Some months ago our Chief People Officer was seeking executive sponsorship for our Equality Diversity and Inclusion groups. Having developed an interest in understanding microaggressions and, with an interest in understanding ‘allyship’, I was keen to put myself forward for our black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) staff network.
NHS England/NHS Improvement (2021a) discussed the opportunities of allyship, such as the potential for improving workplace culture, which ultimately impacts on patient care. It described allyship as ‘finding someone who believes in you, who can lift you up and create beneficial opportunity’. The concept of allyship is about building relationships of trust, consistency and accountability with marginalised individuals and/or groups of people. It is suggested that, although as an ally one might not be a member of an underinvested or oppressed group, one can support, and make the effort to understand the challenges, including using one's voice alongside theirs (NHS England/NHS Improvement, 2021b).
Atcheson (2018) discussed the need to recognise ‘privilege’ and noted that this can be ‘a daunting, uncomfortable task’. Atcheson suggested that holding a mirror up to yourself and understanding the systematic and societal issues that may have played in your favour can be eye opening. However, recognising privilege enables you to use it to amplify those who do not have it. Quoting an article by Better Allies (2018), Atcheson further explored the impact of privilege. Identified as a social force that is widely misunderstood, privilege, it is suggested, is often treated as something negative, or an indicator that you might be racist, sexist, or biased in some way, while the absence of privilege is treated as absolving you from those same negative categories. Yet having privilege does not automatically mean you are biased against those with less privilege. And a lack of privilege does not mean you cannot be biased yourself.
Better Allies created a checklist: ‘50 ways you might be more privileged than your tech co-worker’. We are encouraged to review this list and keep a tally, noting any items that surprise us and make us wonder, ‘Does anyone actually face this challenge?’ I found this a thought-provoking exercise.
There are many guides to being an ally. The most useful that I have reviewed is that by Dr Muna Abdi, who shares 10 ways to ‘show up and stand up’. She writes that these things are often uncomfortable and urges us to push past the point of comfort to enable effective and impactful action to make changes—even, she says, if this risks loss of your own privilege or status. The 10 ways are (Abdi, 2018):
- Own your privilege. Abdi encourages the reader to recognise the power that this may bring and advocates using this to support the work of those who are ‘othered’
- Talk about the uncomfortable. Abdi writes that this means sometimes talking about how you might be complicit in an oppressive system, encouraging you not to talk about other people's trauma as you cannot know it, but rather the effects of the system
- Be strategic in your activism. Here we are reminded that being an ally is not about protests, but rather the use of institutional power to change structures and systems
- Figure out where and how you can do the most good—reflecting that everyone can do something, for example, sharing messages on social media, or meeting with institutional leads to push for change. The sum of the parts, she writes, will lead to systemic change
- Start where you are. Take concrete steps, however small. Abdi advocates asking people what they need. Stand/sit with those who have been doing the work longer than you. Listen. Ask questions. Then talk
- Ask yourself: ‘What do I want the future to look like?’ Spend more time thinking and talking about potential solutions
- Do your research. Abdi states that you cannot be an effective ally if you don't know what the issues are. Read about them and listen to others
- Resist the ‘white saviour’ complex. Importantly, Abdi states, your role is not to ‘fix’ communities of colour. It is not your job to swoop down and take action on their behalf without knowing what the community needs to begin with. Instead, resist that urge and re-examine how to help
- Start with your own circle. Call out friends and family on their racism and microaggressions, even (especially) when it is uncomfortable
- Be brave. These things are not always comfortable. But commit to pushing past the point of comfort to take effective and impactful action to change things, even if that action is messy or risks the loss of your own privileged/powerful status.
I have much to learn and this will be a challenging journey, but certainly one worth taking and I am looking forward to making a measurable difference.