Women in the Workplace Report: Women of Color

Last month, LeanIn.org and McKinsey & Company released the 2021 report of Women in the Workplace. Women in the Workplace is the largest study of the state of women in corporate America. The two companies launched the study in 2015 and have been expanding the study annually. This is now their 7th report, collecting information from 423 organizations and surveying more than 65,000 employees. This year, they focused on the impact of COVID-19 and the increased attention on diversity and inclusion.

In this article, I am just touching on the findings for women of color, but I will be writing another article covering more of the report soon.

Over the last year, we have seen a growing emphasis on the importance of diversity, equity, and inclusion, and more and more companies are dedicating money and time to increase racial equity. Thus, I wanted to center this post on a very revealing and disappointing aspect of the study's findings: the lack of actual improvement in the workplace experiences of women of color.

"Women of color face similar types and relative frequencies of microaggressions as they did two years ago—and they remain far more likely than white women to be on the receiving end of disrespectful and “othering” behavior."

Although there is an increased awareness of racial disparities and a greater commitment to racial equity, there has not been much improvement for minority women. Lareina Yee, a senior partner at McKinsey who formerly served as their chief diversity and inclusion officer, emphasizes that corporate America has devoted over $200 billion to improving racial equity, but she points out that the research shows that Black women, Asian, women, Latino women, women with disabilities, and LGBTQ all continue to have "a worse experience than white peers and white women" (Cutter WSJ).

Additionally, while white employees are more likely now to say that they are allies to women of color, they are not more likely to take real action to stand up for their women of color colleagues. Rachel Thomas, the co-founder and CEO of Lean In, in a Wall Street Journal article noted a large gap between words and actions. She explains, "When you have almost 80% of white employees saying they see themselves as an ally, far less than half are confronting discrimination when they see it. Far less than a quarter are advocating for new opportunities for women of color or mentoring and sponsoring women of color" (Cutter WSJ). Real allyship and progress come in the form of action.

Even with increased awareness and commitment to the cause, women of color are still suffering and experiencing the same discrimination that they were even before the COVID-19 pandemic. The study highlights that there is much work to be done to support women of color, who are sometimes "double onlys" - the only woman and only one of their race in the room. Women of color often feel more bias, more challenges to their competence, and more pressure to perform to combat this discrimination.

The Women in the Workplace report is a great tool for us to gain knowledge on the state of women in corporate America. Now, we must use the knowledge to better support women of color and make real progress.

To read the full report, click here.

To read more from Lareina Yee and Rachel Thomas, click here for the link to the Wall Street Journal article.