Olson Zaltman visits the White House
Our ZMET study on the hopes and dreams of young women of color
My Olson Zaltman colleague Jessica Ames and I were honored to visit the White House on November 13 to participate in a conference on “Advancing Equity for Women & Girls of Color: A Research Agenda for the Next Decade.”
The White House Council on Women and Girls and the Anna Julia Cooper Center at Wake Forest University invited us because of our recent ZMET research focusing on how high school senior girls of color imagine their futures. An executive summary of our report, “Fearless in the Face of Fear: The Journey of the High School Senior Girl of Color,” is available for download here. We will make the full final report available in early 2016.
We interviewed high school senior girls across the country for this study; the sample was comprised of African Americans, Latinas, Asian Americans, Native Americans, and girls who identified as biracial. Despite their demographic and geographic differences, we found that these girls share many life experiences and view their world through a similar unconscious mental frame — The Hero’s Journey.
The Hero’s Journey monomyth is a narrative pattern that has been common in western storytelling, dating back to Greek mythology. In his landmark 1949 work The Hero With a Thousand Faces, scholar Joseph Campbell described The Hero’s Journey as a narrative in which, “[a] hero ventures forth from the world of common day into a region of supernatural wonder: fabulous forces are there encountered and a decisive victory is won: the hero comes back from this mysterious adventure with the power to bestow boons on his fellow man.” Many films and stories in American popular culture are rooted in The Hero’s Journey — George Lucas has repeatedly credited Campbell’s work as part of the inspiration for the Star Wars and Indiana Jones franchises.
The heroes portrayed in mainstream American media and entertainment are seldom women of color — much less young women of color. Nonetheless, we found that these girls still see their lives through the lens of The Hero’s Journey. Some academics who reviewed our conclusions claimed that it painted a Pollyannaish picture that was divorced from the socioeconomic and societal forces that challenge these girls today, and that may continue to challenge them in the future. We understand the criticism but respectfully and spiritedly disagree. The young women we interviewed are not naïve. They acknowledge the obstacles looming ahead and find them frustrating and more than a little scary. Nonetheless, they maintain an affirmative worldview and remain optimistic about their ability to overcome and fulfill their potential.
It is deeply troubling — tragic, really — that these barriers continue to exist in our country. Life for young women of color is no crystal stair. However, we find their resilience and fearlessness to be an inspiration.
The Journey
We asked participants to collect images that represent their thoughts and feelings about making an impact on the world. Our ZMET interviewers then spoke with them for 60–90 minutes about the meaning behind the images they selected. All the quotes and images below come directly from the high school seniors who agreed to participate in the research. The participants varied in terms of socioeconomic background, academic success, and career goals. We only required that they have tangible plans to continue their education beyond high school during the 2016–17 academic year, either in a four-year college or university, community college, or trade school.
The metaphor of Journey is at the foundation of the mental model that these young women have for their future. This shouldn’t be surprising because many of us employ Journey language when talking about our lives. (We try to give our children a good head start in life, and as we look ahead to the future we hope they stay on the straight and narrow path.) The contours of the Journey that these girls predict for themselves are encapsulated in a quote from a Native American student from Phoenix:
Two kinds of heroes
We saw two mindsets in our research. It is unclear whether these two mindsets are mutually exclusive or whether they are, for at least some girls, different stages they progress through as they mature. But the two orientations do suggest a somewhat different attitude about their life story, the meaning of achievement, and the Journey ahead.
We called one group The Underdogs. The comment below from a Latina girl in New York is an exemplar of the Underdog mindset, a kind of David vs. Goliath mentality:
A second archetypal frame that defines girls’ self-image is that of The Rebel. “Rebel” girls are bold, iconoclastic, confident, and eager to use their voices to make an impact on the world around them.
Regardless of which of these lenses they see the world through, both the Underdogs and the Rebels recognize the tests that will face them in the coming years and are equally determined to pass those tests.
The obstacles
The toughest part of the Journey seems to be the first few steps. Just embarking on the Journey can be daunting given the challenges and roadblocks that exist, both now and down the road.
One obstacle is the unknown. These girls are preparing to leave home and begin exploring a much wider and complex world, largely on their own. As Latina girl from the Los Angeles area described the conflicted feelings she has about embarking on this Journey:
Economics are another hurdle, and not just for disadvantaged students. We heard students from relatively well-off backgrounds decry the unfairness of escalating college tuition rates and wonder if such an education is affordable — or even worth the expense.
Bias remains a relevant concern. Although the election of a black man to the highest office in the land was a symbolic landmark for race relations in the U.S., it didn’t fully erase the previous 250 years of history. Although racial and ethnic bias today may not be as overt as it was a few decades ago — and certainly not as openly tolerated — these students recognize that it still exists implicitly in our culture. In some ways, that bias may be even more insidious because it lurks below the surface, subtly woven into the fabric of the country.
Quite a few of these young women are also struggling to overcome the expectations of other people. In a variety of ways, what people expect of them is often not aligned with what they want for themselves. In some cases, they are the shining star of their family or a shining star in the community, and thus they feel the eyes of everyone upon them — and living up to those high expectations can be just as tough as conquering low expectations. A girl of Pakistani descent who lives in a predominantly white Rust Belt city used an image of a hennaed hand adorned with bright pink nail polish to illustrate the tension between her loyalty to her heritage and her family, and the desire to become the person she truly wants to be:
Remarkably, despite these hurdles— at once personal and also entrenched throughout society — these girls demonstrate a buoyant determination to prove that obstacles in the road not mark the end of the road.
Overcoming the obstacles
The obstacles are significant enough, however, that they cannot be overcome alone. These girls describe the importance of family and friends who can offer support. They also speak of the need for role models — just seeing one person in their lives who has powered through some of these roadblocks helps them see what is possible and can reshape their vision of their own future.
But ultimately, these girls recognize that they — like all of us — need a break, someone who believes in them enough to give them an opportunity to shine. One girl told us a partially allegorical story about a teacher who recognized her talent and inspired her to recognize that talent in herself:
None of us is born without gifts. What some of us sadly lack, however, is the confidence, the mentoring, the opportunities, or the vision to become all we are capable of becoming.
The destination
The overarching goal for these girls is transformation, which is central to any Hero’s Journey. They want to change themselves, which can equate to improving their economic lot or sometimes just becoming better people. They want to change others by helping them or influencing them. And they want to change the world.
These three forms of change are deeply intertwined. For example, one participant in our study described how she stood up for a friend who was being bullied at school. It took her some time to muster the nerve to go confront the bully; it was an act of rare courage, and it worked. Afterward, she felt that her brave actions symbolized all three kinds of change. She emerged from the confrontation as a more confident person, her friend subsequently had a much easier time at school, and she had a sense that she had made the world a slightly better place as a result.
So when we use the term “change the world” we are not implying that all of these girls want to grow up to be famous and wealthy. Change can occur quietly, below the radar. That doesn’t make it insignificant.
In short, there are no small dreams. Even girls who don’t know exactly what they want to do with their lives still share the broad goal of making a difference and being recognized within their families, within their communities, and in their own hearts as people who have used their gifts to make the world, even in a small way, a better place.
One implication of this research is that teachers, counselors, employers, who stand to influence the lives of these young women should take a step back and honestly reflect on their own biases. There is nothing inherently wrong or evil about having a bias. However, a key to overcoming biases is constantly monitoring yourself for them and being aware of when they are exerting their influence. Especially with girls from disadvantaged backgrounds, it can be important to focus less on what they have already done, and instead open one’s mind to what they have the potential to do. In the workplace, employers should think carefully about whether unspoken aspects of company culture or other systemic barriers might hinder the success of girls of color.
Another key point is that the girls we spoke to are not seeking special treatment. They are confident, strong, and determined to succeed. What they do need, however, are resources to get them past the barriers they face. Everyone needs resources to succeed, of course, but these girls face a unique collection of challenges that stand to impede their progress toward their long-term goals. Therefore, their needs may be quite different than those of a young white male just about to enter world of higher education and work.
This has been among the most gratifying projects we have done. We emerged with such a positive feeling about these young women, their courage, and their potential. And with their potential rests, in part, America’s potential. If we, as a society, don’t nurture girls of color and help them discover their gifts and their voices, it is a loss for all of us.
James Forr is a Director at Olson Zaltman