Black women in the workplace face troubling news—and it’s only getting rougher, according to a new study by LeanIn.Org and McKinsey & Co. The survey looked at 279 companies, found that black women are underrepresented in positions of leadership, promotions, and support. Read on for the story with Black Enterprise, including how women of color are affected by a work culture that fails to support them—and how becoming more inclusive will help black women, all women, and ultimately the entire business world.
By Alisa Gumbs
Progress for women in corporate America isn’t just slow—it’s stalled, according to new research from LeanIn.Org and McKinsey & Co. For women of color, and for black women executives especially, it’s even worse.
The stats laid out in Women in the Workplace 2018 are appalling:
- Only one in 25 C-suite leaders is a woman of color
- Four in 10 black women never have interactions with senior leaders about their work
- For every 100 men promoted to manager, only 60 black women are
- Black women and lesbian women experience microaggressions at a higher rate than women overall, at 69% and 71%, respectively
Perhaps most glaring is the lack of support black women receive from their managers. Says the study:
Black women are far less likely to get help navigating organizational politics and balancing work and personal lives, and managers are less likely to promote their accomplishments. The same dynamic holds true for access to managers: only about a third of black women socialize with their manager outside of work, compared to about half of white women.
Image credit: iStock/kali9
Want to receive early-bird invitations to our global events, custom-tailored content we think you’ll love, and exclusive access to “The World Women Report”?
