September 7, 2011 | 12:04 PM | By

“Stereotypes May Help Black Women Succeed”

Katherine Phillips, a Professor at Columbia’s business school, examined how race and gender intersect and discovered something interesting. The stereotype of black women being bold or “angry” may work to their benefit, even though in general, dominant women often experience a backlash:.


After determining that black women are given more leeway than white women to be independent and aggressive, Phillips decided to then see how these stereotypes interact with the backlash effect. In a second, follow up study, Phillips and her colleagues had evaluators rate the likeability and hireability of two equally dominant female job candidates who only differed from each other by race (white vs. black). The results of the study showed a clear backlash effect for the dominant white, female candidate – she was less liked and less likely to be hired. The dominant black, female candidate fared much better – she was more liked and more likely to be hired.

— www.stanford.edu

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DCentric was created to examine the ways race and class interact in Washington, D.C., a city with a vibrant mix of cultures and neighborhoods. Your guides to the changing district are reporters Anna John and Elahe Izadi. View all posts by Anna →