“Power is not status. Status is the car you drive or the degree on your wall. Power is the ability to walk into a room and change things no matter who you are. Politics is the wielding of power,” Bill Wong said sternly, with the type of confident demeanor that could only derive from years of public speaking practice and professional work experience. His opinionated and clear, concise conclusions intrigued me deeply. I was able to learn from Bill and other panelists through the CAUSE Leadership Academy’s Capitol Summit, where our cohort traveled together to Sacramento to learn from legislators and other politically engaged leaders.
Bill Wong described being a leader as being able to control and wield power. “Power,” he said, can be summed up into controlling “media, business and government”. He continued to share strong feelings regarding the difference between power and status, expressing that, “So what if you have a nice car? So what if you have a nice house? Can you walk into a room and change people? Power is when you have your own agency, your own resources, your own ability to affect people…you have to fight for it”. His tone was remarkably strong and I have to commend him for giving rise to a necessary discussion between my cohort members and I that allowed me to utilize my critical thinking skills. Nevertheless, I believe his feelings manifested the tangible gender inequality that exists in the workplace.
“You have to go into this world as a fighter,” Bill said, “You have to be who you are and fight for what you want”. We know this is easier said than done…but I believe, as a female person of color, that it is easier said and done by a cis-gendered man. During my time at CAUSE, I have reflected on my experience of not only being a person of color, but being a woman of color, and I’ve contemplated the ways in which these identities intersect. As an Asian woman, there are many cultural expectations and stereotypes that have affected the way I act in spaces. For instance, I have had to learn how to balance between delivering messages with a strong tone in positions of leadership, but making sure my sentiments aren’t too powerful, because then I will be seen as aggressive or angry. I’ve had to dumb-down my ideas in order to be seen as less intimidating. I’ve had to keep quiet when comments about my physical appearance have been made in professional settings; my only viable reaction is a forced smile.
So, as a woman, I cannot go into the world a fighter exactly like Bill said. I have to fight differently. I have to fight within the rigidity of the social and cultural rules that have been ascribed to women. To be taken seriously in the professional world, as a woman, is to recognize that these types of spaces and institutions were not made for women. They have their own sets of rules, and as of right now, I still must follow them.
