Glass ceilings aren’t created equal: Confronting the barriers black women face in Corporate America

As a child, the adult figures in my life always told me the "sky's the limit" or "reach for the stars." I would stretch out my short arms and tiny hands above my head as I looked up and thought about my future. In times that I faced adversity, I would think about those phrases I often heard and remembered how I felt when I thought about my possibilities. Gender and race never crossed my mind as I reached for what was mine. The world was my oyster, and it was up for a fair game if you dared to try. 

I entered adulthood, and those phrases no longer meant the same to me. Now there was a glass ceiling that stood in my way from reaching any stars, let alone sitting on cloud-9 in the sky. 

In 1978, Marilyn Loden coined the term "the glass ceiling" at the Women's Exposition in New York City. When she spoke to the gathered audience about an invisible barrier that women meet as they attempt to ascend in their careers, little did she know her expression would become part of an enduring legacy for women's rights. Furthermore, Loden likely did not realize that her glass ceiling and her fight for women's equality would look a lot different for women of color in 2019.

As I pursued a career in philanthropic consulting, I noticed that “ceiling” begin to grow opaque compared to my white women counterparts. I tried different strategies to progress in the workplace, each rendering invisible a piece of my authentic identity.  I never wore my hair in a “natural” style, opting to wear it straight down or in a ponytail. (My grandmother once told me a story about being turned away from a job because of her hair.) And I decided to shorten my government name, Yassminda, because I wanted to make people in the workplace feel comfortable.

The more I tried to break that ceiling, though, the dimmer those stars shined. Perhaps they lost their luster because I realized that not all women experience the workplace in the same way. My glass ceiling looked a lot different as a black woman at work and I would face a different set of career challenges. There were odds stacked against me that no current business book on the shelves had prepared me for, nor did I have any mentors or sponsors that looked like me. I often felt isolated and alone during my climb up the ladder. 

The glass ceiling is thicker for African-American women. We face barriers when we seek out leadership roles and when we negotiate pay: African-American women make 65 cents on the dollar to our white male counterparts. And when it comes to gender diversity initiatives, black women don't seem to benefit in the same ways as our white women colleagues. A joint study between McKinsey and LeanIn.org in 2018 reported that black and brown women hold less than 11% of management roles, less than 8% of senior management roles, and less than 4% of executive positions at Fortune 500 companies. The data shows there is an unequivocal ceiling that black women face earlier in their careers, and their path toward upward mobility plateaus at middle-management. 

According to a Catalyst report in 2019; by 2045 the workforce will be the most diverse it has ever been. And yet, women of color are almost invisible on most leadership pages on company websites. The good news is, many companies now have the opportunity to invest in women of color and mirror the future demographic changes as we move toward the future of work. In order for industries across various sectors to create an equal playing field for all women, there are three things companies and leaders need to start doing. It's time for us to come together and create a plan that is inclusive for all groups to experience the American Dream. 

Face racial inequality

To solve any problem, we must first be willing to identify what the problem is. People often don't feel comfortable talking about race, but to move forward, we have to acknowledge that there are inequalities embedded in workplace culture that affect those in the minority. Only in the last 40 years or so have women of color been allowed to work in places with white men and women as equals. Only by confronting these truths head on will we be able to take the necessary steps to make lasting, positive change.

Put dollars down

When we talk about having a seat at the table, it’s not just the “seat” people want, but having a voice, to be part of the decision making process. It's great to have diversity and inclusion, but if women of color don't feel like they have a stake in their companies, many are going to lean out.

It’s hard to invest in a company that does not reflect their diversity at the highest levels. If none of your senior leaders reflects our increasingly diverse workforce, what message are you sending to the women of color in your organization? Women of color have done their part in investing in their professional development; now it's time for companies to meet them and say, "I see you, and I want you to have a seat at the table so we're going to create an environment so you can be successful."

Companies can show this commitment by investing in their Employee Resource Groups. Many diverse leaders who oversee their company's ERGs lead these groups with no additional pay. And it's rare for these groups to have much in the way of a  budget to help them grow. How can you scale diversity initiatives with limited or minimal resources? To make lasting change, executives and senior leaders will need to back their commitments to diversity with dollars.

Actions speak loudest

Martin Luther King Jr. wrote in his letter from the Birmingham Jail, “We will live in the monologue and not the dialogue.” Creating an equitable workforce will require companies and leaders to turn their intentions into actions.

We will need to create structures to dismantle the systemic racism at work. There have to be intentional hiring practices and intentional structures in place to make sure that women of color have an opportunity to advance. For example, the NFL incorporated The Rooney Rule for hiring new coaches and senior operation roles. The Rooney Rule requires that each team have a diverse candidate pool for those open positions.

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Record numbers of black women are leaving corporate America because companies have not invested in their upward mobility. I don’t want to see any more women of color deferring their dreams because leaders have not stepped up. In the words of James Baldwin, “Not everything that is faced can be changed, but nothing can be changed until it is faced.”

Minda Harts is the author of "The Memo: What Women of Color Need to Know to Secure a Seat at the Table."