Empowering approaches to build leadership for immigrant and refugee women.

Audre Lorde, the Black feminist writer and civil rights activists says, “If I don’t define myself, I would be crunched into other people’s fantasies for me and eaten alive.” We are redefining leadership for immigrant and refugee women because leadership for us is different. Immigrant women of colour bring a plethora of knowledge, skills, and rich culture to our workplaces. We are an untapped resource and deskilling us is an absolute waste of talent. We definitely don’t need to be trained on how to speak, communicate, dress, network with others, or on what is workplace etiquette. What we really need is a formula that allows us to speak up against violence, abuse, exploitation, and violations of any basic human rights. What we need is to learn about our rights, to be able to advocate for ourselves and our needs, and to simply be able to see ourselves in leadership roles — representation matters! I am still having difficulties visualizing myself in leadership roles when I don’t see people who look like me in politics, media rooms, board rooms, and in leadership roles. 

In my capacity as the Founder and Executive Director of the Newcomer Students’ Association, I lead a national grassroots, membership-driven organization working at the intersection of migration, education, and social justice, and a platform committed to promoting inclusion and equity for post-secondary newcomer, immigrant, and refugee students. My team and I recently launched the Immigrant Women National Network (IWNN), a network led by and for immigrant and refugee women. The network aims to amplify the voices of immigrant and refugee women, advance their leadership, create transformative and empowering experiences, optimize their civic and political participation, and champion their rights. The network is looking into strategies to educate and engage employers in conversations and an ongoing dialogue about creating meaningful leadership opportunities for immigrant women — that allows them to thrive and be their authentic self. Employers shouldn’t have expectations that immigrant women will assimilate to other cultures or dilute their original identities or betray their own personal values to pleasure and follow Western culture norms. 

The network also offers a diverse set of programming and initiatives that focus on building leadership capacity for immigrant women, starting with educating them about their human rights and providing anti-oppression and gender-based violence training. We are changing public narratives and discourses around immigrant women and debunking the myths and stereotypes about us not being capable or worthy of being in leadership roles. 

Here are some recommendations for systemic change to support immigrant women’s leadership and career advancement in Canadian workplaces:

1. Create safe spaces for immigrant women to talk about their needs and aspirations. Appreciate their diverse needs and lived experiences.
2. Understand that immigrant women already have the knowledge, skills, and experience needed to be in leadership roles. You just need to believe in them, provide them the platform, and champion them. 
3. Develop culturally sensitive leadership development opportunities such as mentorship and sponsorship programs.
4. Be inclusive when planning networking opportunities and spaces as many immigrant women can’t afford the luxury to participate in networking programs outside work hours or subscribe to additional non-work-related programs at their own cost.
5. Be aware of how to apply an intersectional approach when creating advancement opportunities for immigrant women. Immigrant and refugee women are not a homogenous group. 
6. Don’t tokenize us in the name of equity, diversity, and inclusion. If you want to give us a seat on your decision-making table, you must provide us with tools and resources to thrive, and actively listen to and amplify our voices. 

It is crucial for us to use empowering approaches when building leadership capacity for immigrant and refugee women. We need a paradigm shift when talking about settlement and integration of this segment. The conversation needs to be about economic empowerment and leadership for immigrant and refugee women, rather than short-term settlement solutions that limit the potential of these women. Here is an opportunity for us to reimagine what economic empowerment looks like for immigrant and refugee women. 

Empowering Approaches to Building Leadership for immigrant and Refugee Women 

1. Invest in immigrant and refugee women talent.
2. Focus on building and advancing their leadership development.
3. Promote their mental wellbeing in the workplace.
4. Prioritize long-term integration, advancement, and inclusion strategies for this segment.
5. Operate from an-anti oppressive framework and use a strength-based approach when working with these women.
6. Build their confidence, resiliency, and self-authorship.
7. Create safe, brave, and empowering spaces for them to share their stories and lived experiences.
8. Make them experts in their own issues, needs and experiences.
9. Centre their voices by intentionally engaging them in decision-making processes. 

There are so many strategies and opportunities for employers and workplaces to support and promote immigrant women and advance their leadership. Jessica Ketwaroo-Green reminds us that we first need to understand systemic oppressions and structural and institutional inequalities that continue to marginalize us and make us vulnerable to exploitation, deskilling, and underemployment. Systems of oppression continue to fail and exclude us, and we continue to be largely not represented in these spaces. My hope is that this action-oriented article with strategies for systemic change will be a starting point in our continued effort to create leadership opportunities for immigrant and refugee women.