To be quite honest, I hadn’t put much thought into the concept of the “minority tax” until recently. One of my classmates in residency, who is black, had explained that back in med school, he had been coaxed into organizing minority student groups and leading minority outreach to prospective students. He felt that this work was important and was happy to help.
But then, he started to feel the weight of this added administrative work onto his already very full plate of coursework. Every hour that he spent organizing an event, or leading one of these meetings, was an hour that he was not studying. And remember, in medical school, it’s those hours of studying that manifest in higher grades, higher board scores and better performance in clinical rotations, i.e. everything you need to succeed and land a competitive residency.
“So essentially,” he told me, “I was sacrificing study time because I was black. This is what they mean by ‘The Minority Tax.'”
This was the first time that I had heard the term; as an Asian person, a part of a relatively over-represented minority group in medicine, I really hadn’t encountered this before.
Until…last week.
In what should be the least surprising part of this story, it all happened during a brief (~10 minute) encounter with Mansplaining Program Director (MPD). It was Monday morning, and I was busy catching myself up with the details of the new patients being admitted to our service. I was busy, and really not in the mood for his shenanigans.
And so it begins:
“I need your female perspective on something.”
Jesus. Now what. Why does he think that we’re friends?!
“Did you hear about what’s happening with Morgan Freeman? There was something on TV about how some woman is accusing him of staring at her. So does that mean we can’t even look?! I’ve completed so many hours of sexual harassment training, and I’ve never heard of this!”
I still had more patients to review. Ugh. Ugh. Ugh.
“Look, Dr. MPD, from what I’ve heard, the allegations are pretty serious, and involve much more than just looking.”
*Blank stare from Mansplaining Program Director*
Sigh. I actually said aloud, “Ok, FINE, I’ll stop what I’m doing right now and Google this for you.”
It took less than 10 seconds to find information about accusations from his *eight* accusors, involving all sorts of unwanted touching and comments, despite repeated pleas from the women to stop. “So, it’s 8 women, and lots of unwanted touching. That’s why he’s in trouble. I’m going back to work now.”
“But does this mean we can’t look?”
Essentially, he was trying to imply that the entire #MeToo movement is bogus, based on nothing more than accusations of occasional, accidental glances in the direction of a woman. Like, “Wow, none of us men are safe! I mean now we’re in trouble just for looking at a woman!”
I really had quite a bit of work left to do. My voice raised- “Look, I don’t care about staring! This isn’t just about staring! He groped a bunch of women! Just, don’t do that!”
I turned around, fuming that I had to stop my work to explain something that was both 1) so incredibly obvious and 2) implicitly dismissive of sexual assault survivors who come forward.
So, that was my minority tax of the morning. It’s when you have to fight to get your work done, despite being given additional work to justify the rights of your particular minority group.
Thankfully, I got my work done. And, it was a happy outcome for my classmate from residency as well, who did match at his #1 choice of residency program (that prestigious place in the northeast where we did residency together).
The minority tax can be overcome…just with healthy dose of morning rage.
Defiant Bitch, MD