The hurt of constantly putting up with gendered racism
Anitta, at 38 packed her bags and left her home, family, and friends in Liberia, and flew to Luxembourg in search of better opportunities in the aviation sector. She decided to pursue a master’s degree in information technology and communications and graduated at the top of her class. While getting her master's, she took night classes in French. She already spoke English and Arabic. With her 7 years of experience, a year and a half spent searching for a job, numerous networking events, and speaking with many people, she finally landed a job at one of the best aviation companies.
She started her first day so excited! She had told her mum back in Liberia. The position was Communications and Marketing Manager. She had done this work before in Liberia and had pulled in customers, views, and conversions from her previous experience, so this should be almost similar, except it was in a new industry. The working language was English, but being predominantly male, they spoke German. She did not let this deter her and was excited to pick up another language. She was expected to take on everything said around her, even when she was left out of conversations. In meetings, she made tea and coffee; things men used to do for themselves before she started working there.
After realising that the company was sexist, coupled with microaggressions comments about her body, left her in shock. What broke the camel's back was the sexual harassment. She had planned the office Christmas party, but her more senior colleague had taken all the glory. They called it the best Christmas party in the company’s 19 years. For Anitta, it became the worst night of her life after the head of Aerospace engineering groped her when no one was looking and pretended that nothing had happened. In the new year, she took a 4-month medical leave after being diagnosed with severe anxiety and burnout from the constant need to put up with gendered racism.
This blog post is part of the ARM project. The ARM project is an international project designed to explore the complex layers of racial and gender discrimination through the power of storytelling, art, and narrative research. Our goal is to create practical tools that support the mental health and empowerment of racialised and LGBTIQ youth.
At its core, the project looks beyond individual incidents of racism or discrimination. Instead, we’re interested in the hidden, often unspoken emotional impact these experiences leave behind — how they shape a young person’s sense of self, confidence, and well‑being.
Across Europe, race and gender still strongly influence who feels safe, heard, and valued. Yet the mental health effects of racism, gender discrimination, and internalised racism are rarely discussed, even though they deeply affect racialised and LGBTIQ young people. ARM aims to change that by creating spaces where youth can share their lived experiences and see their stories reflected, respected, and understood.
