1

Chapter 2: Literature Review

2.1. Introduction
Women in corporate America experience a considerable amount of implications,

ranging from gender inequality, discrimination, and stereotypes. However, being an African

American woman introduces a new level of complexities emerging from these challenges

compounded with racism. The infusion of these issues leads to the development of barriers,

which often affect their ability to ascent to senior leadership positions within the labor

market. Roberson, King, and Hebl (2020) examine the intricate nature of gender inequality in

the workplace fuelled by the large male and white population in corporate America. Recent

data provided by the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) shows that the federal Senior

Executive Services employment is both white and male-dominated. Therefore, while

significant advances have been made toward gender equality,  Senior Executive Services

employment in the United States lacks diversity in gendered opportunities. According to

OPM's data, the sector is largely male and white, with men occupying about 66.2 % and

about 78.8% of these employees being white (Buble, 2021). From this information, it is

arguable that leadership in the federal government is not diversified since African American

women are largely underrepresented, affecting effective decision-making.

Nevertheless, while about 43.4% of women are employed under the federal

government, they still experience marginalization as the minority gender (Buble, 2021).

Roberson, King, and Hebl (2020) state that for over half a century, federal and private

employers have established effective measures aimed at reducing the injustices associated

with gender and racial discrimination against women in hiring and promotion (p 40). Since

this issue presents concerns on the performance, inclusivity, and diversity within federal

employment, this research has identified mentorship as an effective approach. Mentorship

programs designed for women, particularly African Americans, have gained popularity as
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adequate measures for addressing challenges that the male-dominated Senior Executive

Services presents. Several studies have been conducted in efforts to investigate this concern

and how mentorship develops a balance. These studies have established adequate literature

examining and informing the adequacy of adopting mentorship programs to enhance the

inclusivity and diversity of leadership within the coveted senior executive positions in the

labor market. According to de Vries, Webb, and Eveline (2006), mentoring programs for

women are considered essential for leadership development (p 574).

In their study, Creswell and Garrett (2008) state that an effective literature review

should develop an analysis of various literature related to a given study, engage in the open

dialogue of the issue addressed, explore the gaps that exist in the literature pertaining to the

study, inform on the importance of conducting future research on the field, and achieve this

purpose by developing an engaging and comparison oriented focus of previous literature on

the topic. Based on this context, this literature review aims at utilizing previous literature on

this issue to address the purpose of the general qualitative phenomenological study, which is

to explore the impact of mentorship in addressing the underrepresentation of African

American women in Senior Executive Services positions within the context of federal

employment.

Literature Review Outline

In the efforts of analyzing the obtained information, the literature review will follow

the outline presented here. The first section will cover an introduction of the issue being

evaluated, focusing on the challenges faced by African American women when it comes to

federal employees into the top positions. The review will further discuss the methods

employed in retrieving the information and then examine its problem statement with regards

to the general study. After evaluating the problem statement, the study will develop a review
 3

of the literature on the mentorship context by discussing its meaning and how it relates to the

central topic.

2.1.1. Literature Search Method

The literature search approach utilized to find relevant references for this study

included printed book searches and digital or online search engines. The major electronic

resource for discovering comparable peer-reviewed publications was the university's library

and Google Scholar, a  search engine for identifying academic publications across archives

and fields. After searching the literature from these sources, the databases identified Sage

Journals, ProQuest Central, Academic Search Complete, Taylor & Francis, and EBSCOhost.

To identify the relevant literature, I used the keywords, Mentorship, African American

Women, Senior Executive Services, federal employment, and underrepresentation

2.1.2. Problem Statement

According to Erskine et al. ( 2021), several studies have explored the factors

contributing to the historical underrepresentation of women in senior executive positions.

Among the key factors identified include discrimination, racism, and stereotypes. Further,

Stewart (2016) notes that these challenges persist regardless of the various labor laws

implemented and the qualification of the affected women through education and leadership

experience. Based on these issues, this study seeks to identify the effects of mentoring on

career advancement for AAW serving in the U.S. Federal government's Senior executive

Positions (SES). Women occupied 126 (23.6%) of 535 seats in the 116th U.S. Congress. In

the Senate, women were represented by 25 (25.0%) of 100 seats. In the House of

Representatives, women had 101 (23.2%) of the 435 seats (Center for American Women and

Politics, 2020). White people continue to dominate the SES with over 78.8% of all federal

positions. The remaining 21.2% is shared amongst the minority groups, depicting the
 4

widespread socio-economic difference between the AAW (about 11% of all SES) and white

residents.

While women have made considerable progress in obtaining some executive-level

positions in corporate America, AAW occupies only about 11.7% of the board seats, and

besides, their representation as CEOs has steadily declined (Sawyer, 2017). Lack of adequate

mentoring contributes to low achievement in political positions, and this study aims at

understanding critical concepts in the claim. Semi-structured interviews will be conducted to

acquire information from participants -women who have served in the government's

executive, legislature, and civil servants in various departments. Thus, the insights achieved

will be used to develop an evidence-based conclusion of mentorship benefits, challenges, and

recommendations for future generations.

2.1.1. The Mentorship Context

In their study, Garvey, Stokes, and Megginson (2014) state that mentorship is an

essential resource that enhances an individuals' success in their career building and

development process. Kuratko et al. (2021) further note that mentoring has become widely

recognized for its impact in leveraging personal and organizational development. As such, if

applied contextually, it can be used to advance various goals towards professional

development. Mentorship encompasses planned capacity building or development of a person

considered junior and less experienced in their career (Friberg et al., 2021). The mentor is

tasked with providing psychosocial support to the junior and leading them to become better in

whichever manner desired. Career development is an all-rounded approach involving

sponsorship, exposure to real work situations, protection against related risks and coaching,

and psychosocial support, which aids in developing an understanding of self through

acceptance, role-modeling, confirmation, and friendship (Kuratko et al., 2021).

 5

Mentorship can either be achieved informally or formally. Informal mentorship

involves an agreement between the mentor and mentee that the mentee will trust them to

counsel or teach them (Parfitt and Rose 2020). As such, their interactions are no limited

within the boundaries of an office or institution. Such interactions may also be either work or

non-work-related. The role of the mentor, therefore, is to influence and socialize the mentee.

The mentor further provides the mentee with support, guidance, and feedback based on their

knowledge about the subject matter (Reis and Grady 2020). Thus, the mentee can learn from

their mentors on improvements to make and maintain the gained improvements.

On the other hand, formal mentorship is a relationship where a third party authorizes

an agreement between a mentor and mentee to enter into a mentorship relationship (Parfitt

and Rose, 2020). Similarly, the mentee's role is, therefore, to leverage the avenues of trust.

Trust such created to form an environment where the mentor exercises counsel or instructions

necessary to reach their full potential (Reis and Grady 2020).

Mentorship outcomes can be understood from the context of what the mentee stands

to gain. Such gain may include support, expert advice, and knowledge. It can also be

understood as the successful knowledge transfer, reflection, and construction of knowledge.

According to Bradford et al. (2017), mentorship outcomes may include the successful

transfer of competencies, abilities, and skills. Therefore, it can be understood that mentoring

outcomes may include knowledge, expert advice, competencies, skills, and abilities.

While mentorship benefits can be elucidated from a transformation perspective, a

direct association between the mentorship relationship and the mentorship outcome or effects

has always remained a mirage (Hu et al., 2020). Nonetheless, mentorship has been described

as one of the key career development and advancement tools in and out of organizational

setups. According to Reis and Grady (2020), the broader initiatives underpinning the need

and providing mentorship services, i.e., better learner achievement and advancement in
 6

career, is normally difficult to prove as there is no relationship between learning and

mentoring or career development and mentoring. Kunaka and Moos (2019) argue that the

impact of mentoring on skill, knowledge, or attitude cannot be tested easily. In a study

conducted by, Midigo, Omia, and Mwanda (2018), mentorship was described as an

engagement that promotes career advancement, leading to success in chosen pathways. In

their Study, Midigo, Omia, and Mwanda (2018) established that mentorship enhanced

individuals' attitudes during their early career state towards their careers.

Other studies compared informal and formal mentoring in different ways. Jeffers and

Mariani (2017) analyzed the relationship between informal and formal mentoring and

performance at work. In the study, it was found that through informal mentoring, there is

psychosocial support and development, leading to a better understanding of role expectations

at work. A study conducted by Hu et al. (2020) established that career-related support and

better salaries were realized in informal mentoring. On the contrary, Du and Wang (2017) did

not establish a major difference between informal and formal mentoring role modeling and

career-related functions.

2.1.2. Race as a Social Construction

Racism has become a social construct (an idea created and facilitated by a group of

people and become acceptable in society) in the United States. Whites in interracial dark

white relationships or connections often experience a move by comprehending their racial

character (Tourse et al., 2018). In a general public where being white (paying little heed to

one's financial class foundation or different disservices) implies carrying on with an existence

with white skin advantages, it is assumed as protected, able, and noncriminal. Whites who

start to encounter segregation given their association with somebody of another race or who

consistently see their friends and family fall prey to racial separation may start not to feel

white presently.
 7

Their lived reality doesn't line up with the social importance of their whiteness. The

issue with individuals who contend for characteristic racial inadequacy isn't that they lie

about intelligence level tests' after-effects. However, they are unsophisticated about those

tests, and others like them when they shouldn't be; they misconstrue the ramifications of what

those tests would demonstrate regardless of whether trustworthy. They neglect to locate the

reasonable, logical, and political reaction to inquiries of race and insight. In contrast to race

and racial personality, the political, social, and monetary effects of race, rather than having

someplace in racial gatherings, are not liquid.

Tourse et al. (2018) also postulate that racial implications for non-European

gatherings have stayed stable. For no gathering has this the truth been more genuine than

African-Americans. Many views as the good subtleties of a developing multiracial populace

and an expanding number of interracial relationships don't foretell as promising a future for

African plummet, people, as it accomplishes for different gatherings of shading. Dissimilar to

their multiracial friends of Asian and Local American lineage who participate in the general

view of themselves as sharing in more practical interactions with monoracial whites than with

Asians or Local Americans. Separately, multiracial grown-ups with a dark foundation

experience bias and associations in manners that are considerably more firmly lined up with

individuals from the African American population (Lin, 2018).

Indeed, the results of the social, political, and monetary implications of race are

profound to the point that whites who wind up oppressed dependent on racial intermediaries;

for example, names ought to have significant race segregation claims dependent on such

direct. In entirety, the way race is a social development, characterized by markers, such as

skin tone, hair surface, eye shape, lineage, personality execution, and even name, doesn't

imply that racial characterizations are liberated. Over 50 years prior, Congress instituted the
 8

most extensive anti-discrimination enactment ever, the Social liberties Demonstration of

1964 (Lin, 2018).

After 50 years, similar racial imbalance holes remain or have become further (Saito,

2020). Today, African-Americans' joblessness rate stays more than twofold that for whites;

state-funded schools are more isolated now than they were during the 1950s (Tourse et al.,

2018). Daftary (2018) gives a more detailed explanation of subtle racism and its invention as

a social construct in the United States. He begins by introducing a construct as a fake concept

based on fallacious ideologies rather than scientific facts. He argues that this precept means

that race is a side-effect of social ideas instead of a fixed natural contrast (Daftary, 2018).

As opposed to the prevailing account that the human race is a consistently fixed and

present reality, social development postulation indicates that the human race is social

innovation continually modified and controlled, dependent on the necessities of a

predominantly white gathering in America. According to Mbembe (2017), the social

development postulation recognizes actual contrasts that incorporate the shade of an

individual's skin, constitution, the surface of the hair, and so forth. While simultaneously

identifying thoughtfulness regarding how these little organic contrasts are biased also

augmented contrasted with the other a lot bigger organic and other similarities and contrasts

between people.

In any case, primary race scholars don't deny reject the true political, social, and

economic impacts of a race on the existence of the favored or abused. Although the human

race is recognized as development socially, primary human race scholars likewise perceive

real and substantial ramifications in prejudice and race in America. The impacts of prejudice

are evident since the commencement of American colonization. They are identified through

annihilation, subjection, racial laws, more inconspicuous types of racism found in current law

and social practice, and monetary persecution (Mbembe 2017; Saito, 2020).
 9

2.1.3. Intersectionality
Intersectionality is utilized to portray the exceptional exchange between covering, what's

more, conceivably clashing characters (Daftary, 2018). The build recognizes that social

classifications or characters (for example, race, class, sex, sexual direction, and so forth) are

not particular components, yet somewhat interconnected and commonly fortifying segments

that are consistently connecting inside the harsh arrangement of the U.S. According to Chou

et al. (2018), the idea of intersectionality sets that an individual is made from numerous

personalities (examples being: race, class, sex, sexual direction) that are either advantaged or

minimized in some random social circumstance.

Every extraordinary blend of personalities makes an individual encounter the world—

and each social connection—in an unexpected way. Fundamentally, no two individuals are

the same. Although individuals may share various social personalities, they have divergent

educational encounters and personalities that cause them to encounter the world

unexpectedly. Therefore, intersectional and essentialism contexts state that two people cannot

be equals or share similar world experiences (Chou et al., 2018).

Given the critical race hypothesis' accentuation on the centrality of prejudice in the

U.S.'s society, it is essential to analyze how racial imbalances are affected by different parts

of personalities and social structures while including race. Intersectionality relates to a

scientific system that perceives the interrelated and complex nature of sex, sexuality, class,

race, and more extensive force relations. All things being equal of looking at these as

discrete, intersectionality perceives that they can't be perceived as disconnection and

commonly sway each other (Chou et al., 2018).

The idea has more chronicled sources, with some early. African American researchers

are pushing for activism that recognizes race and sex, which was more uncommon than

zeroing in on one development (Daftary, 2018). Explicit to CRT, intersectionality includes

 10

covering and crossing social life-related ways to primary and fundamental mistreatment and

separation (Chou et al., 2018).

Kolivoski (2020) contends that intersectionality is an idea that empowers us to

perceive the way that apparent bunch enrollment can make individuals powerless against

different types of predisposition. Yet, because we are all the while individuals of numerous

gatherings, our unpredictable personalities can shape the way we experience that

predisposition. Accordingly, intersectionality considers the multidimensional nature and

inside gathering heterogeneity of subgroups of individuals. For example, how one encounters

prejudice may contrast dependent on one's sex or the various sexism encounters between

white ladies and shading ladies.

One advantage of examining issues through an intersectional focal point is the

capacity to catch complex social issues more (Kolivoski, 2020). In African American's

mentoring context, critical race theory utilizes intersectionality to ensure that cultural

heterogeneity is prioritized in creating and maintaining long-term program relationships. The

integration of white mentors requires a critical understanding of all intersectional dimensions

such as background, economic status, and social beliefs that would be essential in enhancing

relationships and debunking stereotypes that hinder the realization of mentoring goals.

2.2 Mentoring, Mentorship and African American Women in Senior Executive Services

2.2.1. Mentoring
Mentoring is a relationship in a specific role or organization where a more

experienced individual (mentor) provides psychological, motivational, and role-modeling

support to a less experienced person (mentee) (Agholor et al., 2017). Researchers will, in

general, concur on the fundamental characteristics of mentoring. However, debate the

ramifications of their formal and explicit articulation(s). In its most essential structure,

general agreement recommends that tutoring is a constructive relationship grounded in and

 11

formed by philosophical, recorded, and sociological elements (Dominguez and Kochan,

2020). Subsequently, there is a fundamental propensity to exemplify mentoring as a

connection between more seasoned, more experienced mentors and more young and less

experienced mentees. These connections are regularly thought to fill different needs, for

example, building up the mentee's profession, cultivating their self-awareness, or

empowering the person in question to adjust to another social setting (Haddock-Millar, 2017).

Scientists who analyze the underpinnings of mentoring‐related research in some

detail, notwithstanding, reliably note a general contradiction about how it ought to be

characterized. Essentially, these desultory inconsistencies recommend that, while mentoring

is systematic on natural levels, it, at last, has different definitions that do not have a typical

system (Dominguez and Kochan, 2020). Mentoring is carried out as a program comprising

structured goals and projected outcomes in physical, behavioral, and socio-economic levels.

Mentoring is achieved through mutual agreement or formal assignment that progresses

throughout the program. The mentee aims at attaining knowledge and skills derived from the

mentor. On the other hand, the mentor gains social recognition from peers, and sometimes

financial benefits are involved (Connolly, 2017).

Mentorship transcends past altruistic motivation and social recognition, according to

(Banwell et al., 2019). Mentors agree with increased self-awareness and career progression

through problem-solving and decision-making competence derived from the program. To

effectively mentor peers, an individual engages more research and behavioral change to

conform with the leader he or she is. This type of change results in the earlier achievement of

personal goals and career progression than those not engaged in any mentoring programs. To

achieve prestigious social rank amongst peers, mentors engage professional conduct,

workplace competencies, and enthusiasm in disseminating knowledge and skills to their

mentees.
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2.2.2. Mentoring Programs

Mentoring theory distinguishes between differences across mentoring experiences in

terms of the mentor, such as peer mentoring versus supervisor mentoring (Janssen et al.,

2018). Other aspects found in mentoring theory include the timing and duration of the

mentoring, inclusive of a one-time versus perpetual, at the beginning of a job versus later, and

the focus of the mentoring given a particular task versus career development (Arnesson and

Albinsson, 2017). Also, mentoring theory perceived the motivation for mentoring, meaning

knowledge-based versus context-based. The mentorship source is considered a mentee-

initiated versus mentor-initiated, formal versus informal (Janssen et al., 2018).

Throughout history, mentoring has focused on specific developing techniques based

on a fundamental desire to create the whole person, not just a single emphasis (Irby et al.,

2017; Jeong et al., 2018). For example, with AAW working in governmental positions, the

most successful of mentorships would be those which provide lessons all-encompassing and

beyond just the strictures of their current job duties. The most common techniques used for

mentoring services include sowing, harvesting, showing, accompanying, and catalyzing.

These techniques encompass core skills for partnering mentors and protégées. Utilizing such

core skills ranges from learning how to listen actively to identifying goals, how to inspire

others, and how to take constructive criticism (Irby et al., 2017).

2.2.3. Mentoring Policies in the Federal Government

The federal government has specific flash and joint mentoring programs under

various departments (such as Energy, Commerce, Labor, etc.) and agencies such as the

USAID, Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation, National Institutes of Health, and

Environmental Protection Agency (Byars-Winston et al., 2020). Even though the federal

government has established these programs, underlying factors such as AAW discrimination
 13

during the recruitment and cultural disparities make it hard for women to achieve SES

positions at these institutions.

The widespread shortage of AAW employees and SES in the federal government

means high competition to gain mentors from the shortlist of qualified black women in

service. Again, the subtle racism in recruitment makes it hard for aspiring AAW to acquire

positions in the federal government, leading to a recurring shortage of AAW mentors.

However, the Department of Defense (DoD), where 41% of service persons are people of

color, but SES positions are still dominated by whites (Mitchell, 2020). AAW opts to work in

the DoD, where there is more opportunity at recruitment even though the organizational

culture still restricts movement above the military ranks.

Joo et al. (2018) report that the federal government provides over 70% of mentoring

opportunities to AAW in the United States. Mentoring in these federal settings occurs in four

main phases: preparation, negotiating, enabling growth, and closure (Banwell et al., 2019).

During the initiation phase, both the mentor and mentee share background information and

define program goals. Roles and expectations are clarified to align project objectives with

individual capability.

Psychosocial mentoring alludes to encouraging AAW SES representatives' certainty

and work viability by giving an excellent example, guiding, and training (Banwell et al.,

2019), though vocation mentoring alludes to instrumental help for professional success.

Impressions of psychosocial tutoring are substantially more bound to the boss's individual,

though professional mentoring is well-suited to producing the association's views. A new

meta-investigation by Van Vianen et al. (2018) indicated that psychosocial tutoring has a

more grounded impact on the relationship quality with the boss than professional tutoring,

while vocation mentoring has a more grounded sway on representative connection with the

association. Subsequently, this study revolves around AAW's career tutoring as this type of
 14

ability improvement empowers more extensive authoritative encounters past the relationship

with the immediate mentor.

Mentors who give professional mentoring give their workers testing tasks and

learning openings, help them accomplish their objectives, and acquire contact with influential

individuals in the association. Banwell et al. (2019) demonstrated that difficult tasks and

learning openings encourage an SES representative's promotability as assessed by the mentor.

Promotability involves administrators' view of a person's limits and ability to adequately

perform at more elevated levels (Joo et al., 2018). For singular SES representatives, ideal

promotability assessments make better openings for genuine professional success.

Formal mentoring programs vary from casual tutoring in that formal mentoring

connections are overseen by the association and, for the most part, have a predetermined

term. Paradoxically, informal tutoring creates between a guide and a protégé who have

common interests and is more liable to include kinships and backing between the mentor and

the protégé. Formal mentoring connections are allowed, and large have a more explicit

reason, for example, authoritative direction or initiative turn of events (Joo et al., 2018). Be

that as it may, because formal tutoring connections will, in general, be of a more limited span

and regularly have a more precise reason than informal mentoring relationships.

Rekalde et al. (2017) recommended that more exploration should be done to catch the

potential advantages of formal mentoring connections on more prompt results. It is

recommended that a significant and more prompt result is the protégé's inspiration to lead,

especially when administration advancement is a motivation behind the mentoring

relationship. Inspiration to lead has been characterized as a singular contrast develop that

influences a pioneer's or prospective mentor choice to expect authority preparing jobs and

duties and influences their power of exertion at driving and perseverance as a lead.
 15

Van Wingerden (2018) states that work's mental weightiness addresses the intellectual

valuation of work as vast and essential by an employee. Even though individuals shift in their

realistic view of significant work since they contrast in character, each representative

qualities the importance of their work somewhat (for instance, calling direction). The

experience of significant work by representatives emphatically influences individual and

business-related results (Van Wingerden, 2018). For instance, research exhibited that

representatives who see their work as necessary are, in addition to other things, more

dedicated to the association and less inclined to leave the association.

Carr et al. (2017) believe that employees in all formal mentoring programs are more

drawn in and more gainful than their peers who don't consider their work as especially

significant. Considerably more in this way, the experience of an absence of meaningful work

has been connected to negative results like expanded negativity. Although the benefits of

encountering important work are, close to nothing is known about the cycles through which

important work impacts these positive or negative results.

According to Wingerden (2018), an answer could lie in the clear expectation that

accompanies accomplishing meaningful work. Many years of examination on representative

strengthening have relentlessly underlined the significance of meaningful work and its effect

on a mentee's degree of natural inspiration (Carr et al., 2017). The view of work as necessary,

in blend with self-appreciation adequacy, self-assurance, and the perceived outcomes, leads

to mental strengthening, which triggers proactive practices at the workplace.

2.2.4. Barriers of Mentoring

Several barriers to mentorship have been identified. In the context of an organization, one of

such barriers is the organizational culture. The workplace executive may hinder the

implementation of proper mentoring programs if they are unsupportive to the newcomers and

if the organizational culture does not accommodate Mentorship (Neely et al., 2017).
 16

According to Paula and Grīnfelde (2018), organizational culture influences productivity,

organizational behavior, and employees' self-esteem. Therefore, mentors must introduce

novice teachers to school traditions, values, internal rules, and order, contributing to teachers'

more successful professional socialization and retention in school and the teaching

profession.

The other barrier to mentorship is gender stereotypes. Gender stereotyping in careers may

hinder mentorship programs' nurturing if players feel threatened by the other. In most

circumstances, female employees face a lot of gender-based stereotyping if they work in a

male-dominated field (Aikens et al., 2017). In such situations, it becomes hard to attract

potential mentors and build meaningful relationships amidst gender stereotyping.

Studies have also documented racism as a barrier to mentorship. Since the slavery era,

African Americans have become subject to subtle racism and become profiled in various

socio-economic contexts (Byars-Winston et al., 2020). The prejudice breeds mistrust and

non-collaborations with the so-called racist groups. Similarly, social and economic

discrimination hinders social connections and makes employees build hatred towards

potential mentors (Nelson et al., 2021). Alienation and prejudice of any kind demote

mentoring steps taken by aspiring individuals and lead to broken relationships.

On other fronts, lack of significant socialization, professional networks, and mentors poses a

significant issue. Mentees from minority groups compete to attract and retain an impressive

mentor (Espino and Zambrana, 2019). Mentees must display professional conduct and a high

level of workplace commitment. Additionally, some settings do not allow adequate

interactions between junior and senior staff, meaning that aspiring mentees will not attract

mentors. Further, Issues surrounding gender and ethnic dissimilarities with those in positions

of power develop barriers. Women face challenges creating mentoring relationships because

most executive positions are being held by men (Robinson et al., 2017). The gender disparity
 17

creates a gap that affects entry-level female employees who might be comfortable getting

mentored by same-gender senior employees. At other times, cultural background such as

ethnicity determines workplace interactions and socialization. A multicultural workplace may

be challenging to some people who are not culturally competent or are dealing with

conservative ethnic groups with divergent beliefs.

The lack of core organizational values predisposes AAW aspiring to be leaders into

becoming victims of failure (Cross et al., 2019). Most White-dominated organizations in the

United States have been disclosed to harbor superiority values and promote prejudice on their

African American subjects. Such organizational failures result in poor job classification and

role assignment leading to low motivation among employees. Consequently, efforts to

acquire mentors in those organizations do not bear fruit, especially if AAW are perceived as

incompetent and allocated junior positions without advancement prospects. For some women

not already in employment, disparities manifest in the hiring process. Social inequalities in

racism and discrimination hinder AAW's absorption into potential workplaces to acquire

better mentors and progressive positions (Mitchell, 2020).

2.3. African American Women, Leadership and Mentorship

The rise of feminism movements and other human rights revolutionists have

underscored the challenges that, hitherto, women have faced to realize their full potential in

participation in development. Besides educational advances made specifically to women,

mentorship has enabled women to achieve greater heights in their careers. Studies have

shown consistently the important function that mentorship programs have on women's career

development. A study conducted by Barrett (2020) established that women placed under

mentorship programs advanced faster in their careers. In another study conducted by

 18

Moreland and Thompson (2019), female leaders who underwent mentorship in their careers

in educational institutions found it easier to solve leadership roles' challenges.

2.3.1. African American Women and Leadership Perspectives

African American women have experienced considerable challenges in their fight for

equality and recognition as suitable leaders in various Senior Executive Services (SES)

positions. Several studies have been conducted on this context, with (Glass & Cook, 2017;

Skaggs, Stainback, & Duncan, 2012), arguing that across history, women, particularly

African Americans, have encountered numerous implications undermining their interests to

pursue leadership positions in the labor market. Although, they are educated and qualified for

positions in these senior positions, they are often perceived as incompetent,which leads to

their ridicule and critisms should they ascend to positions of authority. According to

Beckwith et al (2016), the inequity experienced by African American women in their pursuit

of leadership in senior executive positions is largely influenced by the male implemented

workplace culture. In their study, which explores the context of African American

underrepresentation in senior executive positions, Beckwith et al (2016) note that women

underrepresentation is as a result of a culture written by men for men. Subsequently, the

authors utilize effective literature in addressing this issue, for instance, as cited from Catalyst

in 2015, the percentage of African American women in senior executive positions, such as

CEOs in Fortune 500 companies, was only 4% (Beckwith, Carter, & Peters, 2016 p 117).

Kriebel (2020) states that while diversity is largely advocated for within the

workplace, senior positions are still largely dorminated by white males, which is shown by

the leadership among Fortune 500 companies, where 93% of the CEO are predominantly

white males. In a study that is centred on the examination and evaluation of this issue,

Kriebel (2020) uses previous literature and credible statistaical data to analyze the challenges

African American women face in SES due to the lack of diversity. Acccording to Allen and
 19

Lewis (2016), leadership roles occupied by underrepresented groups, such as African

American women, have generally been consigned to low-level organizational posts, with

significantly lower scores holding mid-level posts and considerably fewer occupying senior-

level ones. African American women's ascension into management positions has been

influenced by eurocentric practices of discrimination that restricted them to low-level status

in organizations. African American women rose to positions of authority not because of the

power that came with it, but instead it was their job to offer the scant resources they owned to

aid others in need. African American women's goals were the methods to achieve advocacy

operations not the degrees of authority and expertise they obtained (DeLany & Rogers,

2004). Gamble (2016) investigated the professions of physician-activists Drs. Dorothy

Ferebee and Virginia Alexander, who illustrated how African American women leaders in the

beginning of the twenty-first century utilised public health to improve the well-being of

African Americans and provided understanding of the challenges faced by women of color

working in the health care industry.  

Mentorship is necessary to all women in their career development. Mentorship allows

women to gain advice and career developments, role models, advice on how to balance work/

family duties, support, career guidance, and strategies to overcome gender barriers (Cohen,

2018). Other studies have also shown that women require role models to guide them on

career advancement, regardless of the barriers (Nowiński and Haddoud 2019). It is necessary

to encourage the leadership entities, look at the barriers to women's career advancement, seek

role models and mentors, get support, and deal with stereotyped behavior towards women in

leadership (Cohen, 2018; Nowiński & Haddoud 2019).

Studies have also indicated that women face difficulties in getting mentors in their

career paths. A study conducted by Ellinas et al. (2019) established that there were greater

barriers for women to obtain a mentor compared to men. The study also established that a
 20

possible reason is the availability of few women mentors, which necessitates women to form

cross-gender relationships, leading to more barriers compared to same-gender relationships.

Top positions in the society are dominated by men, making women have additional, making it

difficult for them to initiate Mentorship (Hu et al., 2020).

Personal and relational barriers have also been documented to limit women's mentorship.

In academic institutions' academic context, the often lower status and profile of the limits of

the female academic access to quality mentors among women in such environments (Ellinas

et al., 2019). Further, women often find it difficult and time-consuming to find a suitable

mentor with whom they share similar interests and ambitions. Besides, some men find it

difficult to criticize a woman (Hu et al., 2020).

2.3.2 AAW's Mentoring Programs

Most studies propose that when AAW get higher career positions, it plays an excellent

example of a mentor guiding them towards realizing their full potential. For example, the

process of mentoring assists in building certainty and offering the required help within a

particular field. Four significant explorations analyzed how tutors add to the accomplishment

of AAW. (Aminian, 2018) directed an examination with the reason for operationalizing the

idea of mentoring as a nuanced approach and endeavor to advance the upward directions of

AAW 33 in PWIs.

Aminian (2018) states that Zellers, Howard, and Barcic (2008) led an examination in

which they evaluated mentoring projects to perceive how tutoring has advanced in the way of

thinking and practice in the United States in both business and academe and to furnish

understanding on the difficulties related with the investigation of mentoring. They likewise

endeavored to recognize viable staff tutoring program models for advanced education

organizations looking to cultivate scholastic societies receptive to current and future

 21

employees' various professional advancement needs. They found that double measurements

in tutoring and the all-encompassing discovering that happens inside its setting are apparent.

Johnson-Bailey and Cervero led a comparative report on multifaceted tutoring

connections that are destinations for battling on the issues of class, race, and sexual

orientation (Aminian, 2018). They examined the mentors/protégé relationship for

microcosmic understanding into power relations inside the Western culture. Johnson-Bailey

and Cervero utilized the case of their tutoring relationships in delineating six issues

confronting scholars engaged with such connections: 1) the trust among protégé and tutor; 2)

recognized and unnoticed prejudice; 3) dangers and permeability to the minority staff; 4)

paternalism and force; 5) benefits to protégé and tutor; and 6) the two-edged blade in the

concept of otherness to an institute (Aminian, 2018). They investigated the different variables

that impact the psychosocial and formative parts of mentoring and concluded that social

relationships and psycho-emotional readiness were the most important constructs in the

exercise.

2.4.1 Perspective on the Development of a Relationship with Mentors

The mentees' attitudes towards mentoring relationships determine the level of outcomes.

According to Guramatunhu-Mudiwa and Angel (2017), underrepresentation leads to

challenges like the lack of similar race mentors and inadequate cultural and social capital,

necessary to building a supportive network important to survival in the academic world. In

the study, Guramatunhu-Mudiwa and Angel (2017) found out that most AAW are positive

about same-race mentoring relationships because they feel comfortable and adequately

accommodated.

The mentees also disliked White-led mentoring programs due to privilege issues and

discrimination based on cultural disparities and individual experience. While these projects

are in line with those that indicate that mentors don't need to be the same gender/race as the
 22

mentees, it also shows the persistent color under-representation (Alston et al.,2017).

Historical legacies and social tensions are common in White-led mentoring programs causing

negative attitudes that lead to loss of commitment and high drop-out rates.

Additionally, the risks and vulnerabilities involved in cross-racial and cross-cultural

mentoring programs were found to be higher than in same-race programs. AAW is skeptical

of being discriminated against by mentors on cultural ideologies, leading to less participation

and opposing perspectives on cross-racial programs. However, views on African American

relationships in same-race mentoring are positive. There is mutual respect and benefit since

both groups feel reasonably accommodated and share historical prejudices they aim to strive

beyond. In some events, AAW lack same-race mentors in their career fields or government

departments, leading to lower motivation to achieve.

In a report by Guramatunhu-Mudiwa and Angel (2017), there is a general lack of

enough mentors from ethnic minorities, leave alone from the Black community. While this is

the case, the need for mentors who are well versed with the common issues a mentee requires

and one who could guide a mentee to a better career path is overwhelming in some quarters.

Faced with such challenges, AAW women are faced with no option apart from working with

the white mentors disregarding literature that suggest that greater satisfaction is attained by

ethnic minorities in the same race interactions. The above context depicts the perspectives

held by AAW seeking to develop relationships with mentors. They always look for

individuals they share culture with, and if unlucky to find one, they settle for White mentors,

but only because of the lack of alternatives.

AAW would not like to be mentored by White peers, citing discomfort, despite most

of these mentors being high achievers and holding reputable positions in society. Perspectives

are derived from social and cultural differences. AAW may be intimidated by their ethnic

minority position and cultural discrimination hence becoming less motivated to establish and
 23

cultivate inter-racial mentoring relationships. On the other hand, the stability and permanence

of same-race relationships have been identified by Bellon-Harn and Weinbaum (2017) as

crucial subjects to successful mentoring.

Bellon-Harn and Weinbaum (2017) propose the Leadership, Education, Advocacy,

and Diversity mentoring program to eliminate social and cultural barriers of power and

establish permanence while ensuring that both mentors and mentees have positive

perspectives, activity, and projected outcomes. Additionally, according to Alston et al. (2017)

programs are required in higher education that recruit and retain the adequate representation

of different races in an institution. Such representation is required to keep up with the rapid

changes in pluralistic and multicultural student bodies. The idea would help cultivate positive

approaches towards mentoring AAW in academic institutions before employment.

The availability of cultural diversity in institutions and various government

departments would also help establish positive attitudes toward mentors regardless of ethnic

or social background. Recruiters in government positions should keep this in mind to ensure

that future generations, especially AAW and other minority groups, view mentorship as a

positive idea rather than an extension of White privilege and prejudice.

Before employment, mentoring dispositions already exist in AAW, derived from their

academic courses. Mutuality in these women is based on respect and trust: cultural and social

disparities experienced during their educational time determines their perspectives before

employment. Mentors expect to meet focused mentees who are diverse in mind and willing to

be mentored in their respective career fields. Similarly, mentees desire to join profitable

workplaces with cultural diversity and professionalism in employee training and formal

mentorship programs.

Taylor and Black (2018) explain pre-employment using Searby's principle that

explores individual maturity and behavioral competencies to sustain a meaningful mentoring

 24

relationship. He provides that Scarbys mindset of mentoring includes a mentee using a

dichotomous pair in these competencies; learning orientation, initiative, relational skills, goal

orientation, reflectiveness, and relational skills. Such competencies influence the mentee's

view and their expectations, responsibilities, and roles in a reciprocating relationship (Taylor

and Black, 2018). The study showed that mentees have limited interest in inter-racial

mentoring programs before employment since they believe all workplaces have African

American seniors who will mentor them.

AAW in government executive positions and departmental offices are less than the

mentees' estimate. The workplace expectation shatters involvement in intercultural programs

for some AAW, facilitated by stereotypical socio-cultural perspectives. When they get

employed, AAW faces various challenges in finding and settling on mentors. Taylor and

Black (2018) believe that mentees should be communicative, professional, open-minded,

committed, active, and responsible. These expectations determine the nature of relationships

established and their longevity. Mentees possessing such traits are known to develop strong

and long-lasting relationships with mentors, resulting in mutual benefits and positive

outcomes.

When women become actively engaged in work matters, the need for mentoring

becomes clear. The real situation of limited same-race mentors pushes AAW to explore

superiors from other ethnic groups if they have proper skills and experience. Most women in

government departments and executive positions are of White descent. In a 2011 survey

conducted by Alston et al. (2017), 82% of the interviewed AAW were aware of career

mentorship in employment and its benefits. However, only one out of five employed women

had gained access to a mentor (Alston et al., 2017).

The limitation of women mentors across the United States creates competition to

access them. The privileged white population has a competitive advantage based on color
 25

compared to other ethnic groups. When AAW does not find suitable mentors, they result in

individual career progression. The lack of similar women to interact and share interests limits

goal achievement since they cannot relate to their success if there are no peers in the same

predicament.

The recent progress on Black Feminism has created more awareness of same-race

mentorship to avert generational social and cultural disparities amongst the African American

population. Women teach their peers ways of surviving and conquering White-dominated

workplaces and achieving both individual and organizational goals. Black Feminism has

given rise to women movements that have shaped modern political icons and other successful

AAW in their respective fields (Nash, 2018). These women are now serving as mentors to the

other AAW in aspiring positions and those in employment. The social-cultural similarity and

interest enable them to establish cohesive and durable mutual relationships that facilitate

influential career mentoring.

2.4.2 The AAW as Mentors

Through mentoring interventions, the completion of STEM degrees has been influenced

positively in URM. Similarly, due to the socialization, mentoring enhances career

development and professional identities of the colored STEM candidates (Alston et al.,

2017). African American mentors have different perspectives from White mentors based on

cultural and social experience. Most of them have been subject to stereotypes and prejudice

about academic and career achievement.

At some point, the social pressure derived from stereotypes on abilities and

inadequacies may make African American mentors question their skills during the exercise.

Therefore, they may begin the program skeptical about their abilities to comprehensively

mentor and build long-lasting relationships with mentees from the same cultural background.

Mondisa (2018) postulates that African-American mentors in higher education may be

 26

confronted with situations in which they have to draw on their own experiences to counsel

their African-American protégés on race issues. African American mentors are more than

willing to deliver to their mentees. Still, racial disparity challenges make it hard to follow a

streamlined program without veering off the subject effectively. For example, for mentees to

achieve higher positions or career objectives, they may face racism and discrimination.

Mentors may be influenced to give straightforward guidelines on coping strategies and

strategic mentoring support with such discrimination.

African American mentors view their mentees from the same race as a family.

According to Mondisa (2018), African-American mentors advise their proteges to advise

their family members. The context ensures that the mentoring approach is explained in super-

friendly terms, and motivation is offered immensely. African American mentors are willing

to adopt and absorb African American mentees mainly because they share history (racial

prejudice since the slavery era), they have common social challenges. They are a minority

group seeking to rise to the level of the privileged Whites.

According to the findings of Aminian (2018), there was a general preference for

African-American female mentors. Participants in Aminian (2018) study expressed their

confidence that it was best to match African American students with African-American

mentors. It is essential (not critical) to see someone with your background, which shows the

AAW's attraction to same-race mentorship relationships and their effect on career

progression.

2.4.3 Mentoring Programs led by White Women

Mentoring across cultural boundaries is a delicate process owing to the group's cultural base,

social pressures, and individual expectations. Culturally, African Americans view Whites as a

privileged group that led them to slavery. According to Nash (2018), African Americans have

become subject to racism and institutional profiling, as witnessed with police and judicial
 27

departments across the United States. White women's subtle silence as African Americans

undergoes discrimination in their own country has sparked tensions and mistrusts them.

African Americans view extensions of White women's monitoring opportunities as a

vulnerability to exploitation, prejudice, or as a social manifestation of privilege (Christie and

Baghurst, 2017).

According to Chan (2018), establishing trust in a cross-cultural mentoring relationship is a

major issue in developing such relationships. Furthermore, AAW acknowledges the cross-

cultural mentorship programs, especially those led by White peers, as hostile and short of

trust, undermining development and facilitating meaningful relationships. For the years,

African Americans have suffered under the Whites; since the slavery era, the former has

grown to mistrust the latter (Nash, 2018). This intolerance scope makes many AAW seek

alternative mentors, even if it means less qualified community members with whom they are

comfortable working.

However, some individuals take the risk and concentrate on having a White mentor's

long-term career benefits, despite having variant cultural perspectives. Such relationships are

short-lived and marred with contingent challenges and communication breakdowns for fear

of being subjected to discriminatory remarks or stereotyped (Johnson et al., 2018).

Additionally, power imbalance predisposes AAW to stereotypical behavioral expectations

and restrictions, for example, relating to aggression and threats that detail intimacy and the

development of trustworthy relationships during the mentoring exercise.

Ward (2018) states that there is a western component that supports the view that

whites are in a better position and includes rules on the expectations of inter-racial

relationships in which authority and deference are important. Even though most AAW do not

prefer White mentors, there are more benefits if both parties establish a mutual relationship

compared with same-race mentorship programs. Most of these white mentors are successful
 28

in their jurisdiction areas and hold high levels of skills derived from their academic processes

and career experience. If mentors apply to be guided by such women and mutually get along,

the mentee stands to gain much more skills and knowledge. The prolific women are also

well-versed in mentoring, meaning that they will apply the required competencies to develop

the mentee's social capital.

Mentees associated with white mentors are likely to succeed and rank higher in their

careers than counterparts being mentored by their community members (Erskine and

Bilimoria, 2019). According to Hill and Wheat (2017), mentors are mandated to provide

counseling, guidance, motivation, and instruction, and ensure there is effective leadership. A

mentoring program's intended result inside a company helping people improve their careers

and influencing employee retention and engagement.

AAW who are lucky to get white sponsors and mentors interact with high-profile

peers who expose them to more valuable career information and developmental avenues.

Additionally, they secure better salaries because of career competence and negotiation skills

derived from their white mentors. Erskine and Bilimoria (2019) theorize that the white way

of thinking changes behavior and sociological perspectives making mentees perform just like

their mentors. This perspective increases their career chances at government institutions and

other white-dominated departments.

Social intercourse and communication proficiency enable mentees to interact and

cooperate with lots of white women in executive positions, building career confidence and

motivating them to improve or achieve the desired competency level (Hankin and Wright,

2020). Having a white mentor may not be the most desired option for most AAW due to

social and cultural disparities. Still, those who are ambitious enough view the offer as

lucrative with immense social and financial benefits. However, many issues are enclosed in a
 29

cross-cultural mentorship program that prevents maturation and achievement of the projected

outcomes.

First, subtle racism and discrimination based on social stereotypes manifest in many

relationships (Bonilla-Silva, 2019). The nature of social and economic differences and

inequalities between the two groups determine a mentoring relationship's survival. Both

groups harbor social stereotypes about each other, and mistakes may be interpreted from a

cultural perspective. For example, if an African American mentee challenges a white mentor,

she may be perceived as indisciplined due to the cultural stereotype of violence and ill

behavior. The white mentor also expects to be idolized by the AAW, and the latter may

perceive this as an extension of white supremacy, derailing the whole program. Suppose the

mentor becomes aggressive and pushes her African American mentees too much to achieve.

In that case, it may be interpreted as physical abuse or slavery to perpetuate her social and

financial interest.

Mentoring requires cultural understanding and tolerance to learn the other party's

beliefs, behavior, and expectations to prevent such claims (Pierce, 2017; Verbitskaya, 2019).

If both groups do not pay proper attention to cultural understanding and competence, issues

become rife, and communication breakdown paralyzes any mentoring attempt. Oikarainen et

al. (2018) propose that all grounds should be leveled at the program's onset: both the mentor

and mentee should openly analyze their cultural and social beliefs to ensure that they create a

meaningful relationship.

Banwell et al. (2019) postulate that both groups should openly discuss their cultural

background information and define ground rules to prevent them from conflicts during the

initiation phase. Confronting racism from a historical view and acknowledging facts is

essential in making the other party feel accommodated throughout the mentoring program

(Bonilla-Silva, 2019).
 30

2.5 Theoretical Framework

2.5.1 Critical Race Theory

The theory postulates that inequalities in the race come from economic, legal, and social

differences which white population creates to maintain their interests in politics and the labor

market, leading to criminally and poverty in minority communities. (Curry, 2020). Daftary

(2020) postulates that critical race theory is an important avenue to explore the social,

economic, and political perspectives attributed to marginalized minority groups. Critical race

theory is a hypothetical system that inspects race, prejudice, and force structures to directly

investigate issues to educate activity methodologies (Kolivoski, 2020).

The hypothesis expects to look at connections between race, prejudice, and power,

and explicitly the norm of racial domination into the structure holding the system together,

the absence of affirmation of encounters of individuals of shading, and gives new points of

view into how race and power keep up racial disparity. The primary race hypothesis states

that race is socially built; racial contrasts are made, spread, and upheld by society. It uncovers

itself relying upon the unique circumstance and changing generalizations of individuals who

are minorities. Its precepts underscore that primary prejudice should be perceived inside the

more extensive social, monetary, and recorded setting.

Through the investigation from a primary race hypothesis's focal point, the chance of

social change may happen. Comprehensively, hostile to prejudice structures and primary

hypotheses that consolidate this current hypothesis' fundamental principles in social work

examination and grant have reliably tended to issues of mass imprisonment, the modern jail

complex, and practices in the youngster government assistance framework.

Critical race theory is multifaceted and expansive. A portion of its primary

hypothetical components includes prejudice as standard, whiteness as a definitive property,

counter-narrating the unique voice of shading, and intersectionality (Flores, 2017). The

primary, prejudice as standard, implies that bigotry is so instilled in U.S. society that it is hard
 31

for some to perceive, in this manner making it harder to address adequately (Kolivoski,

2020). This hypothesis sets that whiteness has a definitive worth, implying that being an

individual from the dominant racial part bears the cost of influence to keep up points of

interest and advantages among whites.

According to Kolivoski (2020), given the verifiable accentuation on the white insight,

the exciting voice of ethnic minorities is incorporated as a piece of the primary race

hypothesis. To give individuals a chance to share their lived encounters employing counter-

narrating and changing the story concerning individuals genuinely viewed as different. The

theory uses a historical approach to African American's treatment under white masters that

propagated long-term suffering and inequalities in the society. Tenets of power, subtle

racism, oppression, and privilege dominate the discussion in critical race theory. The lack of

call to action to liberate these minority groups and extend socio-economic benefits to the

marginalized continues to widen the gap between African Americans and White settlers'

descendants.

The theory's main intention was to expose the scope of racism in the United States

and affiliated socio-economic disparities being propagated under the pretext of

institutionalization and legal motives. Movements such as Chicano sprung to display the

effects of racism on the African American community and the lives of other minority groups

in the same predicament. White supremacy and central workplaces' domination in the United

States have been explained through the critical race theory. The underpaying of AAW in

most careers than White Americans is used to facilitate financial gains among the latter and

promote dominance (Flynn et al., 2017). Therefore, this theory's lack of mentorship programs

within the AAW population explains the current situation that awards White employees more

privilege on career advancement.

 32

Critical race theory debunks arguments that racism is a structural behavior perpetrated by

individuals to gain specific interests. The theory explains how racism has permeated all

social, political, and legal institutions in the United States and has been cultivated by previous

regimes for the country's interest. The deep entrenchment into critical social, political, and

legal departments makes it almost impossible to eradicate, and its permanence is justified.

Critical race theory identifies and relates how these mechanisms are adopted into

institutions and how hierarchies promote racial injustices over time. Secondly, critical race

theory seeks to analyze national legal structures' capability to make significant changes that

would end racism and how that has never been adopted. Political structures also ensure that

historically marginalized and discriminated groups are mistreated to promote suffering;

African American movements and demonstrations against social injustice are regarded as

violent disruptions aimed at violence. No matter how peaceful they may be conducted, their

demonstrations are hardly disrupted, causing increased anger and dissatisfaction within the

African American community. Ramirez and Milner (2018) argue that racism is a social

construct perpetuated by American elites to retain power, as Derrick Bell predicted.

According to Mondon and Winter (2020), American racism maintains its hierarchy

decades after the institution of Civil Rights ensures that the underprivileged groups do not

compete against white citizens, who are the social and political class. Disparities have

extended to academic institutions, ensuring that only white children can acquire quality

education. Such disparities mean that they will automatically acquire executive positions in

the coming regimes and be instrumental in promoting racism through structural policies and

injustices. Independent institutions such as the Supreme Court can change the direction with

which racism has taken. However, the white population holds most of the significant

positions (Ramirez and Williams, 2018). It becomes hard to establish policies without the

approval of the legislature and judicial departments. The rate of racism in America's social
 33

culture and political practices shines no hope to underrepresented communities, especially the

African American community, justifying its prominence and permanence.

Critical race theory's grant on the voice of color is remarkable in that scholars have

confidence in group intelligence and, hence, endeavor to incorporate and enable voices and

points of view that have generally been rejected (Kareem, 2020). Therefore, this principle is

the absolute opposite of intersectionality and against essentialism. It recognizes the likenesses

inside the more significant gathering experience of persecuted people and engages

researchers to offer a voice to the shared encounters of persecution (Chou et al., 2018).

This principle explicitly recognizes all shading networks' close encounters, including

yet not restricted to be contrasted with their white partners. The latter is not foundationally

enslaved, dependent on their skin color (Williams, 2020). The capacity to have a bound-

together voice is a significant part of the critical race theory and its social equity points

(Kareem, 2020). The facts demonstrate that one voice does not consider an ideal impression

of each bunch's novel encounters through the United States' severe framework.

All things being equal, the mix of shared encounters into one voice empowers the

gathering of mistreated people groups of shading to profit by it, as there is more prominent

force and capacity to impact change in more significant numbers (Daftary, 2018). Critical

race theory's perspective grant is identified by continued utilization of the principal

individual, narrating, story, purposeful anecdote, interdisciplinary treatment of law, and the

utilization of inventiveness (Daftary, 2018; Kareem, 2020). It additionally subverts the

affirmation that the law and legitimate talk and grant are impartial and fair in their application

(Williams, 2020).

Critical race theory's view on the voice of color shows how bigotry is a consistently

present reality for Non-white individuals—one found parents in law, strategies rehearse, talk,

research, furthermore, grant. By establishing its calculated structure in the encounters of Non-
 34

white individuals using narrating and account information, this theory poses a challenge to

the social development of the human race which has set whiteness or absence of shading as a

norm. AAW faces various structural challenges in acquiring suitable white mentors based on

the voice of color and stiff competition from white peers.

Squire (2020) states that despite such obstacles brought about by sexism and racism in

institutions, most colors do not want to be associated with the resistance. This apparent

undesired association depicts the reality of hardships faced by AAW when they seek to

advance their careers through mentoring programs. They end up seeking alternatives within

their race or forgoing mentorship to explore their goals independently. Career realizations, in

turn, become uncertain, and most AAW do not achieve executive or government placement,

as they would have achieved if they had multicultural support.

2.5.2 Interest Convergence

According to Daftary (2018), interest convergence states that equality in a race is only

possible through policies that represent the interests of the white dominant group. When the

white population is the only one determining whether an interest is viable, it becomes socially

acceptable or policy. When the dominant white group has no interest in some social

perspective, then the minority groups are losing. There are various interest zones in both

social and economic perspectives, and the dominant group seeks to outsmart the minority one

in repairing the most out of the established relationship.

When the white population is achieving more than the African Americans, they can

promote an interest without feeling cheated. If both parties share benefits at an almost equal

proportion or the minority group has more benefits than the white population, there is a

conflict of interest causing racial disparities and negative perspectives. Daftary (2018)

believes that most white groups are not for the interest of minority groups such as African

Americans and would only be happy if they win more benefits than the rest. Suppose a legal
 35

entity supports a minority group's cause. In that case, they must justify to the dominant group

how it gains from the progressive decision, lest it will not gain support from most of them.

Such instances have been recorded in the past, where organizations are barred from

acting on racial injustice and forced to define how the dominant white population will gain

from the proposed social changes, especially if touching on economic inequality matters. The

theorist behind this idea of interest convergence, Derrick Bell, stated that the African

American population's interests in achieving social equality would only be accommodated if

they converge with the white population's interest in the United States (Warren, 2017).

2.5.3 Classical Liberalism

Classical liberalism notes that moral equality law and strategy is useful and

guarantees individuals of all races and nationalities are equated according to the law

(Thompson, 2017). Classical liberalism encourages individualism, liberty, and equal rights,

which are also vital principles in AAW's critical race perspectives. As such basic principles

are sparingly promoted in the United States, dissidents, by and large, remain behind the

calculated philosophy of a partially blind comprehensive set of laws (Daftary, 2018).

Critical race theorists are disappointed with this strategy for tending to the racial

circumstance in the U.S. and therefore evaluate it vigorously. Researchers state that social

liberties strategy and equivalent freedom law do not achieve enough. They locate the most

certain bigotry types, not structures that pervade different parts of the U.S (Daftary, 2018).

The critical race theory considers race as fundamental to strategy and law in the U.S.; it

attempts to go past the prevalent view disposing of bigotry implies getting freed of

obliviousness and urging everybody to maintain the status quo.

The social and open critique on liberalism agonizes aspiring AAW; they are subjected

to racial mistrust and the continuation of historical prejudices that derail their career

realizations. Most AAW would want to be liberal in their decisions and be free from
 36

subjection by white counterparts. They yearn to have the freedom to choose mentors and be

consulted when programs are designed for them. The latest wave of critique on liberalism

threatens the adaptation of such AAW in their workplaces and hinders the realization of

career goals.

2.5.4 Black Feminism Theory

Black feminism articulates around the intersectionality of race, gender, and

discrimination of AAW (Nash, 2018). Propagated from the slavery era, black women have

become the most oppressed group in the United States. With time, liberation movements

began to spring, and black feminism was born. According to Hague and Okpala (2017), the

theory came up during the era of the abolitionists as they attempted to end slavery. African

American women were not accorded human rights and the citizens frequently confronted by a

system which intended to eliminate them as woman and humans.

The theory is grounded on the perspective that most AAW share commonalities,

perceptions, and experiences (Hague and Okpala, 2017). It attempts to create social

awareness of the prejudices and liberate the affected women to indulge in progressive socio-

economic activities. Nash (2018) believes that this mentality has driven more women into

activism, and mentoring facilitates AAW into higher organizational ranks amidst cultural

barriers. There are four distinctive tenets theorized by Hague and Okpala (2017): The first is

a belief in self-authorship with the legitimization of subjugated knowledge that represents a

diverse and unique point of view of AAW. Secondly, AAW's encounters with various

oppression lead to expectations, needs, ideologies, and problems that are not similar to

African American men or white women. Further, exploring a distinctive tenet in identifying

the consciousness of black feminists which exist in an evolving and reflective process

towards AAW's freedom by addressing the aspects of activism. Lastly, the placement of

deleterious images of African American womanhood is another distinctive tenet explored.

 37

Aminian (2018) argues that the mentality of sharing culture and experience makes AAW

realize their objectives collectively rather than as individuals. The Feminist argument focuses

on balancing social platforms and providing equal opportunities to all AAW. The women

believe that historical oppression and denial of opportunities have led to their alienation and

detachment from actively social and political significance. They aim to reconnect with their

culture and use their resources to create awareness and educate each other to achieve their

goals as a community.

2.5.5 Situated Identities Theory

The theory on situated identity postulates that people take on various parts in various settings

and how conduct can profoundly move as per the circumstance and individuals present. This

perspective can describe mentors' behavioral influence on their mentees depending on how

they treat them and mentorship settings. The situated learning hypothesis recommends that

learning is capable and intervened through associations with the local area individuals or

inside a local area of practice or community (Levitan and Carr-Chellman, 2018).

Inside a local area of training, bunch individuals share and create rehearsals, gain

from their collaborations with bunch individuals, and gain openings to grow by, expertly, or

mentally (Binti Pengiran and Besar, 2018). The idea of the local area and the connections

among singular individuals inside a local area likewise play a real job in person-to-person

communication elements. As we see from the description mentioned above, numerous

researchers share the view that the understandings that arise and assist an individual with

taking an interest in a circumstance are personally weaved with the specific local area,

devices, and movement of that circumstance.

Therefore, people learn as they partake in their interaction with the local area. For

instance, with its set of experiences, presumptions and social qualities, rules, and examples of

relationship; the current apparatuses, counting objects, innovation, dialects, also, pictures;
 38

and the second's movement, its purposes, standards, and practical difficulties (Binti Pengiran

and Besar, 2018). Information arises because of these components collaborating all the while.

Summary
Through various studies and research on the discussed topic, their literature review

provides an insightful and articulated review of information on the intricate nature of

mentorship and how it affects the ascension of African American Women into senior

executive positions. The study investigated the viability of customary and non-conventional

mentoring capacities for AAW doctoral undergraduate courses and the proficient career

progression of an AAW teacher who registers in the same PWI. They found that without

formal mentoring for AAW in PWIs affected their doctoral arrangement, good passage into

the professoriate, and their progression in that. They likewise found that a casual tutoring

(Informal mentoring) relationship may help AAW in PWIs become better changed socially

and institutionally and more gainful in their grant and practice.

 39

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