Women of Color Leadership: A Look at the Experiences of Women of Color Executives in the Anti-Violence Against Women’s Movement

Abstract

Women of Color have worked in and been an integral part of the anti‐violence against women movement since its inception, and have participated in the building of culturally and linguistically specific programming for victim/survivors. Throughout the years, many Women of Color have reported feeling silenced, excluded, stereotyped and marginalized within their anti-violence organizations. Women of Color experience these as barriers to their professional ascension. With the exception of a previous 2007 National Women of Color survey conducted by the Women of Color Network, very little research has been conducted on this subject. The WOCN sought and received support from the Ms. Foundation to conduct a 2010 nation-­wide survey on the experiences of WOC executives in the domestic violence and sexual assault movements. WOCN recognizes that not every woman of color has experienced similar marginalization with the movement, and many have both learned from and have inspired the movement toward change and success. However, we cannot discount that there are real issues and patterns to that should be addressed and this research project has allowed us to further explore these issues. (Author Text)