As a woman researcher with a career at a premier health institution, my life trajectory has been filled with tremendous opportunities but substantial challenges.

My role at Massachusetts General Hospital has blessed me with the chance to lead a dynamic and highly productive Disparities Research Unit (DRU), made of talented, wicked smart women and amazingly supportive and brilliant men. From the beginning, so many of my women colleagues made an intentional effort to make me feel included and valued, from inviting me to dinners and asking me to showcase our DRU work. It is in these interpersonal encounters and social messaging that I felt a sense of belonging at Mass General and positive reinforcement of being considered a leader.

Every woman should have this opportunity, made possible by having sponsors that can link you to career success.

In a recent Harvard Business Review article from March 2021, Bradley Smith describes the importance of sponsorship for Black women to enter the C-suite; that is, CEO positions of Fortune 500 companies. She calls it the secret sauce of career mobility to the highest rank.

Being a sponsor is more than being a mentor. Sponsors provide psychological support, visibility, connections and social capital to boost the career progression of a person. Bradley Smith argues that the reason no Black woman has been a CEO in a Fortune 500 company before 2021 was that they lacked sponsorship.

As a Latina woman, I have received substantial sponsorship, from women like Ann Hohman, PhD, MPH, Katrina Armstrong, MD, and Glorisa Canino, PhD, who opened the door to these opportunities. They connected me to leadership positions, nominated me for awards, introduced me to professional networks, and when I doubted myself, reminded me to hang in there.

Yet today the expectations of women, especially women of color, are exponential. The demands are greater than the time needed to execute them, and are markedly larger than is humanly possible. Not to mention that, if you are a woman of color, you better be batting .500 and have extra energy to survive the minority tax and the woman’s tax in academia. Your odds of being named to a promotions or search committee–or to mentor other minority scholars–just more than tripled.

As a professional woman I, as many other women, was sandwiched between primary responsibility for children and elder parents, in a stressful career, and trying to be good partner. The juggling of balls gets harder and harder because, as women, we prefer to say yes (rather than no, like many men) to the demands of service and mentoring; to postpone our projects to make sure others achieve theirs; or to ensure the well-being of those around us.

This is why, in a recent division of labor to develop department plans, I was not surprised that the group assigned to address research was mostly of men, while the one for service was almost exclusively of women.

Women also contend with more bias in having their ideas considered or followed, or their opinions asked for. Being an assertive, no-nonsense woman, one that is willing to be outspoken, I have been labeled “the squeaky wheel” and won strong criticism.

But women also are incredibly supportive of each other, creating a sisterhood that has no bounds.

During Women’s History Month, let me say how you, women across Mass General are an inspiration. We are aware that we stand on your shoulders to be where we are.

Many women have been willing to make incredible sacrifices to propel our careers, and I thank them today.

Let us make sure we support each other and create a network of sponsorship that can catapult the careers of women at Mass General, but with the emotional support that will keep them healthy and vibrant.

References:
Bradley Smith (2021). How a Lack of Sponsorship Keeps Black Women Out of the C-Suite. https://hbr.org/2021/03/how-a-lack-of-sponsorship-keeps-black-women-out-of-the-c-suite