This webinar is part of a free public series hosted by CCMW’s Leadership & Mentorship Pilot Program, exploring the tools and relationships that move careers forward for Muslim and racialized women.
CCMW’s ASPIRE research is direct about what safety at work actually means: “Safety for me isn’t just not being harassed. It’s being able to pray without fear, speak without being silenced, and bring my whole self to work without being punished for it.” Too often, that safety isn’t guaranteed; It has to be built, requested, and defended, one conversation at a time.
“When they see my cane and my hijab, it feels like two strikes against me. I’m either seen as incapable or too much trouble to accommodate.” — ASPIRE Study Participant
“I learned to ask upfront, because if I waited, it was seen as me being ‘difficult’ later on.” — ASPIRE Study Participant
This webinar names that reality directly, and builds real, practical skills for navigating it — including strategies for self-advocacy, and how to tell the difference between genuine cultural safety and surface-level cultural sensitivity in the workplace. As CCMW’s ASPIRE research puts it: “Cultural safety is a workplace approach that goes beyond cultural sensitivity… cultural safety is defined by those most affected, not by those in positions of power.”
Self-advocacy is a real and necessary skill for the workplaces many of us navigate today, but it isn’t the finish line. The goal is a workplace that doesn’t require constant negotiation for belonging in the first place. This session gives you tools for where things are now, without losing sight of where things need to go.
You’ll walk away understanding:
- How intersecting forms of bias — including Islamophobia, racism, ableism, ageism, and queerphobia — shape visibility, voice, and safety at work
- How to apply identity-safe visibility strategies that name your strengths and contributions clearly, without minimizing who you are
- Practical self-advocacy skills for cultural safety and accommodation needs including how to navigate when language barriers or a lack of support within family or community structures make it harder to build that skill in the first place
- What the CCMW Leadership & Mentorship Pilot offers
This session includes candid discussion of discrimination, bias, and lived experiences of exclusion — including Islamophobia, racism, ableism, ageism and queerphobia. We’ve created this space with care, and encourage you to engage in whatever way feels right for you.
We hope that you can join us for this and all sessions in this series!
