Jatia Wrighten, Guest Contributor

Dr. Jatia Wrighten is an assistant professor at Virginia Commonwealth University, where she conducts research on black women, state legislatures, and leadership, with an emphasis on intersectionality. Her current project examines the differences in leadership attainment that exists between black women, white women, black men, and white men in state legislatures and the factors that cause these differences. She created the novel theory, the heavy lifters theory, to explain the primary differences between black male and black female legislators as it relates to leadership in state legislatures. She was most recently awarded the Gender and Leadership Dissertation Award from George Mason University for her work focusing on intersectionality and leadership.