Opinion: The State of black women in Corporate America
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Black women in corporate field is somewhat rare, but they do exist.
When you think of Corporate America, the first image you think of is a guy in a nice suite. It’s not a secret that in this male dominated corps America, that women are less likely to hold management position or C.E.O position.
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, women’s share of the total labor force was 46.8% in 2016. This is just the number of women in the U.S. as an overall.
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Women of color hold only 11.9% of managerial and professional post, with just 5.3% of African American women in those positions, according to Blackenterprise.com. What does this say about the structure of America’s workforce?
Black women are the most educated group in the country according to The Root.com, Essence.com and the National Center for Education Statistics. If black women are the most educated in the nation, the question raises why are they the least represented in corporate America? Black women are not only the least represented but also the least paid. According to the National Women’s Law Center, black women are paid, nationally, just 63 cents for every dollar paid to white, non-Hispanic men. Even with getting higher education, black women still fall behind when it’s about payment. Thus, black women with bachelor’s degrees are typically paid $46,694 – just under what white non-Hispanic men with only a high school degree, who are paid $46,729, as the data from the National Women’s Law Center revealed.
Although black women have made strides in Corporate America, there haven’t been any major key black women in corporate America like, Ursula Burn former Xerox CEO, Rosalind Brewer former CEO of Sam’s Club. More is needed, but also have to continue the fight for equal pay and more representation, given that being a black woman in corporate America will always be an uphill battle even for the ones that hold the executive and CEO positions.
Image from: http://www.altech.com/multi-media-manufacturing
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