Strategies for Peer to Peer Allyship
We asked a dozen women and minority graduate students and faculty in ARE, Econ, and Haas about their experiences and suggestions for wannabe allies. Here, we've compiled their strategies for being effective allies to women and minority peers.
Please note that these resources do not necessarily reflect the views of WEB. The intention is to hold an inclusive space for ongoing discourse. We thank the authors for sharing suggestions gathered from their interactions with students and faculty who have had identity-specific experiences in academia that obstruct their productivity. We welcome any feedback, additional contributions, comments, or questions on these issues. Please feel free to e-mail the authors or WEB directly.
- Communicate to your woman and minority peers that you want to be an ally, and are open to constructive feedback on how you’re doing as an ally.
- Make sure that you're allowing space for your women or minority peers to speak in meetings and collaborations, and that you're crediting their ideas. Make eye contact throughout the entire discussion (this may seem obvious, but some people interviewed mentioned lack of eye contact in conversations with colleagues).
- Be aware that women and minority voices and opinions are more likely to be buried and work against that tendency by repeating valid points made by women and people of color that may have been passed over. Make sure to give appropriate credit to the original speaker.
- Among faculty members, male professors can reach out to women professors in a one-on-one manner to ask them about their experiences.
- Make a diligent effort to ensure that every student is invited to work on and contribute to homework and social activities by extending explicit invitations to everyone.
