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EQUITY AT WORK

Why work-life balance is essential for Black women

In my experience as a Black woman, I have learned that I must embrace rest and ease. I have to set work boundaries in order for me to continue to survive. Very early in my career, I learned this the hard way.

Why work-life balance is essential for Black women

[Photo: Jessica Peterson/Getty Images]

BY AJ Hess8 minute read

Black women, like myself, across the internet are renouncing the push to be everything for everyone and are claiming their “soft life era. The idea is to choose ease over force, flow instead of hustle, and build a life that doesn’t glorify the grind. 

Audre Lorde’s words guide me right now as I work next to my sleeping 4-month old baby, napping in his bassinet. “Caring for myself is not self-indulgence,” wrote Lorde. “It is self-preservation.” After 40 weeks of a high-risk pregnancy and 27 hours of labor, my uterus provided so I could birth a Black son into today’s America. I want to see him grow old. 

Terms such as “soft life” and “work-life balance” are gaining visibility and viral momentum, in part, because they support the appealing declaration that life is not meant to be about toiling at work. When we say we no longer will accept working ourselves to the bone, we reject the trope that we have to be the strong Black woman on the team, in the company, at the office. The false urgency to produce as much as possible as quickly as possible and to answer emails, calls, and Slacks at any hour of the day is neither healthy nor sustainable. 

I believe that for Black women, prioritizing work-life balance is not an option—it’s essential. Here’s why.

My personal experience

In my experience as a Black woman, I have learned that I must embrace rest and ease. I have to set work boundaries in order for me to continue to survive. Very early in my career, I learned this the hard way because my body forced me to. 

Years ago, I was a 7th- and 8th-grade social studies teacher who became a community organizer in Baltimore, where I grew up. Fueled by a deep commitment to be part of the solution and to build a better city for the next generation, I went into my work in the public sector with the mindset that rest is a waste of time.

There was so much work to be done. And other folks around me pushed harder than I did, so I figured I couldn’t slow down. What I really needed was to see the leaders I reported to and learn from them to take a moment to rest, and encourage the team to do the same. 

In the early 2010s, prioritizing your well-being at work wasn’t a popular conversation. So, I kept going and accepted a volunteer opportunity to co-chair a citywide coalition of  more than 20 organizations working together for the betterment of Baltimore’s schools

We were in the middle of a multiyear capital campaign to secure upwards of $1 billion to rebuild and renovate schools. At the same time, I had a full-time job and was going to law school at night. You know you don’t have to do everything at once, I heard in my head. Yes, but when will I ever get the chance to do any of this work? When will I ever get these opportunities again? I argued with myself at the end of yet another 12-hour day. I’ll be fine, I’d say.  

One day, it all just caught up with me. I suffered an eye stroke, lost my vision in that eye, and grew multiple pre-cancerous tumors in my body—one attached to my uterus. Doctors were not sure that my sight would come back or that I’d be able to safely carry a child if I chose to. 

I underwent rounds of experimental eye injections to loosen the blood clot and hopefully restore my vision. Both tumors were surgically removed within months of each other. While on the recovery bed, I told myself: I will never work myself toward death again. If I make it out of here, I’m going to Harvard and earning my doctorate or moving to New Mexico to write books.

To this day I still don’t have definitive answers for why my body responded the way it did. I was a healthy 27-year-old with no history of health concerns. What I do know is that I wasn’t living a life meant to last. I was pushing myself beyond whatever capacity I had. I was trying to be the best worker bee I could to prove that I had what it took to stay in the role . . . and left nothing for myself.

My professional experience

My expertise as a sustainable leadership advisor with more than 15 years of multisector experience has led me to work with some of the most impactful organizations in the world, including the ACLU, International Rescue Committee, Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, Harvard Radcliffe Institute, Faith in Action, and Working Families Party. I’m often invited to guide senior leaders and organizations to implement sustainable-leadership practices that align their teams to collaborate more efficiently, effectively, and empathetically. 

There have been countless studies that document the overwhelmingly harmful experiences Black women endure in the workplace. Lean In’s research shows how Black women face discrimination in hiring and receiving promotions. Gallup has found that Black women do not feel respected nor valued at work. The Brookings Institution has detailed how Black women are still held back at work—even as white women make progress. As Ashton Jackson writes, “Black women are in ‘survival mode’ at work.”

Women, and specifically Black women, are more harshly scrutinized, punished, and berated at work, are expected to exceed expectations with fewer resources and supports, and are systematically underpaid and less likely to be promoted. This is to say, Black women weather a blistering combination of racism and sexism at work—and are often asked to ignore work-life balance.  

And the health outcomes for Black women in the U.S. are concerning, to say the least. Doctors are less likely to believe Black women when we say we are in pain. Black women are three times more likely to die from pregnancy-related complications, many of which are preventable if tended to earlier by medical professionals

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The National Cancer Institute reports that “Black women in the United States are younger at diagnosis, on average, and are more likely to be diagnosed with aggressive or advanced forms of breast cancer . . . [and are] more likely to die from breast cancer than women of all other racial and ethnic groups.”

Simply put, it is unsustainable for our work and life environments to be so overwhelmingly stress-inducing. 

What leaders can do

So what can we do to repair this massive problem? There isn’t a one-size-fits-all solution. We cannot wave a wand and have all this magically improve.

At the organizational level, leaders must take a hard look at the pace they are driving themselves and their teams. Specifically, they must examine the distribution of work and ensure that compensation fully reflects the labor each worker contributes. Then, they must look even closer at the weight of work placed on Black women on their team (if they have any!) and question how they are treated by colleagues, leadership, and the organization as a whole. Chances are those Black women are experiencing a disproportionate amount of work-induced stress and have been undermined and undervalued. If you are in any type of leadership role, whether it be a manager, director, or CEO, you have a responsibility to use your power, privilege, and positioning to address this issue.

At the individual level, we all must take our physical and mental health into our own hands and advocate for what we need—no matter if our coworkers understand or not. We can start by taking small steps toward incorporating a more sustainable pace into our work life. 

Here are a few examples of actions you can make to take your power back and reclaim your time:

1. Take your work emails and notifications off your phone completely. When it’s time to start your job, your laptop will be ready. Until then, your peace is yours and yours alone.

2. Set boundaries with your boss. If your boss starts to pile on work that’s outside the scope of your job, it’s time to set a boundary. You can decline the work, request additional staff to help you, or ask for increased pay for the increased workload. You have options when it comes to setting boundaries.

3. Take all your allotted PTO. Plan ahead for your days off and take your sick days, too. Mental health days are important and necessary to prevent burning out. 

4. If you travel for work, discuss flexibility with your boss. You need to account for those extra hours away from home that take time and energy away from your life. Discuss flexibility options with your boss. Ask if you can come in late on a Monday or have a Friday off without using your PTO.

5. Communicate your preferences early. Some people are early starters. And some are pressure prompted. If your team leans toward a last-minute work style, call it out and call them in. Invite a different way of operating together, one that considers adequate time to do your best work together. 

I have more than learned my lesson that work should never be prioritized over my health. Even though my eyesight is forever distorted and I carry the scars from where my tumors were removed, I eventually did earn my law degree and became Dr. Mumby. Today, I choose to prioritize my well-being and arrange my work life so that I can live a long, full life.

Today, I live a softer life with more balance between my personal life and my professional life so that my little boy can witness me living with him. I am grateful that I have a second chance to live differently and urge other Black women to prioritize their well-being as well. 

Now, New Mexico awaits me. And, I am ready—and able—to write that book. 


Yasmene Mumby, MAT, JD, EdLD, is a sustainable-leadership advisor and founder of The Ringgold, a management and strategy consulting firm for purpose-driven organizations.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

AJ Hess is a staff editor for Fast Company’s Work Life section. AJ previously covered work and education for CNBC. More


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