Our Separate Ways: Black and White Women and the Struggle for Professional Identity - Hardcover

This is a study of the roles that gender, race and class play in corporate culture, revealing the trials and triumphs that have brought minority women executives where they are today. It examines the connection between corporate culture and the advancement of people of colour as well as examining the formative experiences - from childhood through early career development - behind today's female executives. By using a "life history" approach which includes interviews with 120 women senior managers, the text presents women's reflections on success as well as demonstrating the often complicated and difficult stories of women coming to terms with racially divided population, trying to succeed in the male-dominated business world and displaying their personal and cultural expectations.

Ella L. J. Bell Smith is a Professor of Business Administration at the Tuck School of Business. Stella M. Nkomo is a Professor of Business Leadership at the University of South Africa Graduate School of Business Leadership.