A recent study examining racial disparities reveals that people are more empathetic towards whites than towards blacks, particularly when related to medical treatment or pain. The discovery, known as the racial empathy gap, shows that people, including medical personnel, assume black people feel less pain than white people and helps explain disparities in areas from health care to criminal justice.
A lack of empathy extends to workplaces where men often lack awareness and therefore empathy for the barriers all women face at work. This is because of gender and racial inequality. Similarly, white women often lack understanding and therefore empathy about the challenges women from racial and ethnic minority groups face.
On this episode, my good friend Minda Harts, speaker, founder, and author of “The Memo: What Women of Color Need to Know to Secure a Seat At The Table” will unpack what the empathy gap is, and what white women need to do to advance equality for all women.