Black Women Are Leaning In And Getting Nowhere

[sfy]

Black Women Are Leaning In And Getting Nowhere
Ambitious women are repeatedly sidelined, a new study shows.
09/27/2016 10:11 am ET | Updated Sep 29, 2016
Emily Peck Executive Editor, Business and Technology, The Huffington Post

(Photo Credit: Ruben Sprich / Reuters)
Sheryl Sandberg, chief operating officer of Facebook, has famously advised women to “lean in.” Women of color have been doing that for a while, though.

Black women want a seat at the table. And yet they are close to invisible at the highest ranks of corporate America, reveals data released Tuesday morning by consulting firm McKinsey & Company and LeanIn.org, the nonprofit women’s leadership organization founded by Facebook Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg.

This is the second year the organization has released the data, among the most comprehensive looks at how women are faring in the business world.

Overall, it’s not going terribly well. Women drop out of the corporate pipeline at high rates: For every 100 women promoted to manager (the first step on the track up the ladder), 130 men are advanced, the study found. Women get more pushback when they negotiate for raises, and are more likely to get labeled pushy or bossy by the higher-ups and generally receive less support from senior colleagues.

But women of color have it particularly bad, the study found.

Defined as black, Asian or Hispanic, women of color make up just 3 percent of executives in the C-suite at the 132 North American companies surveyed, which include JP Morgan Chase, Procter & Gamble, General Motors and Facebook. Yet, these women comprise 20 percent of the United States population.

White women were also nowhere near parity in those high-level offices, but at 17 percent are doing much better by comparison.

“When women are stuck, corporate America is stuck,” Sandberg said in a statement. “We know that diverse teams perform better and inclusive workplaces are better for all employees, so we all have strong incentives to get this right.”


(LeanIn.org)
Women of color are far less likely to make it to the top in corporate America.
“Women of color are the most underrepresented group in the corporate pipeline,” write the authors of the report, which also surveyed women within these companies.

This is the second year that LeanIn.org and McKinsey have done this landmark survey. Though last year some data on women of color was included, the report did not break out pipeline data on women of color.

The latest study looked at promotion and attrition rates at the various companies, which together employ more than 4.6 million people. Additionally, more than 34,000 employees at the companies responded to a survey on gender biases, work-life issues and career opportunities at their companies.

Women of color who responded to the survey, especially black women, tended to perceive their offices as less fair. Only 29 percent of black women said the best opportunities at their company go to the most deserving employees, compared to 47 percent of white women, 43 percent of Asian women and 41 percent of Hispanic women.

“This study makes clear that while all women remain underrepresented in the corporate pipeline, women of color face the steepest drop-offs,” LeanIn.org president Rachel Thomas said.

When Sandberg’s corporate feminist manifesto Lean In came out in 2013, one of the most potent criticisms of the best-seller involved race. Many said the book, which urges women to speak up and be more ambitious at work, was less relevant for women of color, who face different challenges at the office.

Sandberg famously wrote that many women were giving up on attaining leadership roles in corporate America before their careers even took off. Women “leave before they leave,” she wrote, echoing a widely viewed TED Talk she gave in 2010. Essentially, the argument goes, women anticipate that they won’t be able to have full-throttle careers because at some point marriage and children will intercede. So they deliberately hold themselves back.

This may be a specific problem of white women, however. Women of color, according to surveys and plenty of anecdotal evidence, are far more ambitious. Indeed, black women participate in the labor market at higher rates than any other group of women.

While white women seem to struggle with whether or not to seek advancement at work, black women are far less ambiguous, according to a 2014 survey from the Center for Talent Innovation.

“In our research, we find black women are nearly 3 times more likely than white women to say they aspire to a powerful job with a prestigious title,” Tai Wingfield, one of the report’s authors and senior vice president of communications for the Center for Talent Innovation and managing director at Hewlett Consulting Partner, told The Huffington Post.

In this year’s LeanIn.org survey, 48 percent of women of color said they aspire to leadership positions at their company, compared with 37 percent of white women. The difference is most stark at the entry level, where only 27 percent of white women aspire to be a top executive, compared with 41 percent of women of color.

Yet it’s white women who are far more likely to land top roles. After Xerox chairman and CEO Ursula Burns leaves her post this year, there will be no black women CEOs in the Fortune 500, noted Melinda Marshall and Wingfield in a recent piece for Harvard Business Review.

“The problem is leadership isn’t seeing them ― those qualified, well educated black women who are vying for leadership but are being overlooked,” Wingfield told HuffPost.

“Black women are already ‘leaning in,’” Valerie Purdie-Vaughns, a psychology professor at Columbia University, wrote last year in a fascinating piece for Fortune on black female leadership.


(Steve Marcus / Reuters)
Xerox chairman and CEO Ursula Burns is seen at the 2012 International Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, Jan. 11, 2012. The company refers to Burns as “chairman” rather than “chairwoman.”
Part of the problem is “invisibility,” Purdie-Vaughns writes. When the average person thinks of a “woman leader,” she argues, the image that comes to mind is a white woman ― like Sandberg. If you picture a black leader, you’re more likely to think of a black man than a black woman.

“Because black women are not seen as typical of the categories ‘black’ or ‘woman,’ people’s brains fail to include them in both categories,” Purdie-Vaughns writes. “Black women suffer from a ‘now you see them now you don’t’ effect in the workplace.”

In Wingfield’s study, black women tell painful stories of how this plays at the office. One woman, after asking her boss about new opportunities at her firm, was told to be happy with what she’s achieved. “You’ve reached a milestone you’ve probably never imagined,” he tells her. “Do we really need to talk about what you haven’t yet achieved?”

Yvette Miley, a senior executive at MSNBC, describes her experiences in the 1990s speaking up at editorial meetings only to see her ideas get ignored until a male colleague repeated it and had the buy-in of the room.

What seems clear is that the managers and executives who make decisions about promotions and advancement may have unconsciously absorbed some of these stereotypes and are holding back women of color.

And to make things even tougher, many companies aren’t very focused on racial diversity to begin with. According to LeanIn.org’s numbers, 55 percent of companies say racial diversity is a top priority. Gender diversity gets far more attention, with 78 percent of companies saying they’ve made it a top goal.

CORRECTION: An earlier version of this story incorrectly said that more than 34,000 women answered survey questions as part of LeanIn.org and McKinsey’s new report. In fact, both men and women participated in the survey.

Source: www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/black-women-are-leaning-in-and-getting-nowhere_us_57e98908e4b024a52d29b0e8

[05heel]

This article is the story of my life. Ugh. So depressing!

[LLL]

Damn.

[cookiemdough]

Yep

[05heel]

I've said before that I aspire to nothing less than a VP title, eventually. That seems to be an unpopular stance on these boards. The WOC have admitted to being more openly ambitious in general from what I've observed.

I just had another infuriating meeting where I realized that I was the smartest person in the room. Ideas that I suggested years ago were being bantered about by others like they were piping hot and fresh. I was salty as hell.

[sfy]

I hope you get it, 05heel.

The part about titles reminded me of my friend's wife who was became obsessed with selling Mary Kay. She is a STEM professional, a PhD. Basically, the short and gossip-bait version is that she got CAUGHT UP with Mary Kay because she knew someone who reached director level, a title that had eluded her through most of her professional career. So for the cheap seats, yes, she wanted a director title so much, she sold Mary Kay to get it. And she did make director there, but wtf! I was all, "But I don't get it! This is not her industry so who cares ?" But I guess this is something that can happen if you're already slightly off and chase a title for 10+ years and The Man won't let you be great! They divorced a few years ago (perhaps not surprisingly, the Mary Kay fiasco was not entirely uninvolved lol) so I don't know if she ever got her title at work or not, or if she still sells MK or not. I may ask.

[05heel]

Oct 7, 2016 16:04:16 GMT -5 @246baje said:

Oct 7, 2016 15:52:23 GMT -5 05heel said:

I've said before that I aspire to nothing less than a VP title, eventually. That seems to be an unpopular stance on these boards. The WOC have admitted to being more openly ambitious in general from what I've observed.

I just had another infuriating meeting where I realized that I was the smartest person in the room. Ideas that I suggested years ago were being bantered about by others like they were piping hot and fresh. I was salty as hell.

This resonated with me as well.

When I first started working I noticed that all the white women said "oh I'm not ambitious" like being ambitious was a dirty word.

I hid my ambition when I was being crushed because I had an old white male team lead who made it his goal to take me down a peg or five.

In the last year or two I have uncovered my ambition once more. I had a white female mentor who was very uncomfortable when we met for lunch and I said "I want to be in management" and she was visibly taken aback.

My white female friends are still approaching management (and thus bigger paychecks) like crabs. Never ever being direct.

I'm being direct and for now it seems to be working. I'm getting opportunities that I never dreamed of. It's also inciting a lot of jealousy. I'm watching my back though cuz there's a target on it.

I had an older white male throw me under the bus a few years ago. He eventually dotted-line reported to me and I managed his mediocre ass right out the door.

I had another one just last year actually. Luckily no one respects him anyway, but that doesn't really matter. It's just plain wrong and I'm tired of it. Stay tuned, because I just got an interview for a position that is yet another promotion. I think 99% of my reasoning for wanting the job is so I can present my ass for kissing on the way out the door. Thirty-six, black, female, and pulling titles that are higher yours? Sign me up.

[05heel]

Oct 7, 2016 19:27:10 GMT -5 @kirkette said:

Oct 7, 2016 16:11:24 GMT -5 05heel said:

I had an older white male throw me under the bus a few years ago. He eventually dotted-line reported to me and I managed his mediocre ass right out the door.

I had another one just last year actually. Luckily no one respects him anyway, but that doesn't really matter. It's just plain wrong and I'm tired of it. Stay tuned, because I just got an interview for a position that is yet another promotion. I think 99% of my reasoning for wanting the job is so I can present my ass for kissing on the way out the door. Thirty-six, black, female, and pulling titles that are higher yours? Sign me up.

Get it, girl! Best wishes on your interview. 

thanks!

[05heel]

Oct 7, 2016 19:42:32 GMT -5 @246baje said:

Oct 7, 2016 16:11:24 GMT -5 05heel said:

I had an older white male throw me under the bus a few years ago. He eventually dotted-line reported to me and I managed his mediocre ass right out the door.

I had another one just last year actually. Luckily no one respects him anyway, but that doesn't really matter. It's just plain wrong and I'm tired of it. Stay tuned, because I just got an interview for a position that is yet another promotion. I think 99% of my reasoning for wanting the job is so I can present my ass for kissing on the way out the door. Thirty-six, black, female, and pulling titles that are higher yours? Sign me up.

Yes!!!

I've had white males ask me how I got my current role because they wanted the job I have now and couldn't get it because it is super competitive.

My response? "I didn't even ask for this role"

Boom motherfuckers!

lol! I know for a fact that there are people up in their feelings about my job. And it can't be because they honestly think they're smarter or more educated than me, so what's left? Get your life, losers.

[thejackpot]

All of this is so interesting since I have basically no first hand knowledge. The corporate world is a foreign place to me. I am sad that you guys have to deal with the bs when I know you are top tier in your fields. I hope that 05heel and @246baje get the spots you desire.

[childofhiphop]

All of this!

High fives and best wishes for those with upcoming interviews.

As for me, I have an awesome job and ambition.

But the white guy whose job "I took" is still bitter (2 years later).

Another white guy with lesser responsibilities has the title "Director" had the nerve to ask me if I had "enough brains" for my area of responsibility- I don't think many white people realize that POC take the SAME tests and hurdles for the SAME degrees as they do.

Another female makes it her mission to throw me under the bus (I loathe that saying) publicly in meetings to the point of awkward silence. This one is probably a little on me because I told (dared) her in a one on one meeting to "interrupt me one MO time" and see.

Swimming with the sharks has only made me a stronger swimmer until I get the Director title and PAY that I want. In the meantime, I'm rocking my evaluations and earning respect.

[thejackpot]

You know what I guess it's not that foreign to me. I just remembered the crap I endured when I switched from teaching SpecEd to English. I taught in a lily white high school and I was very invisible to people when I taught the "others" and when the English position opened up I decided to go for it. There was such drama after it was announced, people questioning my certification as if I couldn't have dual or triple certifications as I do. 
I guess I don't look at it the same as in the corporate world since promotions are generally handled at the county level and pay is non negotiable.

[sfy]

I hope everyone who mentioned it gets the title they're seeking. We already know the journey is twice as hard, Amen? Lol, I watched a ton of Greenleaf recently, let me live . But really, it's so imperative that we do our part not just to level up and gain the visibility, so that we are not an anomaly, but more importantly to be able to extend a helping hand to other WOC/POC on the ladder.

[andwhat]

I don't have the corporate world experience, but I get this same thing in government. The first 2 levels of promotion are test based at my job. I placed #2 when I got promoted and I actually had people say that I must have slept with someone to get information on the side. Are you fucking kidding me? I am smart and I applied myself. Fuck you very much. I hope to do just as well on the next test.

But here in 2016 we are having the first black woman to ever reach x position. And I have high aspiration for myself. But you can't tell everybody because when people find out they will try to do what they can to keep you down. Even other black women. That part is the most sickening to me.

[05heel]

Oct 8, 2016 17:14:48 GMT -5 @246baje said:

Oct 8, 2016 16:12:53 GMT -5 sfy said:

I hope everyone who mentioned it gets the title they're seeking. We already know the journey is twice as hard, Amen? Lol, I watched a ton of Greenleaf recently, let me live . But really, it's so imperative that we do our part not just to level up and gain the visibility, so that we are not an anomaly, but more importantly to be able to extend a helping hand to other WOC/POC on the ladder.

Yes ma'am! There are 3 young black women behind me that I keep an eye on and I try to mentor. I have no black female role models ahead of me so I am going to try to be the mentor I would love to have.

I'm jealous! I have zero, yes ZERO, black women behind me in my organization. Now that I think about it, I'm one of two black women who are not admins in my entire division. And this is a huge Fortune 500 company that every last one of you has heard of. It's shameful.

[kicks]

Oct 8, 2016 17:24:21 GMT -5 05heel said:

Oct 8, 2016 17:14:48 GMT -5 @246baje said:

Yes ma'am! There are 3 young black women behind me that I keep an eye on and I try to mentor. I have no black female role models ahead of me so I am going to try to be the mentor I would love to have.

I'm jealous! I have zero, yes ZERO, black women behind me in my organization. Now that I think about it, I'm one of two black women who are not admins in my entire division. And this is a huge Fortune 500 company that every last one of you has heard of. It's shameful.

I have yet to see a black female physician at my hospital. And the one black male physician I have met, I found out he's just a moonlighter on the overnight shift every once in awhile, so not even a full time physician at my hospital. 

I actually signed up as the resident representative on the diversity committee for the hospital, so it'll be really interesting to see how these meetings are with a bunch of white people sitting around talking. 

[sfy]

My husband spent several years at a smaller company, at least relative to the other companies he's worked for (maybe a few hundred employees). There were less than ten black people in the main office--he joined as the highest ranked black person there and was later promoted twice. He made a point of asking for and eventually taking the lead on their internship program. He came close to almost doubling the number of black people there that way. Granted, that number was still too low, but it's a good example of what one person in the right position can do.

[andwhat]

Oct 8, 2016 17:14:48 GMT -5 @246baje said:

Oct 8, 2016 16:12:53 GMT -5 sfy said:

I hope everyone who mentioned it gets the title they're seeking. We already know the journey is twice as hard, Amen? Lol, I watched a ton of Greenleaf recently, let me live . But really, it's so imperative that we do our part not just to level up and gain the visibility, so that we are not an anomaly, but more importantly to be able to extend a helping hand to other WOC/POC on the ladder.

Yes ma'am! There are 3 young black women behind me that I keep an eye on and I try to mentor. I have no black female role models ahead of me so I am going to try to be the mentor I would love to have.

I think mentoring will be the thing to make a breakthrough. Or I hope it is. Honestly at my job the first black women to reach whatever, they are not really what I aspire to. I am sure some of the issues with them are completely based on the fact that they are black females, but I have worked with them in different capacities and I definitely would not consider them role models.

I am really pushing my agency to have a mentoring program for all underrepresented minorities and how to navigate the good ole boy system.

[andwhat]

@246baje do you think the higher number of black people in engineering has to do with the STEM push. That is all I hear UMC/UC black parents talking about.

[sfy]

Oct 9, 2016 11:23:58 GMT -5 andwhat said:

@246baje do you think the higher number of black people in engineering has to do with the STEM push. That is all I hear UMC/UC black parents talking about.

I was also wondering if it has anything to do with HBCUs. Nearly all of my husband's friends from undergrad are engineers (coincidentally, one is also in Houston in O&G) because of the school's heavy focus on engineering and just off the top of my head, I can think of a few with great engineering programs.

[cookiemdough]

I struggle with the mentoring because as much as I am willing to give advice and lend an ear I really want to be able to sponsor others. Yet I am still trying to prove my seat at the table and basically I have no power to influence others to give people a chance. It is frustrating. Mentoring is great but sponsorship can make things move. I am still seeing that people in my organization need someone who doesn't look like me to be in there corner. Frustrating and disheartening.

[05heel]

Oct 10, 2016 5:51:13 GMT -5 cookiemdough said:

I struggle with the mentoring because as much as I am willing to give advice and lend an ear I really want to be able to sponsor others. Yet I am still trying to prove my seat at the table and basically I have no power to influence others to give people a chance. It is frustrating. Mentoring is great but sponsorship can make things move. I am still seeing that people in my organization need someone who doesn't look like me to be in there corner. Frustrating and disheartening.

Very frustrating.  If I actually want to mentor or sponsor anyone, I have to go all the way back to grad and professional programs to find black women who haven't even actually entered the field.  I've realized recently that I'm in a highly specialized role.  There aren't many people who do this to begin with, so you can imagine how many of them are WOC.  Who am I going to sponsor?  The pipeline is DRY. 

[sfy]

Oct 10, 2016 10:08:05 GMT -5 05heel said:

Oct 10, 2016 5:51:13 GMT -5 cookiemdough said:

I struggle with the mentoring because as much as I am willing to give advice and lend an ear I really want to be able to sponsor others. Yet I am still trying to prove my seat at the table and basically I have no power to influence others to give people a chance. It is frustrating. Mentoring is great but sponsorship can make things move. I am still seeing that people in my organization need someone who doesn't look like me to be in there corner. Frustrating and disheartening.

Very frustrating.  If I actually want to mentor or sponsor anyone, I have to go all the way back to grad and professional programs to find black women who haven't even actually entered the field.  I've realized recently that I'm in a highly specialized role.  There aren't many people who do this to begin with, so you can imagine how many of them are WOC.  Who am I going to sponsor?  The pipeline is DRY. 

Wow.  That's not good.  We should be everywhere.

Congrats on your global mod title, btw !
Save

[05heel]

Oct 10, 2016 10:13:02 GMT -5 sfy said:

Oct 10, 2016 10:08:05 GMT -5 05heel said:

Very frustrating.  If I actually want to mentor or sponsor anyone, I have to go all the way back to grad and professional programs to find black women who haven't even actually entered the field.  I've realized recently that I'm in a highly specialized role.  There aren't many people who do this to begin with, so you can imagine how many of them are WOC.  Who am I going to sponsor?  The pipeline is DRY. 

Wow.  That's not good.  We should be everywhere.

Congrats on your global mod title, btw !
Save

Oh, we definitely are not everywhere.  However, this thread has inspired me to set up lunch dates with the two other black women in my division.  I like them a lot, but don't take enough time just to interact with them on a personal and supportive level.

The global mod thing cracks me up.  It will probably be short-lived, which is definitely a good thing.  This is concrete evidence that I play too damn much. 

[redwino]

Oct 8, 2016 14:39:24 GMT -5 thejackpot said:

You know what I guess it's not that foreign to me. I just remembered the crap I endured when I switched from teaching SpecEd to English. I taught in a lily white high school and I was very invisible to people when I taught the "others" and when the English position opened up I decided to go for it. There was such drama after it was announced, people questioning my certification as if I couldn't have dual or triple certifications as I do. 
I guess I don't look at it the same as in the corporate world since promotions are generally handled at the county level and pay is non negotiable.

I often feel like I can't relate either because I work on Ed but I see this when it comes to people getting admin positions. My district has a decent representation of black teachers but only a handful of black principals and even fewer at the district level. The women who are attempting to reach the admin level are constantly called rude and abrasive.

I've actually had my worst working relationships with black female principals but I think it's because we both are used to getring pushback so we come at each other hard in the beginning. We have to make our boundaries clear and firm from the gate to survive the foolishness. Even with bumping heads, I've never felt the need to watch my back like I have with older white women I work with.

[NitaX]

Oct 10, 2016 10:42:49 GMT -5 redwino said:

Oct 8, 2016 14:39:24 GMT -5 thejackpot said:

You know what I guess it's not that foreign to me. I just remembered the crap I endured when I switched from teaching SpecEd to English. I taught in a lily white high school and I was very invisible to people when I taught the "others" and when the English position opened up I decided to go for it. There was such drama after it was announced, people questioning my certification as if I couldn't have dual or triple certifications as I do. 
I guess I don't look at it the same as in the corporate world since promotions are generally handled at the county level and pay is non negotiable.

I often feel like I can't relate either because I work on Ed but I see this when it comes to people getting admin positions. My district has a decent representation of black teachers but only a handful of black principals and even fewer at the district level. The women who are attempting to reach the admin level are constantly called rude and abrasive.

I've actually had my worst working relationships with black female principals but I think it's because we both are used to getring pushback so we come at each other hard in the beginning. We have to make our boundaries clear and firm from the gate to survive the foolishness. Even with bumping heads, I've never felt the need to watch my back like I have with older white women I work with.

This is what people say about my mentor - YET - she's always the person folks coming running to when ish gets messed up. LOL 

[andwhat]

Oct 10, 2016 12:48:36 GMT -5 NitaX said:

Oct 10, 2016 10:42:49 GMT -5 redwino said:

I often feel like I can't relate either because I work on Ed but I see this when it comes to people getting admin positions. My district has a decent representation of black teachers but only a handful of black principals and even fewer at the district level. The women who are attempting to reach the admin level are constantly called rude and abrasive.

I've actually had my worst working relationships with black female principals but I think it's because we both are used to getring pushback so we come at each other hard in the beginning. We have to make our boundaries clear and firm from the gate to survive the foolishness. Even with bumping heads, I've never felt the need to watch my back like I have with older white women I work with.

This is what people say about my mentor - YET - she's always the person folks coming running to when ish gets messed up. LOL 

Same with mine. And she is one of the few black females above me who really knows her shit. But they keep trying to hold her at the level she is and not allowing her to advance. I know she is more than qualified but the level she is trying to go to is more subjective on qualifications.

[thejackpot]

redwino I haven't had much luck with black administrators. When I was in DC I had two but it was only for a year or two. After that, I've had a loco ineffective black male and the rest if the folks have been white. I hope they are looking for some good diversity when I go back as I would like to go into admin.

[redwino]

Oct 11, 2016 12:45:59 GMT -5 thejackpot said:

redwino I haven't had much luck with black administrators. When I was in DC I had two but it was only for a year or two. After that, I've had a loco ineffective black male and the rest if the folks have been white. I hope they are looking for some good diversity when I go back as I would like to go into admin.

I'm currently working with a black male principal who seems to be doing OK. Parents and staff love him and he's very hands on with the kids so he gets high marks from me. He also leaves me alone and let's me work in peace which truly wins me over. Most of the black women administrators I've worked with had been on top of their stuff. Although there were two who were hot messes. They were the principal and asst. Principal at the same school. Ineffective is an understatement. It was my first experience working where almost everyone, including leadership, was a POC and It pissed me off how poorly the school was run.