Page 244 - Microaggressions in Everyday Live Race, Gender, and Sexual Orientation

218 microaggressive impact in the workplace and employment

a biased manner. This study reveals that even in the absence of interpersonal
microaggressions, the overall climate or philosophy of a company can serve
as a powerful microaggresson. If we add an organization ’ s overarching phi-
losophy as a potent microaggression to the daily onslaught of interpersonal
microaggressions for marginalized employees, the impact can be very detri-
mental. This can be seen at three levels of employment: recruitment, reten-
tion, and promotion (Sue & Sue, 1991, 1994). These three levels symbolically
represent the “ minority pipeline, ” where blockages in the form of overt or
covert discrimination to employment and promotion make themselves felt.

Recruitment
While many companies are making a conscientious effort to recruit more
employees of color, women, and LGBTs, they are often very unsuccessful,
especially at high - status positions and occupations. “ We can ’ t fi nd enough

qualified Black candidates. ” “ I would gladly hire a qualified woman engineer,

if I could find one. ” “ I have nothing against gays, but our employees just aren ’ t

ready for one. ”
These statements all represent various forms of microaggressions (denial of
racism/sexism/heterosexism, assumptions of inferiority, homophobia, etc.)
that may serve the same purpose: they help mask unconscious, biased deci-
sions that justify not offering a job position to a minority applicant. In general, the
assumption made by some White recruiters and interviewers is that minority
candidates are less qualified than White ones or that the person is just not right

for the position because he or she will not “ fit in. ” Unconscious beliefs that
Blacks are lacking in intelligence, women are poor in math/sciences, or that an
“ out of the closet ” LGBT will cause discomfort and upheaval at the worksite
enters into the evaluation of candidates.
These statements also relate to another important microaggression encoun-
tered by people of color, women, and LGBTs. The standards used to hire appli-
cants are generally based upon White, male, and heterosexual criteria that

determine “ qualified. ” Good oral communication skills, for example, may
equate to speaking without an accent. A Latino applicant who speaks with an
accent, therefore, might be eliminated from consideration because of a mistaken
belief that an accent equates to poor communication skills. Further, whether
one speaks with an accent may be uncorrelated to successful job performance.
Environmental microaggressions can also serve to discourage prospective
job applicants. As we have mentioned, when women candidates are being

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