Evolving as a Male Ally
This weekend, hundreds of women’s marches will take place around the globe. It is imperative, however, that women are accompanied to and through (and beyond) these marches by advocates and allies. This month’s guest writer reflects on the progression of allyship and the imperatives specifically associated with male allyship. We are delighted to introduce Dr. Michael Steven Williams, one of our esteemed colleagues and an Assistant Professor in the Department of Educational Leadership & Policy Analysis in the College of Education at the University of Missouri. He is primarily a quantitative researcher, but his interests broadly focus on equity and diversity, the social psychological development of students, and institutional diversity in American postsecondary education. Specifically, he centers his inquiry on two aspects of higher education: (a) the student, particularly graduate (e.g., masters, doctoral, professional) student socialization and mentoring and (b) the institution, with a focus on specialized institutions such as historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs).
I am a postsecondary education scholar dedicated to supporting and expanding college access, retention, and persistence for students from minoritized populations (e.g., racial, gender, sexual minorities). My research and scholarship recognize diversity beyond racial lines by documenting the unique experiences of students at different levels of postsecondary education, in different academic majors, at different institution types, and with various intersecting demographic identities. I believe that each of these characteristics provides important context for understanding the way multiple oppressions contribute to student growth and development in college. This is perhaps best demonstrated by the intersecting identities of the student populations my scholarship addresses. To date, I have published work on Black women in HBCUs (Williams & Johnson, 2018), Black doctoral students (Williams, Brown Burnett, Carroll, & Harris, 2016), gay collegians of color (Strayhorn, Glover, Kitchen, & Williams, 2013), Black and Latino males in STEM fields (Long III, Henderson, & Williams, 2018), and Native American collegians (Strayhorn, Bie, Dorimé-Williams, Williams, 2016).
That said, I approached the opportunity to contribute to this blog with a great deal of trepidation. I did everything I could to procrastinate. I self-sabotaged in creative (e.g., “what comes up if I type ‘#donuts’ in Instagram?”) and hackneyed (e.g., “now seems like a good time to do dishes, laundry, or any other household chore that offers a false and temporary sense of accomplishment”) ways. When I finally forced myself to sit in front of the computer and type, I was halted by a series of questions. What do I, a man—even one who reads, writes, and teaches about leadership, diversity, equity, inclusion, and social justice for a living—have to say about women? How do I approach the topic with care? How do I ensure that my voice isn’t unintentionally silencing the very people I want to support? How do I avoid tasting that special flavor of backlash reserved for outsiders who claim to know or understand the experiences of a minoritized group?
I sat. I thought. I turned myriad ideas over in my head. What I settled on was a simple but truthful self-assessment.
I’m still evolving as a male ally.
I think of an ally as a member of a socially privileged group dedicated to dismantling oppressive systems that narrowly circumscribe opportunity for others. A lot of people fail to be the allies that they want to be because they don’t really understand the intricacies of what it means to relinquish privilege in the name of helping people with a different combination of identities than their own. They also fail because they haven’t engaged in the honest self-reflection that is a necessary foundation for intentional improvement.
Diversity expert, speaker, and author Jennifer Brown has an alliterative tool called the ally continuum that is useful for the type of self-assessment needed to facilitate positive change. It suggests that there are four levels to allyship—apathetic, aware, active, and advocate. For topical and illustrative purposes, we can map male ally development onto the continuum. Apathetic men don’t understand (or can’t be bothered to consider) that gender is an issue. Aware men understand that gender has implications, but are not doing anything to actively address the problems that arise as a result. Active men know what is going on, understand gender issues, and are willing to offer insight and support, but only when prompted. Advocates understand gender issues and couple it with intentional action—regularly and proactively supporting equity and inclusion around gender issues.
Jennifer Brown’s Ally Continuum
I like the continuum as intellectual scaffolding for a number of reasons. First, it makes it clear that most allies have room for improvement. As an educator, one of my fundamental beliefs is that everyone can learn, you just have to figure out how to meet people where they are. The greatest allies may have been apathetic at some point, but through experience and positive relationships, they blossomed. Next, I view it as a call to action for people who are operating in the aware and active bands. If someone has started to understand the issues, then they are ripe for education and training to move up the continuum. Getting people from aware to active and from active to advocate starts with helping them see where they are clearly. Finally, the continuum is applicable to other forms of allyship. While gender is important, our intersectional identities call for allied behavior in multiple spheres (e.g., race, socioeconomic status, sexual orientation). It isn’t enough to engage as an ally around gender issues while ignoring how other oppressive systems (e.g., racism, classism) complicate the lives of the people we want to uplift.
Personally, I need to move from active to advocate around gender issues. I attack sexism with no hesitation when it threatens my daughter, my partner, or my doctoral students. There is plenty of room for me to improve how I champion gender equity outside of these close relationships. I don’t just want a less sexist world for the people I cherish. I want it for everyone. A dedication to continued evolution as a male ally has implications for every identity that I cherish including son, father (to a daughter and a son), partner, professor, and mentor. Recognition of this simple truth is critical to the changes I want to catalyze. The next step is to intentionally work on being a better ally with patience and humility.
References
Brown, J. (2017, February 3). When you’re tempted to turn off and tune out, read this [Blog post]. Retrieved from: https://jenniferbrownspeaks.com/2017/02/03/when-youre-tempted-to-turn-off-and-tune-out-read-this/
Long III, L. L., Henderson, T., & Williams, M. S. (2018). Institutional Barriers to Black and Latino Male Collegians’ Success in Engineering and Related STEM Fields. Proceedings of the 2018 American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE) Annual Conference and Exposition. Retrieved from: https://www.asee.org/public/conferences/106/papers/23229/view
Strayhorn, T. L., Bie, F., Dorime-Williams, M. L., & Williams, M. S. (2016). Measuring the influence of Native American college students' interactions with diverse others on sense of belonging. Journal of American Indian Education, 55(1), 49-73.
Strayhorn, T. L., Glover, S. T., Kitchen, J. A., & Williams, M. S. (2013). Negotiating multiple identities: A critical narrative inquiry of how Black gay men "make it" at historically Black colleges and universities. The NASAP Journal, 15(1), 42-56.
Williams, M. S., & Johnson, J. M. (2018). Predicting the quality of Black women collegians’ relationships with faculty at a public historically Black university. Journal of Diversity in Higher Education. doi:10.1037/dhe0000077
Williams, M. S., Brown, T. J., Carroll, T. K., & Harris, C. J. (2016). Mentoring, managing and helping: A critical race analysis of socialization in doctoral education. Journal of College Student Retention: Research, Theory & Practice. doi:10.1177/1521025116657834
Dr. Michael Steven Williams
Dr. Michael Steven Williams is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Educational Leadership & Policy Analysis in the College of Education at the University of Missouri. His research program broadly focuses on equity and diversity, the social psychological development of students, and institutional diversity in American postsecondary education. Specifically, he centers his inquiry on two aspects of higher education: (a) the student, particularly student socialization and mentoring and (b) the institution, with a focus on specialized institutions such as historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs).