenting on how articulate a person of colour is, which implies that intelligence is based on “sounding white”.

How can we do better?

Although there are several more examples of microaggressions that occur in the workplace, you likely recognize and may have encountered some of the ones I have described. I hope that, by sharing some these examples, it will help you and your colleagues recognize and amend these issues for a healthier, more inclusive workplaces.

So let’s all make a commitment to switch to micro-affirmations and engage in calling people in. These are small ways we can make others feel included in the workplace. You can do this by:

  • acknowledging the contributions of your coworkers;
  • offering comfort, support, and validation to others who experience large or small traumas (this could simply look like making eye contact with someone);
  • asking for and listening to the opinions of others, and recognizing their achievements; and,
  • committing to creating equitable, accessible, inclusive, and safer environments through recognition of cultural needs (e.g., asking coworkers for feedback on your organization’s strategies, and establishing clear expectations within your community).

By making space for those who generally take up less space (e.g., people of colour, people with disabilities, women, nonbinary, gender fluid and folks, members of the 2SLGBTQ+ community), we can all learn and become better colleagues in the workplace – the first step is acknowledging what a huge difference one less microaggression can make! 

References

  1. Sue DW, Capodilupo CM, Torino GC, et al. Racial microaggressions in everyday life: Implications for clinical practice. Am Psychol. 2007;62(4):271-286. doi:10.1037/0003-066X.62.4.271
  2. Shenoy-Packer S. Immigrant professionals, microaggressions, and critical sensemaking in the U.S. workplace. Manag Commun Q. 2015;29(2):257-275. doi:10.1177/0893318914562069
  3. Jacobs J. Hank Azaria Will No Longer Voice Apu on ‘The Simpsons’ - The New York Times. The New York Time. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/01/17/arts/television/apu-simpsons-hank-azaria.html. Published January 17, 2020. Accessed February 22, 2022.