INTERACTIONS.ACM.ORG 70 INTERACTIONS NOVEMBER–DECEMBER2014
FORUM COMMUNITY + CULTURE
oppressive workplace is to cultivate
understanding of, and agreement
about, the many forms of workplace
oppression. Until all members of the
group share a nuanced understanding,
any other measures for developing a safe
space are destined to fail.
External help in this is available
and advisable. Groups such as the
AORTA Collective offer anti-oppression
education and consulting services.
Raising the topic for open and frank
discussion with other businesses, labs,
or groups can also be helpful in addition
to raising awareness. From this basic
initial process of reflection will follow
specific anti-oppressive workplace
policies and measures.
Considering team composition
is one such measure. Sassafras has
a gender quota of no more than 50
percent plus one of any gender [ 4]. As
our organization grows, this basic policy
will prevent over-representation of
one gender (typically men) in decision-making processes and thus promote
further anti-oppressive measures [ 5].
Also important are processes for
safe conflict resolution. Raising a
complaint about workplace conduct
should never be cause for fear, nor
should receiving one be. Giving
forethought to processes for handling
conflicts safely and non-violently
[ 6] reduces anxiety and reassures
prospective members from underrepresented groups that the space
they are entering is an anti-oppressive
one. Such measures are especially
important in organizations without a
hierarchical chain of command since
there may be no clear course of action
otherwise.
WORKPLACE DEMOCRACY
Just as history has shown that social
justice is unlikely to emerge in a non-democratic society, building an anti-oppressive workplace is difficult when
decisions are made according to a
traditional, non-democratic structure.
In such organizations, those who resist
entrenched oppressive workplace
behaviors often end up as the target of
hostility. Recent incidents at Github
and Tinder are examples of this in the
tech industry.
For this reason, we have chosen to
build Sassafras as a worker cooperative.
Worker co-ops are similar to the more
the institutional level. They are rooted
in electoral law and their analyses
focus on the operations of the election-
management authorities rather than
individual actors.
Finally, within Sassafras we
are developing an application
called LaborShare, which will
promote equality and visibility of
home labor by computing optimal
task assignments according to
time and preference. Domestic
work is traditionally a woman’s
responsibility but is usually
overlooked as legitimate economic
activity. Also, a lack of shared
understanding of the work that
actually goes into the maintenance
of a household can lead to conflict.
We believe that technology can help
clarify responsibilities in a household
and make home labor more visible,
equitable, and enjoyable.
Due to the gendered nature of
home labor, we view this project
as counteracting sexism. It also
operates mostly on the individual
level, household by household. If the
application becomes successful, we
envision it as a platform for promoting
cultural change as well, but this is not
the current focus.
ANTI-OPPRESSION
AT WORK
As with any product or project with
a stated ethical foundation, the
environment in which the product is
created or the project is carried out
is at least equal in importance to the
end result. Unfortunately, in many
tech workplaces, a prominent feature
of the environment is a startling
lack of women and people of color
(particularly African Americans,
Native Americans, and Latinos). This
fact is both a form of oppression (since
tech is an ever-expanding field and
tech jobs are well paying) and a result
of oppression. The invention of anti-oppressive tech also becomes more
difficult when some of the very groups
for whom the technology might be
intended are not represented on the
design team.
We believe that the notion of
reflexivity as promoted by the anti-oppression framework is central to
reversing this disturbing trend. A key
first step in constructing an anti-
Figure 2. Logos of the members of the Tech Co-op Network, a consortium of North American
tech worker co-ops ( http://techworker.coop).