If you ask any person today about the struggles of women of colour, they will probably not even mention injustice faced in workplaces. After all, major of us (including me) are repeatedly told that the work opportunities in any field are not determined by the skin colour. Because of “professionalism” everyone is treated equally in a corporate space. But is it true?

The 19th amendment, which stated that women may not be denied the right to vote based on their gender, was ratified by the United States Congress little over 100 years ago. This amendment was the result of many women's tireless labour (and some men).

As Brookingsedu tells us, the 19th amendment was particularly crucial for Black women, who, despite the 15th amendment's promise of equal voting rights regardless of colour, were nevertheless denied the ability to vote due to their gender. The fact that it took two constitutional amendments, each ratified half a century apart, to ensure Black women's right to vote demonstrates how race and gender have always played a vital role in the lives of women of colour.

Adia Winfrey has rightly pointed out that race and gender continue to produce disparities in outcomes for women of all races and men of colour a century later. This is especially visible in the underrepresentation of women in professional occupations and their experiences.

For example, as various reports tell us, due to factors such as motherhood penalty, gender discrimination, and occupational segregation, women earn 79 cents for every dollar earned by males, according to a widely quoted statistic. However, Black women make only 64 cents on the dollar, while Latinas earn only 54 cents. Women of colour, just as they did in the early twentieth century, continue to face occupational and economic disadvantages as a result of the ways race and gender interact in the workplace.

So how can we say that workplace is free of any bias. It is time we look within and introspect.