161: Unpacking Affirmative Action with Sara and Misasha

161: Unpacking Affirmative Action

with Sara and Misasha

April marks THREE YEARS since we started the Dear White Women podcast, so it’s only fitting that we run this back to talk about one of the issues that we get asked about (and challenged on) the most: affirmative action. Maybe even hearing those words brings up emotions for you, as it does us.

This week we get the pleasure of sitting down with Michele Heyward, who’s not only an engineer herself but the founder of PositiveHire (and we’ll let her tell you more about that), to talk about diverse women in STEM, her own podcast Dear Corner Office, why unconscious bias training often don’t work, if there’s really a “pipeline problem,” and so much more. Get ready to take some notes (and add a new podcast to your list!).But today we’re going to talk about all things affirmative action, including where it came from, who the biggest beneficiaries of it have been (and if you know a White woman in this country, you’ll want to listen) if we still need it, and what you’ll really need to know about the upcoming Supreme Court case this / next year.

Bottom line: affirmative action actually affects all of us. Listen in to hear why.

What to listen for:

How the term “affirmative action” came to be - originally about race

When sex/gender was included in the plans, leading to White women were the biggest beneficiaries of affirmative action
How affirmative action turned into a zero-sum game by twisting it to position White people (women) as victims
Reminders of the affirmative action program that supported White people first - the GI Bill
The SCOTUS case coming up might undermine the benefits - given the composition of the court - of keeping policies in place that enforce diversity

Have questions, comments, or concerns? Email us at hello@dearwhitewomen.com

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