The classic on race at work that is even more relevant today than when it was first published. Ella Bell Smith and Stella M. Nkomo describe how white and Black women experience work differently—and how Black women in particular are held back in their careers. Now updated with a new preface and epilogue by the authors, this groundbreaking book shows how these experiences are still present today and provide action items for how organizations can spur change.

• Provides a critical understanding of what first-generation Black women in the workforce experienced throughout their career.


• Offers a view of how Black and white women's experience in the workplace differ—providing a primer for understanding these differences underscore women's experiences today.


• A new Preface provides a look into how these dynamics are still at play now—and how the conversation about women in leadership is changing.


• A new Epilogue provides key takeaways in how organizations can spur change in their organization and combat both gender inequality and systemic racism.

Audience: This is a gender and leadership book, so the primary audience is leaders, and we assume that it will skew female. We also anticipate leaders in the DEI space to be interested in this book, as well as HR. We're hoping to introduce this book to a new gender-reader audience, though we hope some readers of the original will pick it up as well to see the new material.