How workplaces continue to fail women of colour in leadership – and what your organisation can do to make meaningful change

By Helena Wacko, Equity, Diversity & Inclusion Researcher

Women of colour have long faced an uphill battle towards leadership in the corporate world and beyond, with barriers rooted in both racial and gendered systems of oppression. While some progress has been made, Black women in the US hold only 4.3% of managerial positions, compared to 32.6% of white women. Overall, women of colour in the US make up only 4% of C-suite leaders. In the UK women of colour account for only 11 out of the 1099 most powerful leadership roles across public and private sectors – and out of these only 3 are held by Black women.i These statistics, along with the challenges women of colour face on their path to top leadership roles, are changing at an incremental pace – and we know it will take twice as long for women of colour to reach parity in senor leadership – suggesting that many of today’s inclusion and diversity initiatives are poorly targeted. ii

Despite the persistent barriers women of colour face on the path to leadership – including (but not limited to) lack of support, mentoring and key relationships, as well microaggressions, discrimination, racism and systemic barriers – they excel in leadership roles when they get there. Their achievements are a testament to their resilience and a powerful reminder of the transformative role women of colour play in shaping leadership across industries. Celebrating these accomplishments and the role models they represent is crucial, but it is equally critical for organisations to fulfil their responsibility of deliberate and meaningful actions to drive systemic change. In short, breaking down systemic barriers is essential, which is why we have outlined actionable steps to help your organisation ensure that women of colour can thrive and succeed in leadership.

What is the reality of the leadership journey for women of colour? 

Discrimination, scrutiny and lack of psychological safety  

At large, women and marginalised genders in leadership are commonly held to higher standards and scrutiny than their male peers. However, intersectional research, as well as public scrutiny, demonstrate time and time again how women of colour in leadership positions are also “held to different and higher standards than white women”.iii

Moreover, on the path to leadership, women of colour face numerous and intersecting barriers. For example, they experience higher rates of discrimination than their white female peers and are less likely to experience psychological safety in their workplaces. This discrimination spans from microaggressions – such as harmful comments, being mistaken for another non-white colleague, deemed ‘diversity hires’ or having judgments or capabilities unnecessarily questioned – to more severe forms of harassment and abuse. These experiences, especially microaggressions that build up over time, take a significant toll on women of colour, and strain not only workplace performance, relationships and ultimately progression – but can also lead to burnout. This toll is further compounded by the fact that women of colour rarely receive the mental health support they deserve.iv Women of colour are also more likely to experience prescriptive stereotypes, ‘onlyness,’ and tokenism, which place an undue burden on them to represent or speak on behalf of “all” women of colour. v Nearly half (45%) of women of colour have experienced being the only person of their race or ethnicity in a work setting.vi And Black women are “more likely than ‘Onlys’ of other racial and ethnic groups to feel as though their individual successes and failures will reflect on people like them.”vii

The narrow expectations placed upon women of colour to conform or mould into a ‘palatable’ version of themselves that subsequently abandons part of their authenticity, whilst also being likeable, is often dubbed as the ‘tightrope bias.’ viii While this bias can present for all women and marginalised genders, it is especially pertinent for women of colour who navigate complex office politics through systemic racism. This tightrope compounds the already heavy psychological burden that racialised women carry in the workplace.

Additionally, racialised women in the workplace are forced to operate “between the extremes of hypervisibility and invisibility,” being highly scrutinised as an ‘Only,’ but also being overlooked and dismissed – creating an impossible course to navigate towards attaining leadership.ix Patricia Hill Collins described the experience of Black women in a predominantly white workplace as one of an “outsider within.”x Or put differently; racialised women’s “life and cultural experiences lead to a perspective that is at odds with that of a majority white-male workplace.” xi

Denied critical relationships and backing 

Other hurdles that form the patchwork of barriers faced by women of colour aspiring to be leaders include being less likely to receive backing, mentorship, and sponsorship from managers, as well as being less likely than their white colleagues to interact with senior leaders in the workplace.xii This is further complicated by the fact that business leaders – which are still predominately male and white – tend to “struggle to advance members of underrepresented groups because they model their development strategies on their own paths to success.” xiii Thus, without consistent encouragement and the right relationships, racialised women are also less likely to be promoted.xiv In fact, whereas “62% of women of colour with some level of mentorship said the lack of an influential mentor was a barrier to their advancement; only 30% of white men said the same.”xv

Additionally, extensive research has highlighted the “broken rung” phenomenon: “the gender disparity in the first step from entry-level roles to management” – which racialised women experience at a disproportionate rate and that remains a major barrier to their career advancement. In turn, we see that opportunities for advancement and leadership are far from equal for women of colour. Ultimately, this patchwork of hurdles is demonstrative of workplaces deeply shaped by misogynoir, anti-blackness, and wider systemic racism.

The glass cliff 

Women of colour are in leadership are also exposed to a phenomenon called the glass cliff. This idea, developed by researchers at the University of Exeter, illustrates how women break through the glass ceiling (invisible barriers to higher leadership positions) only, or predominantly, in periods of crisis or turmoil. As research has demonstrated women of colour are “more likely than White men to be promoted CEO of weakly performing firms.”xvi In turn, making leadership into a double-edged sword for women of colour; an advancement, yet also a precarious and fragile position. While not all women who encounter the glass cliff are women of colour, research indicates that for those who do, they face heightened scrutiny and hostility. They also receive less empathy than white women, which creates additional challenges that can hinder their performance.xvii Take for instance the promotion of black CEO Rosalind Brewer at Walgreens or Ursula Burns at Xerox during times of turmoil at the respective companies..xviiiAnother notable example is Asian American Ellen Pao who was the CEO of Reddit but was forced to resign following backlash and abuse whilst being “blamed for inherited woes”.xix Importantly, these examples also point to what happens to women of colour who are forced to tread the glass cliff; they inevitably end up bearing not only the burden of responsibility of repair, but as also a disproportionate brunt of responsibility for failures that are not their own doing – which subsequently provides fuel to the false narrative of women of colour as unfit leaders.

Recommendations

Organisations hold the responsibility to create workplaces where women of colour can thrive and lead without the need to repeatedly overcome intersectional hurdles. Sustainable leadership success for women of colour is not just about celebrating individual achievements, but also about dismantling systemic barriers that prevent equitable access to leadership opportunities in the first place.

Here are some suggestions on how your organisation can pave the way for sustained leadership success for women of colour. You can also learn more about some of the challenges and opportunities raised in this blog, along with other actionable steps your organisation can take, by downloading our recently published eBook here.

1. Collect and Leverage Intersectional Data: Gather intersectional data that examines how race, ethnicity and gender intersect to create unique challenges and use this data to craft targeted interventions that address the compounded effects of systemic racism and patriarchy. Check out Shape Talent’s Gender Equity Diagnostic survey to begin assessing your processes and policies through an intersectional lens.
2. Embed Anti-Racism Training into Organisational Culture: Implement comprehensive anti-racism, inclusion, and allyship training programs and ensure leaders at all levels understand the unique challenges faced by Black women and women of colour.
3. Reduce “Onlyness” and Tokenism: Create opportunities to hire and promote Black women and women of colour in cohorts rather than isolating them as an “only” in leadership teams and mitigate isolation with ERGs and mentorship programmes.
4. Close the Broken Rung by making your leadership pipeline more intersectional: Set measurable goals for your pipeline and adopt acceleration programmes to address gaps.
5. Recognise and Reward Diverse Leadership Styles: Actively identify and champion women of colour who demonstrate leadership potential, even if their paths to success differ from the majority and embrace diverse approaches that do not conform to dominant norms.

Shape Talent is an award-winning gender equity consultancy who partner with complex multinational organisations who are serious about gender equality. We help you make the sustainable change that leads to diverse and inclusive cultures where people and business can thrive. To learn more, get in touch today (link to contact us page). 

Limitations of this article:  

*Note: This article focuses on the experiences of women of colour in leadership but does not extend to examining compounding layers of oppression that some racialised women or marginalised genders may face at the intersection of other structures of oppression.

References

[i] https://www.green-park.co.uk/insight-reports/the-colour-of-power/s191468/
[ii] https://www.mckinsey.com/featured-insights/diversity-and-inclusion/women-in-the-workplace
[iii] https://www.hbs.edu/race-gender-equity/blog/post/black-women-in-leadership
[iv] https://hbr.org/2023/05/creating-psychological-safety-for-black-women-at-your-company
[v] https://www.mckinsey.com/featured-insights/diversity-and-inclusion/women-in-the-workplace
[vi] https://www.forbes.com/sites/hollycorbett/2022/04/29/how-women-of-color-are-changing-what-leadership-looks-like/
[vii] https://leanin.org/meeting-guides/the-state-of- -women-in-corporate-america
[viii]  https://worklifelaw.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/Pinning-Down-the-Jellyfish-The-Workplace-Experiences-of-Women-of-Color-in-Tech.pdf?
[ix] https://hbr.org/2018/03/beating-the-odds
[x] Collins, P. H. (1986). Learning from the outsider within: The sociological significance of Black feminist thought. Social problems, 33(6), s14-s32.
[xi] https://worklifelaw.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/Pinning-Down-the-Jellyfish-The-Workplace-Experiences-of-Women-of-Color-in-Tech.pdf?
[xii] https://leanin.org/meeting-guides/the-state-of-black-women-in-corporate-america
[xiii] https://hbr.org/2018/03/beating-the-odds
[xiv] https://leanin.org/research/state-of-black-women-in-corporate-america
[xv] https://leanin.org/meeting-guides/the-state-of-black-women-in-corporate-america
[xvi] https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/smj.2161
[xvii] https://psycnet.apa.org/record/2012-14809-001
[xviii] https://www.thehonesttalk.ca/impact/my-journey-along-the-glass-cliff-a-black-womans-perspective/
[xix] https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2015/jul/11/reddit-ellen-pao-women-ceo