Women Of Color In The Workplace Statistics

Unfortunately, discrimination exists in the U.S. and is prevalent in many workplaces. Fortunately, legislation exists that prohibits discrimination based on someone’s race. Here are a few laws that you should know about as a woman of color in the workplace.

• U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC)

  The EEOC enforces federal laws that make it illegal for an employer to discriminate against an applicant or employee because of their race. It also prohibits employers from discriminating against an individual because that employee complained about discrimination, filed a charge, requested an investigation, or filed a lawsuit. This law covers most employers with 15 or more employees.

• Equal Employment Opportunity Act of 1972

  This act allows the EEOC to sue an employer in federal courts when they have reasonable cause to believe an employer discriminated against an employee based on their race. This law covers private employers with 15 or more employees. For public employees, the EEOC refers the case to the United States Attorney General.

• Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964

  This act prohibits discrimination based on race in the workplace. It prohibits employees and job applicants from being discriminated against in numerous areas including recruitment, hiring, and termination.

• The Civil Rights Act of 1991

  This act strengthens Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and amended statutes enforced by EEOC and expanded the rights of women to recover compensatory and punitive damages for sexual discrimination or harassment. It also gave individuals the right to trial by jury in discrimination claims and collect emotional distress damages.

• Equal Pay Act of 1963

  This act covers sex-based wage discrimination. It requires employees to provide all employers regardless of gender that are in the same workplace equal pay for equal work.

• Paycheck Fairness Act

  This act was passed in 2019 and strengthened the Equal Pay Act of 1963. It made it so that employers are no longer allowed to set pay based on salary history. This act also requires employers to report salaries to the EEOC and increases transparency in the workplace by prohibiting employers from retaliating against workers who discuss their wages.

• Fair Housing Act

  This act prohibits individuals from discriminating against individuals based on race in all aspects of renting/buying a home, getting a mortgage, and getting assistance. Here is a list of actions that this act prohibits in the sale and rental of housing.

What to do if your rights were violated

• Document everything: It is important to document incidents of harassment or mistreatment that you experience. If you want to take action in the future, you must be able to prove what happened. Document intentional discrimination and if people receive better treatment or promotions than you when you are doing equal work because of race or gender. Also, keep a record of emails, texts, events, and encounters and date everything.

• Talk to the Human Resource department: If you feel as though someone discriminated against you because of your race or gender in the workplace, you can speak or file a complaint with your employer’s HR department.

• Get a lawyer: If you feel as though someone discriminated against you because of your race or gender, you can talk to a lawyer. They can help you take the necessary steps to protect your rights.

  • The NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund is a legal organization that fights for racial justice. They accept a small number of requests for legal assistance. You can fill out their “Request for Assistance” form here.

• File a complaint with the Department of Labor: The Department of Labor enforces numerous worker protection laws. You can contact the Department of Labor by calling 1-866-487-9243 or one of their local Wage and Hour Division offices.

• File a complaint with the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP): If you feel as though an employer who is doing business with the Federal Government discriminated against you because of your race, you can file a discrimination complaint with the OFCCP. You can file a claim within 300 days from the alleged discrimination by using OFCCP’s online form. You can file this form online with your OFCCP Regional Office or in person with your OFCCP District or Area Office.

• File A Complaint With The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC): If you feel as though an employer discriminated against you because of your race, you can file a complaint with the EEOC. This law covers discrimination during the application process and while you are employed. Learn how to file a complaint here.

• File a Housing Complaint: If you feel as though an individual discriminated against you in any aspect of finding and buying a home, you can file a complaint with FHEO. You can send this housing discrimination form to your local FHEO office or call 1-800-669-9777.

A gender wage gap exists in 97 percent of occupations.Women of color working full-time do not make as much as white, non-Hispanice men counterparts, according to the National Women’s Law Center.

Black women make 61 cents for every dollar that white, non-Hispanic men are paid

Latina women make 53 cents for every dollar that white, non-Hispanic men are paid.

Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander women make 62 cents for every dollar that white, non-Hispanic men are paid.

Asian women make 85 cents for every dollar that white, non-Hispanic men are paid.

Companies Championing Diversity

• Finding a company with a culture that you love and where you feel comfortable being your true self in the workplace can be challenging. Here are 15 companies that are promoting diversity and inclusion.

• Methodology

  • In order for a company to make the list they needed to be on Black Enterprise’s Best Companies For Diversity List, as well as Working Mother’s Best Companies for Multicultural Women List, or Great Place To Work’s Best Workplaces for Women List and have a Zippia score of 4.5 or higher.

Knowing Your Employer Asking The Right Questions

Interviews should not be one-sided. Good interviewers allow candidates to ask questions. As a woman of color, asking the right questions can be challenging, given that issues of diversity and equity are still considered socially taboo by many. At the end of an interview, you should make time to ask questions around issues of diversity, equity, and inclusion to ensure you find yourself in a workplace that supports you both professionally and personally.

Here are 10 questions that you can ask in an interview:

1. What does it mean for your company to be committed to diversity and inclusion? How have you demonstrated this commitment in the past year?

2. How do you foster a culture of respect at your company?

3. Ensuring that everyone has an equal say in decisions is important to me. What does your company do to ensure everyone’s voices are heard?

4. Do supervisors at this company receive diversity and inclusion training? Are topics related to diversity and inclusion included in staff training?

5. Are there any affinity groups for women of color at your company?

6. What opportunities are available to your employees that allow them to strengthen their skills and grow with the company?

7. Tell me about your most successful employees? What are some of their qualities? What do they do differently?

8. What opportunities are available for me that allow me to strengthen my skills and grow with the company?

9. Could you share your company’s diversity statistics with me?

10. How diverse is the executive team at your company? If they reply that it is not diverse, you can ask: “Are any actions being taken to diversify the team?”

Being A Woman Of Color In A Predominantly White Workplace

Being a woman of color in a professional position can be an isolating and lonely experience. Due to systemic racism, people of color have not been afforded equitable access to education, career advancement opportunities, and social networks that can help propel their careers forward. Women of color often find themselves as the “token minority.” There is a fine line between having diversity in your organization and tokenizing. Tokenism is the process of choosing one or two socially and historically underrepresented minorities to serve as evidence of one’s commitment to hiring diverse populations. Some companies often use “token minorities” in marketing or brochures to demonstrate their organization’s diversity. This leads to the glorification of tokenism, the idea that there is something unique or special about being the only member of a racial or gender group in a work environment. By glorifying tokenism, we fail to realize the injustices and obstacles women of color experience in the workplace on an interpersonal level. Here are some common experiences that women of color face in the workplace.

• Being stereotyped: People of color are often unable to create a separate work identity that isn’t wrapped up in racist cultural stereotypes. Racist stereotypes such as “Hispanics and Blacks are lazy” often force people of color to work longer hours to avoid people seeing them as having a poor work ethic. Black women may be less inclined to speak up or challenge a coworker out of fear of confirming the “angry black woman stereotype.” People of color may mince what they say and hide their accent to avoid being seen as incompetent or using slang in the workplace.

• Having your authority challenged: Respectfully challenging another colleague should be encouraged in the workplace. It is important to have workplaces that foster and cultivate diversity of thoughts and opinions. Many women of color report having their authority and decisions challenged more often than their white counterparts. In these situations, women of color feel ignored, attacked, and disconnected from the organization.

• Encounter skepticism and feelings of disbelief about your positional power: Senior leaders who are also women of color, may encounter people who doubt their authority. These people often have stereotypical views of people of color in lowly positions. Thus, seeing one in a senior-level role goes against what they were taught to believe about the career trajectory of people of color.

• Not getting credit: Women often have their ideas dismissed or taken by other co-workers. This is an even larger problem among younger women. This problem is even worse among women of color who also face biases due to their race. Unfortunately, this leads to a smaller proportion of women sharing their ideas and thoughts.

Self-Care For Women Of Color

Navigating racial and gender discrimination in the workplace, coupled with enormous workloads, causes women of color to be more inclined to feel burnt out and exhausted. The old adage that “people of color have to work twice as hard to get half as far as their white counterparts” still rings true today. Many women of color work in jobs where they report working longer and have larger workloads than other employees. For women of color, self-care is not selfish, but an act of resistance and survival.

Here are some tips for implementing self-care into your life.

Professional Groups: Minority and women based professional groups are not only safe spaces, but they also provide women of color the opportunity to meet like minded professionals, build alliances, and provide a safe to process the oppressive behaviors they experience in their workplaces. Some of these organizations are cross cutting and more inclusive and targeted towards professional women regardless of their field or industry, while some are more specific and geared towards specific careers. You can find a list of these organizations (link to group page).

Psychological/Mental support: Therapy is often seen as a solution for white women, but many women of color are hesitant to seek out therapy for many reasons. They fear meeting a therapist or counselor who doesn’t understand their cultural worldview—the psychological stressors and toll that many women of color take on is directly connected to their experiences of being both a person of color and a woman. We also have to acknowledge that there is a lot of distrust among women of color when it comes to our health care system. Many women of color are raised in families where therapy is not encouraged or stigmatized—many women of color are forced to either deal privately with their stress or depression as a way to not appear weak or vulnerable. Consider checking out some of these resources to search for women of color therapist: Therapy for Black Girls, and National Queer Trans Therapists of Color Network. I know that podcasts as apps are never a replacement for actual therapy, but here are a few additional suggestions: Balanced Black Girl Podcast, Therapy for Black Girls, and Liberate Meditation App.

What Can You Do As An Employer?
(Supporting Women Of Color In The Workplace)

Organizational leaders have to take an active role in supporting and advancing women of color in the workplace. Men, specifically white men, will have an important role to play to ensure diversity and equity are priorities in their organizations, and the voices and perspectives of women of color are amplified. A lot of our common discourse is focused on what women can do to advance themselves, and this often places the burden of advancing amidst racial and gender discrimination on them. In order to create more equitable environments where women of color are treated with respect and civility, here is some advice for employers:

• Start recruiting women of color on your board of directors: Board of directors have a lot of influence over the hiring, operations, and culture of any organization. When women of color are missing from your board, their perspectives on how your organization can improve are also obsolete. One of the factors that may be important to women of color professionals is how diverse the board of directors is at a respective organization. If you can visually show you are committed to diversity among your board, you are attracting women of color employees as well.

• Elevate their voices and encourage them to participate: Encourage your women of color employees to speak up during meetings. Tell them that you value and appreciate their opinions even if they are different. You want to be careful about how you go about facilitating this because you don’t want to appear as you are singling them out. In your one- on-one meetings, it is best to explain to them how much you value their presence and insight.

• Utilize minority professional networks: If you are recruiting for positions, please use minority professional networks to post and advertise your positions. You can find a list here.

• Be aware of our own biases and expectations of women in the workplace: We all have our own biases—and it is important to confront these biases. You may be hindering the performance and experiences of women of color if you are not aware of your biases. Do you perceive women of color differently when they speak up? Do you view them as aggressive or confrontational? Do you treat them differently when you notice these behaviors? Be aware of your biases as they often influence our actions and interactions with one another.

Finding Your Sponsor Building Allies

What is your motivation for working? To pay bills? Create change? Achieve a sense of accomplishment? All of us, regardless of our industry or position, are committed to performing well in our respective jobs and careers. Whether you have the goal of exceeding sales goals, or improving the efficiency of work processes, you need to cultivate a supportive community of allies. Allies in the workplace are confidantes, they help us solve problems, and they often act as a voice a reason when encountering workplace challenges and obstacles. For women of color, allies can provide emotional, and social support as we navigate the complexities of both racial and gender discrimination in predominately white spaces.

Allies can also help prevent the marginalization and silencing of people of color that occurs on an interpersonal level—oftentimes when a women of color speaks up in a predominantly white space, her concerns may be ignored, interrupted and/or she may have her ideas publicly challenged by in front of her colleagues.

In these situations, allies need to practice the three R’s, Restate, Reflect and Redirect.

• If a woman of color speaks up, restate what she said to ensure others have heard her.

• If a woman of color speaks up, and is either interrupted or ignored, encourage your white colleagues to reflect on how their actions only serve to further silence and marginalize the voices of women of color.

• Redirect the conversation if you notice that your white colleagues are hijacking the conversation. Asking the question, Have we heard from everyone in the room or are there any voices missing from this conversation are powerful questions that can change the direction of workplace discussions.

Women of color have to be very strategic about building allies and finding a sponsor in the workplace. A sponsor is defined as someone with both power and influence in a work environment who can advocate for you, and help remove barriers and obstacles to climb the ladder in your organization.
According to a recent survey by Payscale, among Black and Hispanic women who said they have a sponsor, only 60% said their sponsor was white. The survey found that Black women who have a Black sponsor reported making 11.3% less than Black women with a white sponsor. Hispanic women with a Hispanic sponsor make 15.5% less than Hispanic women with a white sponsor, the survey found. Black and Hispanic women who have no sponsor at all are paid 5% less than those who do.
Many women of color often put in positions where they have to find white sponsors to advance in their careers; however, these sponsors may also lack the cultural humility to understand the disadvantages that women of color encounter in the workplace. Women of color should never be discouraged from finding allies or sponsors who are not people of color. Finding a sponsor who looks like you and shares your racial and/or gender identity allows women of color to bring their whole selves to work. In order to thrive in predominantly white spaces, it is important to have honest conversations with your sponsors and allies about how you want to be supported. Find allies outside of the workplace to support you outside of work.

Groups

It is important to remember that you are never alone. There are many groups that support, advocate for, and bring together black americans. There are many benefits to joining these groups. People in these groups often share personal experiences and are able to offer each other emotional support that they cannot get in other places. Here is a list of some of the most popular nationwide organizations.

Facts:

https://psmag.com/news/black-women-are-more-likely-than-white-women-to-report-sexual-harassment
http://www.nationalpartnership.org/our-work/resources/workplace/fair-pay/african-american-women-wage-gap.pdf

Show Your Support/Donate

Many organizations that support black americans rely on the generosity of others. You can show your support by donating to the following organizations.

Black Women’s Blueprint: Black Women’s Blueprint is a transnational Black feminist organization. They envision a world where women and girls of African descent are fully empowered and where gender, race, and other disparities are erased. They work to place Black women and girls’ lives as well as their particular struggles squarely within the context of the larger racial justice concerns of Black communities. Donate here.

BOLD (Black Organizing for Leadership and Dignity): BOLD is a national training intermediary focused on transforming the practice of Black organizers in the US to increase their alignment, impact, and sustainability to win progressive change. Donate here.

INCITE!: INCITE! is a network of radical feminists of color organizing to end state violence and violence in our homes and communities. Donate Here.
https://www.alliedmedia.org/incite/donate

National Action Council for Minorities in Engineering (NACME): NACME is the largest provider of college scholarships for underrepresented minorities pursuing degrees at schools of engineering. Donate here.

National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP): The mission of NAACP is to secure the political, educational, social, and economic equality of rights to eliminate race-based discrimination and ensure the health and well-being of all persons. Donate here.

SisterLove Inc.: SisterLove Inc. is on a mission to eradicate the adverse impact of HIV/AIDS and other reproductive justice health challenges impacting women and their families through education, prevention, support, and human rights advocacy in the United States and around the world. Donate here.

The Partnership: Formed in 1987, The Partnership supports multicultural professionals at all levels in an increasingly diverse and global workforce. They work with organizations in all sectors to build racially and ethnically diverse leadership pipelines. Donate here.

Trans Women of Color Collective (TWOCC): The purpose and intent of this collective are to create safe spaces for trans and gender non-conforming people of color and their comrades to foster community and healing in an atmosphere of love, empowerment, and kinship. Donate here.

UNCF: UNCF is the nation’s largest and most effective minority education organization. UNCF has raised more than $4.8 billion and helped more than 450,000 students and counting not just attend college, but thrive, graduate, and become leaders. Donate here.

Author

Kavita Pillai

Kavita Pillai is a former writer and researcher for the Zippia Career Advice blog. Her research and writing spanned understanding the relationship between income and age to reports on the gender pay gap and monthly BLS jobs report. Kavita graduated from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte with a BA in English and earned her PhD from the University of Missouri-Columbia in English Language and Literature.