Confront and Dismantle Discriminatory Workplace Practices

What You'll Learn

  • Learn to recognize and question the prevalence of institutional whiteness, straightness, and gender "norms" in planning practice.
  • Explore ways to support women of color and LGBTQ+ planners by expanding the definition of "professional."
  • Get solutions for confronting and dismantling racist and discriminatory workplace practices that impact planners.

More Course Details

Hear stories about encounters with institutional whiteness and straightness in practice, academia, and the field of planning. What are the impacts of accommodations and sacrifices that are made to be considered "professional" or successful in the mainstream workplace? For men and women of color and LGBTQ+ planners, this includes everything from hairstyles to clothing choices to code-switching (the practice of embracing dominant culture or vernacular among certain groups, like co-workers, and switching to a more authentic self when around friends and family). The goals of this session are to raise awareness and, more importantly, to collectively identify — and commit to — specific actions allies can take in our own workplaces to recognize, confront, and dismantle racist and discriminatory workplace practices; support non-white, non-cis, LGBTQ+ planners; and shape an inclusive, antiracist culture.