Women leaders have taken a more significant leadership role than is often expected throughout COVID-19. While organizations and businesses continue to make anti-racist pronouncements and set up committees to look into their disparities, the workload, particularly for women of color, has increased.
Women of color are naturally more likely to experience burnout.
Burnout has long been a possibility, brought on by mounting workloads that are impossible to handle, unclear boundaries, frequent microaggressions, and unseen, unpaid emotional, physical, and mental labor.
Both race and gender are essential. When exploring the diverse experiences of women of color, we must consider the intersectionality of our own identities.
For instance, bias towards young Black girls at school directly correlates to prejudice based on race and gender.
As they grow older, the frequent occurrence of microaggressions, sexism, racism, and indifference that many women of color face as they prepare to enter the professional ranks serves as a reminder of the various adverse effects that prejudice, discrimination, and even good intentions can have on women—even before they start their chosen profession.
In this blog post, we will go deeply into the cultural effects of burnout on women of color and give tips on overcoming burnout.
What is culture of burnout?
The term “burnout” indicates tiredness from high and ongoing stress. It frequently happens when you’re stressed out or unable to handle obligations for an extended period.
Burnout mostly happens because of your job, but it’s not just a mental health issue; you can also physically burn yourself out.
Burnout culture is the term used to describe how burnout is becoming more and more common due to factors like being overly busy, pressured, putting too many hours in, and placing too much value on production.
The current world moves quickly, and this trend is only accelerating as being busy is increasingly accepted. This increases our strain to keep up with the outside world, which can lead to burnout.
Why does burnout risk increase for women of color?
Burnout is even more common in women of color. Additionally, people are less inclined to discuss their mental health issues at work.
On the surface, “silent quitting” sounds like a reasonable course of action – after all, why not reduce your workload if you’re already overburdened? Mainly if it isn’t being acknowledged anyway? It may be riskier for women and people of color to progress in their careers or even maintain employment.
Compared to males, women are 14% less certain to get promoted, according to a 2022 research on retail workers, which also found that supervisors undervalue women’s abilities more than men’s.
Due to biased performance appraisals and delayed promotions, many Black employees believe they must work twice as hard. Also, at the beginning of the Covid-19 outbreak, job losses disproportionately impacted persons of race.
Women of color are considerably more inclined to be viewed negatively when attempting to set sound personal limits. Doing only the bare minimum at work is insufficient.
According to several studies, minorities and women receive more severe penalties for the same mistakes. So “silent resigning” could harm more than just your career and your relationships at work; it could also put you at risk of being fired if your employer perceives your reduced workload as a sign of laziness.
Many businesses neglect that many workers belong to several overlapping identity groups and concentrate their diversity initiatives on broad categories like women, Black employees, and employees with disabilities. The term “intersectionality” refers to this idea. Women of color tend to have more unpleasant workplace experiences than women.
Cultural effects of burnout on mental health
Although anybody can experience burnout, it is an unfortunate reality for particularly Black and Indigenous Women of Color. The following is a list of some of the cultural impacts that burnout has on the mental health of women of color:
- Anxiety – Black women are more likely to have social anxiety than other women because we frequently discover that we are the first or the only ones in a professional setting. This can give us the impression that we are scrutinized more closely than others.
- Depression – Depression can be attributed to one of the cultural effects of burnout on the mental health of South and East Asian American women. Sadness, melancholy, and a general lack of interest are all included in this.
- Medical issues – An upset stomach, raised blood pressure, chest pain, insomnia, and recurrent colds are some of the physical symptoms that can result from mental burnout among South and East Asian American women.
Building up mental barriers is one effective ways to address burnout, but not the only one. Participating in pursuits that simultaneously challenge different portions of your brain helps you maintain a healthy mindset.
Instead of devoting all of your essential mental capacity to your task, practicing mindfulness requires you to stop what you’re doing and check in with your body, mind, and spirit.
The best tips for overcoming burnout
- Find something you enjoy doing – Find something to do that will make you feel more whole; ideally, it should be something that will feed your spirit. This could mean you finally start that painting project you’ve been putting off or sign up for those salsa classes you’ve fantasized about.
- Go to therapy – Depression and other mental illnesses are still on the rise in south and east Asian American women, although they generally receive very little care. As a result, unhealthy behaviours like smoking, drinking, or using illegal drugs have increased, raising the mortality rate. Get rid of any baggage from painful past experiences or roadblocks holding you back from reaching your full potential.
- Advocate for your needs and speak up!- Recognizing that your needs matter, even if the issue is at a systemic level can help you build self confidence that you are a valuable asset to your organization. To promote healthy culture, consider becoming an advocate or a commitee member on workplace wellness or diveristy and inclusion initatives. When you feel heard, understood and seen, it can increase your satisfaction with work.
- Connect to other WOC with a similar mindset – Locate groups and organizations that provide support on a social level. This might consist of attending a book club meeting or talking with friends. The additional benefit is the greater possibility of expanding your professional network. There is immense benefits in a feeling of belonging.
- Put self-care first – Schedule breaks during the day and throughout the week. Spend some time engaging in activities that provide mental stimulation, such as reading, keeping a journal, preparing nutritious meals. Practicing mindfulness based stress reduction can be a helpful way to prevent burnout.
If you are a woman of color residing in New Jersey, and are experiencing symptoms of burnout, We Rise Therapy and Wellness is here to help you navigate and learn tools to help you reclaim your mental health, your time and your confidence. We provide telehealth services, contact us when you are ready.