I keep forgetting to share this, but a paper from our lab, led by @MARspidermonkey, is out! We ran focus groups with women of color science faculty at a large, midwestern, predominantly white research university.
http://www.dl.begellhouse.com/references/00551c876cc2f027,6faa0b56537600ec,2ea054d60f12f515.html

Focus groups allowed women of similar rank to hear each other & have their experiences validated, it also reminded them of things that had happened to them. It was a great medium & I am so grateful for the time, honesty, & vulnerability given to us by our brilliant participants.

Our main research questions focused on the social support participants received (or didn't) and those consequences. Those women who had no access often eventually internalized the gaslighting experienced by their (often white, often male) colleagues and students.

An example of gaslighting from our data:

. @MARspidermonkey created a great figure to represent this:

Those women who had support from other women of color were able to externalize their harms better and recognize them as structural - that they were worthy and competent and that they were experiencing microaggressions etc.

It's important to note that it was rare that women of color had this support within their departments, often doing extra work to seek it elsewhere:

We point to how universities are structured in a way that isolates women of color. It's important to notice that many diversity initiatives by virtue of their structure do this too. It improves the look of a uni but creates terrible conditions for the scholars.

I want to share this observation from one participant about who their white colleagues often wanted to "do" things but that those things were not materially benefitting scholars of color. I know as a white colleague I have participated in this trap in the past:

To conclude: think about how uni structures harm WOC faculty TWOFOLD, first through creating a permissive environment for racial and gendered harassment, and second through isolating them and giving them no space to process/externalize these harms.

Then think about how you can address these structural problems at the structural level - not only (though it is important!) the individual level. And consider how, as per usual, these structural changes end up benefitting everybody. It's ALWAYS a win-win and NEVER less pie!