#018 Use Your Power To Amplify The Voices Of Others
Helping doesn’t just have to be about dollars or transactions.
A quick side note before we start: you might’ve (or you might not have) noticed that all has been quiet here for a while.
Not-so-ironically after the last post about making it okay to not be okay, I was really not okay. We’re approaching week ten of our second lockdown here in Melbourne and it’s been… a damp blanket on the soul.
I also thought it’d be a good idea to finally launch my children’s book project in the middle of August. In between kicking myself and “what have I done” moments, it’s actually been full of some beautiful support and kind words. But the crushing responsibility of making something work when it’s brand new, in the middle of a general clusterf**k, has been consuming to say the least.
Now.
Let’s get into it today with something that’s hopefully been increasing on your radar this year… sharing privilege and power.
A few months back I ran a lunchtime workshop with an organisation on power, privilege and sharing. By no means am I an expert in these three things, but I feel they’re important concepts that we all should be more familiar with, and so I wanted to kick off the conversation.
Privilege and power are things we all have in different amounts, and different types. Privilege generally comes from belonging to a group that holds power, or is given preference in society. For example, my own privilege comes from things like me being an able-bodied, educated, white, straight, middle-class, cisgender woman who now lives in Australia.
Sure, there are ways that the world makes it harder to move through the world being female. But in almost every other aspect of my identity, the world was made by, and for, people like me.
Different types of privilege exist in almost every layer of our identities:
- Race
- Ethnicity
- Gender
- Ability
- Language
- Education
- Class
- Gender and gender orientation
- Sexual orientation
- Age
- Health
- Religion
- Appearance
- Geographic Region (of birth and current home)
- Family structure
- Neurodiversity
This list is not exhaustive, but hopefully helps to give an idea of the different ways that we each experience life and move through this world.
When it comes to power, again, we each hold varying amounts. A lot of power comes back to the unearned privileges we were born into, but there are some types of power that can be accrued over time (say for example, a network of colleagues and friends).
Because it always helps to call a spade a spade, here are some different types of power you might not recognise hold value:
- Titular power — the kind that comes from being in a high or influential position within any type of structure
- Informational power — being able to access and process information
- Expert status or experience power — having power from the experiences you’ve had access to or the way you’re able to express yourself
- Reward power — being able to reward good behaviour in others
- Coercive power — being able to punish others
- Networked power — having people to lean on, listen and support you
- Charismatic power — being able to charm people is a form of power
- Financial power — having the stability or freedom to make choices
- Majority power — being represented and understood in most situations
You can see how intertwined power and privilege is when you begin to interrogate, for example, how someone who is born into a poor family would have to work harder than others to gain financial power.
So, what’s the big idea?
That felt like a lot of information to cover before our first subheading. But it’s so incredibly important to be able to identify and talk about the types of privilege and power we have (both as individuals and organisations). Because if we don’t know, or don’t value what we have, it’s harder to see, empathise with and support those who have lesser.
It’s a sorry state to be in that, generally speaking, Black, Indigenous and people of colour have less privilege and power in society than their white counterparts.
It’s one of the many brutal realities 2020 has brought to the fore.
But there’s something beautiful about power and privilege. Like ideas, love and many other goods things, they’re not exhaustible.
Power can be shared without being depleted. And privilege is almost unbreakable if you’re born into it.
Campaigns like Share The Platform and Share The Mic are incredible examples of what sharing can look like.
Getting Started
There’s no one size fits all on this. There’s no quick solution. Instead, it’s about committing to exploring what you can give, and who might need it — because no one is going to have the answers but you.
My first suggested step would be to invest in some learning on privilege and power, if these are concepts that are still pretty fresh for you. I would particularly encourage you to, if you can, support and pay BIPOC people who are offering this kind of training.
From the United States, I’ve come across The Great Unlearn by Rachel Cargle for individuals. But closer to home, you could start with Supply Nation who showcase dozens of Indigenous-owned businesses which offer Cultural Awareness Training across Australia.
If you can recommend other organisations, reach out. I’ll be adding them to our resource board here.
Once you feel like you have a grasp on what you can share, and you’re in it for the long haul, you might want to reach out and start conversations with the people you want to share with. If you’re not already working with marginalised groups, you’ll need to work to build a relationship of trust and empathy, and listen deeply to what they actually need. Don’t assume what you have to offer is going to necessarily be most wanted, or most needed.
If you’re looking for more short term, or quick wins, you could:
- Use your voice or authority to start conversations and call out behaviour and language that further marginalises or excludes people
- Use your platforms to amplify and centre the voices of others (retweet, include in your newsletters, spread by word of mouth the work of underrepresented groups and individuals)
- Recommend those not often asked, or thought of, for jobs, events and other opportunities
- Give credit to and reference marginalised groups, share their work and acknowledge their talent
These are just a few ideas, but there are countless more out there if you look for them, or, ya know, talk to people.
Conversation Starters
If you need some ways to open this conversation with peers, seniors or even your own internal dialogue, here are some things you could ask:
- How does power and privilege show up in our own organisation?
- What kind of familiarity or comfort do we have talking about privilege and power?
- In what ways and spaces might we be able to share what we have?
- What voices are most excluded in our field of work? How might we start a conversation with them, or support more of their voices?
Going Further
A feel like the long-haul option above is really the kind of going further that we need. Showing up and listening to the needs of others, and then sharing what you have to make it happen doesn’t happen overnight. It requires a sustained and humble pursuit.
Perhaps even more, though, could look like working to generate new kinds of power, beyond just sharing your own: so that the people we seek to share with, are then able to share with others. Because as my friend and mentor, Lina Patel, says, “empowered people empower others”.
