Seat at the Table: How Hulu’s “The Other Black Girl” Speaks to Workplace “Othering”

Image Courtesy of Hulu

By Inez Maubane Jones

Hulu’s series adaptation of the novel, “The Other Black Girl,” written by Zakiya Dalila Harris, doesn’t hold back. A notable scene cuts to a table fit for a Viking mead hall with its clamorous glee. Clustered around it are ambitious executives sharing expansive plans and fresh ideas. Off in the corner are three assistants. One white woman flanked by two Black women. Depictions of this boardroom kept tugging at me. I knew this tale well. It was my story. 

It began at a strategic planning retreat — long before BLM, “wokeness”, or critical race theory. A fine winter’s day at a fancy country club with white boards, handouts, and finger-licking eats. Board members, staff, moderator, and guest. Only snag? Not enough seats around the table. Literally.

Seeing the awkwardness of barring a guest from this large, strategic gathering, a member of staff would have to sit in the corner. Tag, you’re it! That one person was me. “The [Only] Black Girl.” 

The guest, mortified, informed me (in hushed tones) how inappropriate this was. I assured her that I would be fine. Desperately trying to make peace with it, I buckled up. The moderator began with an icebreaker. Everyone had to comment. It was my turn to speak… Or not. The moderator skipped over me. “Should I say something? Would anyone notice?” A lone individual pointed to me and I shared. 

I had been “othered.” A term defined by Cambridge Dictionary as “the act of treating someone as though they are not part of a group and are different in some way.”

The day dragged on. I felt dismissed, diminished, frustrated, and sad. But I sloughed through it. When I got home later that evening I sobbed, knowing full well I had given away my power, my dignity, and had lowered my self-respect. I later addressed it with my boss but the depth of my pain was not understood. After all, she was at the head of the table. 

A seat at the table means your professional contribution is valued, appreciated, and needed for organizational success. You have a voice. And it’s essential. 

That’s not always the case.

According to the Oct. 2022 LeanIn.Org Women in the Workplace report (its 8th year), women leaders are switching jobs at unprecedented rates – and at higher levels than men in leadership. This information is collected from 333 participating organizations with more than 12 million employees, using surveys of more than 40,000 employees including interviews with women of diverse backgrounds.

One of the primary reasons they’re changing positions is due to workplace challenges including “belittling microaggressions, such as having their judgment questioned, colleagues implying they aren’t qualified for their jobs, or being mistaken for someone more junior,” according to the report. 

These issues are even more pronounced for women of color.

In their report, Asian women and Black women are less likely than white women to say senior colleagues have taken “important sponsorship actions on their behalf, such as praising their skills or advocating for a compensation increase for them.” 

What about a seat at the table?

New York Congressperson Shirley Chisholm is quoted as saying, “If they don’t give you a seat at the table, bring a folding chair.”

That’s what I should have done.

No one can make you feel small unless you allow them. I could have politely requested a seat. I could have left the meeting early. I could have registered my dissatisfaction at the meeting. Things may have become uncomfortable but I would’ve arrived home feeling satisfied with my stand. 

Too often, as women, we cower when faced with this “othering.”  Coupled with that, I was keenly aware of the “angry Black woman” stereotype that even former First Lady Michelle Obama experienced. 

“Since stepping reluctantly into public life, I’ve been held up as the most powerful woman in the world and taken down as an “angry black woman.” I’ve wanted to ask my detractors which part of that phrase matters to them the most— is it “angry” or “black” or “woman”?” she wrote in her memoir, Becoming (2018). 

“I’ve been hurt. I’ve been furious. But mostly, I’ve tried to laugh this stuff off.”

Like Obama, as women, particularly women of color, we tend to be careful in the workplace. Just get along. Don’t rock the boat. Let it pass. 

“When [an employee] attempts to speak up about unethicalities, she becomes a target of retaliatory workplace bullying (gossip, gaslighting, manipulation, sabotage, and exclusion,” said Dorothy Suskind, PhD. in her April 23, 2023 Psychology Today article entitled, “Workplace Bullying as a Moral Injury Wound.”

This is why so many stay silent. 

To move forward, Suskind suggests identifying internal values, speaking about violations, and discovering new communities where the individual can do productive work in a culture that aligns with her moral code.

The protagonist, Nella, in Hulu’s series did just that. And finally got her seat at the table. It was, well…complicated. 

I too got my seat when I headed the organization two years later. The next time we were at the same fancy country club for a strategic meeting, I couldn’t help but chuckle to myself. The view certainly was different at the head of the table. 

And no one sat in the corner. 

“Skol!” I cheer along with Vikings.

INEZ MAUBANE JONES is a journalist, editor, and children’s book author of The Contest who lives on Bainbridge Island, WA. Peruse www.joneswrite.com.