Why Serena Williams' Anger Matters

study shows us that when men get angry they are perceived as more believable, more authentic, and sometimes more powerful. In one study conducted by Harvard's Women and Public Policy Program, male job applicants who expressed anger were more likely to be hired than women. Women, on the other hand, are termed emotional, overheated, and abrasive. Their expression of anger, which runs counter to gender expectations, decreases a woman's status, power, and competence. What's most interesting about men, women and anger is that men's anger is perceived as a response, as in "You made me so mad," as opposed to women's anger which is understood as internal, as in, "You've really got a short fuse." If you are a woman or identify as one, and work in the museum world, have you ever been chastised for being too emotional? Have you been told to smile? To calm down? To not be so upset? Or perhaps someone suggested you take a moment while you get yourself together? It took generations for this gender divide over anger to grow, and it's not going to go away this year. That means if you're a woman or identify as one, you need ways to navigate the moments when you are angry. Some tips:

Know what your triggers are. Maybe one of your direct reports drives you crazy, can't answer questions, is dreamy, remote, and disconnected. Not a bad person, but on a bad day, she sends you right over the edge. Understanding that ahead of time, means you can reschedule a meeting with her if the entire rest of your day has gone south.
Don't go in hot. Also known as take a breather. Give yourself some space. Whether it's a passive-aggressive email, a hurtful comment, ongoing eye-rolling, or being shut-out of a conversation again, give yourself some space. Take a walk. Get a coffee. Breathe. You don't have to let go of your anger, you have to understand it.
Think ahead about what you want to say vs. what you need to say. Don't rant about the fact that the gala is in 36 hours and how suddenly you've been asked to revise a foundation request that was badly done (by someone else) in the first place. Try to focus on your organization and what's best for it--how to get both things completed in a short time--rather than your hurt and betrayal at being asked to shore up a colleague's failures yet again. By not focusing on your anger, you're more likely to get help, and to create a climate where colleagues may be alert to the situation happening again.
Support your colleagues: One of the other things studies show us is that while men's anger and women's anger are treated differently in the workplace, we also learn that many times both men AND women scorn women who are angry. Again, especially if you are a museum leader, look for the reason the woman is angry rather than the fact that she's expressed it. Find out what is going on.
Grow some empathy. Imagine that you're a woman who's been hired at a lower rate than her male colleague and knows it. Imagine that you're a woman who's been left out of conversations and information by male colleagues who subsequently use your knowledge gap to punish you. Imagine you're a woman whose ideas are constantly reformulated at the staff table by a male colleague as his own. Imagine you hear inappropriate jokes at lunch objectifying women. Imagine all of that. Now imagine you're a woman of color at work in a museum. Do we need to ask why you (or Serena Williams) might be angry? Remember what writer Soraya Chemaly said this week in the Guardian,

“It is vital that we don’t have one-size-fits-all feminism,” she says. “It will fail and exacerbate problems. People were surprised by the percentage of college-educated white women who voted for Trump. But a white woman grappling with gender inequality might be angry, and she can leverage racial privilege to compensate for her losses. Women have always been levers of white supremacy in US culture. That does not mean that they do not themselves suffer from oppression. White women understanding how their fragility is used to enforce racism is an important lesson, which is a hard one to talk about.” How do you manage anger in the museum workplace? Joan Baldwin