When people talk about barriers to advancement of women in the workplace, they commonly refer to it as the “glass ceiling,” but for women of visible minority it’s a “concrete ceiling.”
A recent study conducted by Catalyst Women — a North American consulting firm for the advancement of women in business — confirms this. It shows that women of colour are dealing with a much deeper, systemic problem. The majority of participants in Women of Colour Executives: Their Voices, Their Journeys agreed this ceiling is harder to break than glass.
“There’s the myth that being a women of colour in business is a double plus. But, what we actually learned is that it’s a double minus,” says Sheila Wellington, president of Catalyst Women.
Catalyst surveyed almost 2,000 professional and managerial women of colour from 30 companies across the U.S. They held 59 focus groups with more than 300 women and carried out 82 individual interviews. Most of the respondents agreed there are four major barriers preventing them from advancing in their companies: not having an influential mentor or sponsor, lack of informal networking with influential colleagues, lack of company role models of similar racial background and lack of high-visibility assignments.
There are employers that aren’t aware of these issues affecting women of colour, says Wellington, which is why it was hard to get the research off the ground. Catalyst had to convince businesses these statistics were useful to their companies.
“This is an issue that has literally never been studied before,” she says. “The data was information that no one has collected or analyzed until we did it. Nobody’s made it public, shone a light on it and the beginning of change is information.”
Even though Catalyst’s survey is based strictly on U.S. statistics, Wellington says she believes the situation is similar in Canada but there are few numbers to prove it.
A 1996 Statistics Canada survey indicated that only five per cent of working visible minority women are likely to make it into managerial positions as compared to six per cent for white women and 11 per cent for white men.
Statistics Canada also published a profile of women in the workplace in 2000, but there was no mention of women of colour. The results from the survey confirmed there are few women in senior management positions with an average of about 20 per cent. The majority of women are still being hired for traditional gender-specific occupations such as clerical or administrative (where women make up 75 per cent of the workforce) and nursing (87 per cent).
Some argue that women of visible minority are not in senior-level positions because they’re still making their way through the pipeline, that they are being groomed for top management jobs. Wellington says that’s not the case at all.
“I know women in the pipeline now whose mothers spent their entire careers in the pipeline,” she says.
“The problem with the pipeline is women leave, the pipeline leaks and women are in the wrong place in the pipeline.”
Instead of getting stuck at a certain level, many women will leave the organization in hopes of finding a job that will advance them further.
However, they often don’t tell the employer the real reason they are leaving.
“Basically when women leave they don’t want to commit career suicide. So you ask them why did they leave and they say they want to be a stay-at-home mom or they’re going back to school,” she says. “They’re not going to say, ‘I’m leaving because there isn’t an equal playing field here,’ or ‘I feel invisible in the organization,’ or ‘I’ve been passed over a few times for advancement.’”
But when Catalyst conducts private, confidential exit interviews, they usually get the honest answers. However, just getting that critical information doesn’t help if businesses don’t use it to create tailored programs specific to the needs of visible minority women.
Out of the four major barriers, absence of a mentor was cited as number one by those surveyed, which is why Susan Black, president of the Catalyst division in Canada, says a formal mentoring program is important.
“Part of our research shows that women who have mentors are more satisfied with the organization. They give you feedback, protect you from political fall out, help position you for promotions,” says Black. “They also make you feel less isolated, particularly in a big company.”
In the study, most women who made it to senior levels of management said that a mentor helped them get there. Almost all of the 30 women interviewed said they had a white, male mentor. Wellington says she remembers an anonymous quote by an African American woman that said, “All my mentors have been white guys. Who knows better about life at the top than a white guy.”
Which shows, says Wellington, when women of colour choose a mentor they should look at who’s at the top and who can help them get there.
The strongest advice Wellington has for any company is to look at its environment internally and externally.
“Who are your consumers? What is your employee base now? What does the workforce look like? What will it look like in 10 to 20 years? Once you figure this out apply it to your organization.
“Companies won’t survive the 21st century without (looking at these issues).”
A recent study conducted by Catalyst Women — a North American consulting firm for the advancement of women in business — confirms this. It shows that women of colour are dealing with a much deeper, systemic problem. The majority of participants in Women of Colour Executives: Their Voices, Their Journeys agreed this ceiling is harder to break than glass.
“There’s the myth that being a women of colour in business is a double plus. But, what we actually learned is that it’s a double minus,” says Sheila Wellington, president of Catalyst Women.
Catalyst surveyed almost 2,000 professional and managerial women of colour from 30 companies across the U.S. They held 59 focus groups with more than 300 women and carried out 82 individual interviews. Most of the respondents agreed there are four major barriers preventing them from advancing in their companies: not having an influential mentor or sponsor, lack of informal networking with influential colleagues, lack of company role models of similar racial background and lack of high-visibility assignments.
There are employers that aren’t aware of these issues affecting women of colour, says Wellington, which is why it was hard to get the research off the ground. Catalyst had to convince businesses these statistics were useful to their companies.
“This is an issue that has literally never been studied before,” she says. “The data was information that no one has collected or analyzed until we did it. Nobody’s made it public, shone a light on it and the beginning of change is information.”
Even though Catalyst’s survey is based strictly on U.S. statistics, Wellington says she believes the situation is similar in Canada but there are few numbers to prove it.
A 1996 Statistics Canada survey indicated that only five per cent of working visible minority women are likely to make it into managerial positions as compared to six per cent for white women and 11 per cent for white men.
Statistics Canada also published a profile of women in the workplace in 2000, but there was no mention of women of colour. The results from the survey confirmed there are few women in senior management positions with an average of about 20 per cent. The majority of women are still being hired for traditional gender-specific occupations such as clerical or administrative (where women make up 75 per cent of the workforce) and nursing (87 per cent).
Some argue that women of visible minority are not in senior-level positions because they’re still making their way through the pipeline, that they are being groomed for top management jobs. Wellington says that’s not the case at all.
“I know women in the pipeline now whose mothers spent their entire careers in the pipeline,” she says.
“The problem with the pipeline is women leave, the pipeline leaks and women are in the wrong place in the pipeline.”
Instead of getting stuck at a certain level, many women will leave the organization in hopes of finding a job that will advance them further.
However, they often don’t tell the employer the real reason they are leaving.
“Basically when women leave they don’t want to commit career suicide. So you ask them why did they leave and they say they want to be a stay-at-home mom or they’re going back to school,” she says. “They’re not going to say, ‘I’m leaving because there isn’t an equal playing field here,’ or ‘I feel invisible in the organization,’ or ‘I’ve been passed over a few times for advancement.’”
But when Catalyst conducts private, confidential exit interviews, they usually get the honest answers. However, just getting that critical information doesn’t help if businesses don’t use it to create tailored programs specific to the needs of visible minority women.
Out of the four major barriers, absence of a mentor was cited as number one by those surveyed, which is why Susan Black, president of the Catalyst division in Canada, says a formal mentoring program is important.
“Part of our research shows that women who have mentors are more satisfied with the organization. They give you feedback, protect you from political fall out, help position you for promotions,” says Black. “They also make you feel less isolated, particularly in a big company.”
In the study, most women who made it to senior levels of management said that a mentor helped them get there. Almost all of the 30 women interviewed said they had a white, male mentor. Wellington says she remembers an anonymous quote by an African American woman that said, “All my mentors have been white guys. Who knows better about life at the top than a white guy.”
Which shows, says Wellington, when women of colour choose a mentor they should look at who’s at the top and who can help them get there.
The strongest advice Wellington has for any company is to look at its environment internally and externally.
“Who are your consumers? What is your employee base now? What does the workforce look like? What will it look like in 10 to 20 years? Once you figure this out apply it to your organization.
“Companies won’t survive the 21st century without (looking at these issues).”
