An Exploration of the Inter-Sectional Identity of Black Female Leaders in the UK: A Shotterian Study

Abstract

This study investigates the experience of Black female leaders in UK business and the narratives of their lived experience of marginalization. Drawing principally on the rather small UK-focused literature on this topic as context, as well as some of the much larger international literature, methodologically we use the approach to qualitative inquiry developed by John Shotter. Shotter argued strongly for understanding human experience from the inside, in a social constructivist form of phenomenological investigation that views “data gathering” in such contexts as a dialog between the researcher and the subject. The main research question is: How do Black female leaders in the UK understand and experience the barriers and challenges of being marginalised in contemporary business? One of our main contributions of this research is the methodological shift: by advocating for Shotter's “withness/withinness” thinking, we encourage a shift away from objectifying marginalized subjects as research objects, towards co-created meaning-making. In addition, we contribute to academic discourse by proposing new insights that both reaffirm and challenge existing paradigms relating to, for example, the nuanced distinction between “glass” and “concrete ceilings” in conventional feminist leadership discourse. The data analysis identified three key themes relating to the intersectional identity of black female leaders, two of which represent the internal dimensions of the intersectional identity of these black leaders: (a) “The Perception of Difference” and (b) “the Perception of Self.” The structural dimension of intersectional identity focuses on the “individual–organization relationship”. Both internal and structural dimensions are part and parcel of intersectional identity of black female leaders.