Introduction
Dr. Kim Borden Penney's research study titled Banking on Equity: Bay Street and Black Women’s Leadership in Banks examined Black women’s leadership experiences in the Toronto banking sector and their perceptions about opportunities for mobility and advancement to executive management positions. The aim of her study was to examine the factors and conditions that make Black women’s executive leadership in corporate Canada so exceedingly rare.
The connections between race, gender, and leadership are difficult to find in Canadian literature. This study is one of the first Canadian examination of Black women’s leadership experience in the banking sector. It examines how race and gender are conceptualize and constituted in multiple ways, through corporate culture, HR policies and practices, and employment equity policies. The study’s theoretical framework is centered on Critical Race Theory, Canadian Black Feminist Thought, and Intersectionality, which critically examines the structures and policies that directs attention to narratives of the history, political, economic, and social cultural experiences of Black people in Canada. The objective of the study is to substantially contribute to the gap in current leadership literature and theories and to provide insights, knowledge, and support to Black women in the financial services sector.
She is a descendent of indigenous Black Canadians in Nova Scotia (Scotians) whose roots reach back to the late 1600s. Her consulting company Penney Consulting Services provides operational and financial consulting to non-profits in Toronto and New York City.
Expert
Dr. Kim Borden Penney, Ph.D. studied at the University of Toronto. Her research framework is centered on critical race theory, Canadian Black feminist thought, and intersectionality, which critically examines the social structures and policies that directs attention to narratives of the history, political, and social cultural experiences of Black people in Canada. Their experiences of racism, discrimination and erasure, do not act independently of one another; instead, these forms of oppression interrelate, creating a system that shapes the social, political, and economic realities and conditions of Black people’s lives in Canada. The focus of her research is to engage in the consciousness-raising of the systematic historical erasure of Black presence and contributions in Canada.
Fields of expertise: Culture, Financing for inclusive development, Gender equality, Inclusive social development / inclusive societies / social inclusion, Social change / social transformations, Social innovation / public sector innovation / policy innovation, Social policy