Gender and Racial Disparities in U.S. Corporations

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Table of Contents

Introduction
Research Questions
Theoretical Framework for the Study
African American Women in Executive Positions
Research Done on the Topic
Topic Relevance
Conclusion
References

Introduction

The United States of America is a melting pot, known worldwide as the leading diverse nation and the land of opportunity. Globally, women in government positions often face many ethical issues stemming from the inequalities pervading gender roles, leading to pay differences, and disparities in the occupation of leadership positions. The Civil Rights Act of 1964 was enacted to promote workplace diversity by championing inclusivity (Grissom, 2018). Implementation of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform Section 342 aimed to facilitate the empowerment of diversity within the financial services industry (Evanoff & Moeller, 2014). This financial statute did not apply only to private financial entities but also to public financial agencies. Statistics from the Center for American Women and Politics indicate that women make up 51% of the U.S. population, with only 29% representing state legislative seats, 24% in the U.S. Senate, 27% in the House of Representatives, and 30% statewide elected executives. These numbers are even lower for women of color, with only 18% serving as statewide elected executives and 26% female state legislators. The Civil Services Reform Act of 1978 created Senior Executive Services (SES) federal civilian ranks GS-15 and above. Currently, there are over 8,000 positions but there are huge disparities in how they are occupied.

Research Questions

RQ1: How does coaching affect African American women’s perspectives on the impact of mentoring on career development and success in government agencies?

RQ2: How do African American women who want to be in executive positions perceive the impact of the absence of mentoring on their career advancement and success in government agencies?

RQ3: How do race and gender impede African American women’s experiences in senior executive roles?

Theoretical Framework for the Study

The study will be grounded on a transformative worldview, which indicates the need to connect research inquiry with politics to confront social oppression at different levels. The small proportion of African American women in senior executive positions is a socio-economic inequality that should be addressed (Hague & Okpala, 2017). As a minority group, black women appear to encounter workplace bias and discrimination based on race and gender. It is critical to evaluate the extent to which coaching programs help women rise to leadership and the fairness in their implementation. The theoretical framework is derived from the Black Feminist, Social Role, and Critical Race theories.

The Black Feminist Theory emerged from the sustained marginalization propagated in and by the feminist movement. It captures the intersection of gender and race recognizing the oppressive nature of the social constructions based on the concepts (Hague & Okpala, 2017). The ideology developed during the abolitionists’ era, which was intended to end slavery. At the time, African American women were denied rights as citizens and they faced a system designed to destroy them as women and humans. Born as a slave, Sojourner Truth is the abolitionist and liberal reformer recognized as the initiator of the black feminist ideology. She argued that servitude denied black women motherhood, innate feminism, and protection from exploitation. The Critical Race Theory captures her views by indicating that social division of labor characterizing a society, such as slavery, contribute significantly to the shared gender stereotypes.

The Black Feminist and Social Role, theories have contributed significantly to the contemporary views about African American women living and working in the United States. Double jeopardy and intersectionality are connected to the ideology in which the latter evaluates the notion that gender, race, and social class overlap to make a model giving black women unequal levels of power and privilege (Hague & Okpala, 2017). Assuming that African American women face similar social issues, the Black Feminist theory will help to determine the extent to which the interlocking concepts contribute to the unique challenges facing the women of African descent in rising to top leadership positions. As a jurisprudence framework examining culture and society in relation to the categorizations of law, race, and power, the Critical Race theory will clarify governance issues around the problem.

African American Women in Executive Positions

Women accounted for approximately 47 percent of the U.S. labor force as of 2019 but only 40 percent held management positions. Studies indicate that gender bias against women, commonly been referred to as the glass ceiling, has contributed to the problem (Erskine et al., 2021). However, African American women and those from other minority communities have been affected more because their white counterparts held approximately a third (32.3 percent) of the leadership positions (Women in Management, 2019). Statistics indicate that only 2.5 percent, 4.0 percent, and 4.3 percent of Asian, Black, and Latino women respectively, hold leadership positions in U.S. corporations. The following chart indicates the proportion of American women occupying leadership positions by race:

Fig. 1: Proportion of American Women in Corporate Leadership by Race

Fig. 1 visualizes the racial disparity in the women occupying leadership positions in American corporations. It indicates that minority groups, including African American women, face significant challenges in efforts to rise through the corporate ladder. Segregation based on race appears worse than gender discrimination, which affects black women immensely because they experience both.

Research Done on the Topic

Various researchers and scholars have studied the problem to determine the causes, effects, and potential remedies. A study by Barron (2019) reveals that only a sparingly 0.2 percent and 1.2 percent of African American women were in chief executive officer (CEO) roles and executive or senior-level roles respectively within a 500 Standard & Poor’s (S&P) organizations in 2015. The researchers indicated that underutilization of black women’s lived experiences by organizational and human resources in recruitment, diversity and inclusion, career development, and succession planning contributed to the problem. Black ceiling supported by the influential institutional logics of white supremacy and patriarchy has also contributed to the problem by viewing Afro-Diasporic women as multiple outsiders (Erskine et al., 2021). The unique challenge has compromised the well-being of women of color in the corporate world, making it challenging for them to navigate environmental and relational phenomena, such as social closure, emotional taxation, white fragility, and white privilege. Most of the existing studies focus on the factors preventing African American women from advancing to top executive positions. There are limited studies addressing the solutions, a research gap that should be addressed. It is also critical to extend the existing literature by evaluating the impact of coaching on employee career success and how it can address the race and gender gaps restricting black women to lower-level jobs.

Topic Relevance

The topic is important because it identifies a critical social problem that should be addressed because the dismal representation of Afro-Diasporic women in top corporate positions is a minority population disparity. Erskine et al. (2021) report that no African American woman appeared on the Fortune 500 or S&P 500 CEO lists in 2017 after Ursula Burns stepped down as the Xerox CEO in 2016. Additionally, only the Executive Vice President for United States Stores at Home Depot, Ann-Marie Campbell, appeared on Fortune’s 2017 list of the most influential women in business. The unique challenges facing the black women have forced them to face their careers with an attitude of survival, endurance, and coping, rather than the desire to flourish and rise to leadership. A study evaluating the perceptions of women facing discrimination about coaching and career development success will help to determine whether assigning mentors to them can address the problem. The study will be qualitative, collecting data through interviews to gain an in-depth understanding of the underlying issues. The findings will extend the literature and extend the understanding of race and gender-based disparities in the corporate world.

Conclusion

There are significant disparities in the occupation of leadership positions in U.S. public and private corporations. The inequalities exist despite the passing of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 aimed at promoting workplace diversity by enhancing diversity. African American women are among the most affected group because the discrepancies have gender and race facets in which males are more privileged than females, while whites are better placed to rise to leadership positions compared to the minority populations. The Black Feminist Theory is the proposed theoretical framework for the study because it captures the intersection gender and race as concepts leading to oppressive social constructions. Experts indicate that coaching can help employees realize their professional goals and grow to occupy leadership positions. However, there are concerns that the glass ceiling and similar hindrances will continue to impede women, especially the African Americans, from rising to the top of the corporate ladder. Therefore, it is critical to evaluate the perceptions of working black women about coaching and career development and success. An interview with professionals who have mentors and those without mentorship can shed light on the matter. The study will also help to address gaps in the literature about the gender and racial discrepancies.

References

Barron, M. (2019). Senior-level African American women, underrepresentation, and career decision-making. Walden University.

Women in management: quick take. (2019). Catalyst. Web.

Erskine, S. E., Archibold, E. E., & Bilimoria, D. (2021). Afro-Diasporic women navigating the black ceiling: Individual, relational, and organizational strategies.Business Horizons, 64(1), 37-50. Web.

Evanoff, D. D., & Moeller, W. F. (2014). The Dodd–Frank Act: An overview. In D. D. Evanoff, & W. F. Moeller, Dodd–Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act: purpose, critique, implementation status and policy issues (pp. 1-30). World Scientific.

Grissom, A. R. (2018). The alert collector: Workplace diversity and inclusion. Reference & User Services Quarterly, 57(4), 242-247. Web.

Hague, L. Y., & Okpala, C. O. (2017). Voices of African American women leaders on factors that impact their career advancement in North Carolina community colleges. Journal of Research Initiatives, 2(3), 1-15. Web.

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