Nearly half of black women working in professional jobs believe there will be times during their careers when they will be overlooked for promotions they are qualified for, a survey has found.
The poll, conducted by the Black Women in Leadership (BWIL) network, found 45 per cent of black women in white-collar jobs believed they would miss out on promotions despite being just as qualified as their non-black female colleagues.
The same study found that two thirds (68 per cent) of black women experienced racial bias at work, increasing to 84 per cent among black women in senior management positions and 87 per cent among those in senior executive positions.
Gemma Bullivant, HR coach and consultant, added that the findings reinforced how urgent mandatory ethnicity pay gap reporting is, urging companies to “get on the front foot” and report their own ethnicity pay gaps instead of waiting for reporting to become mandatory.
“When companies are required to measure and report on the gaps, it can help to drive the activity in the right direction,” she said, noting that the fact that the gender pay gap widened when reporting requirements were temporarily lifted during the pandemic “suggested this type of scrutiny does have an influence on outcomes.”
“Use this valuable data to inform and develop talent and D&I actions to address these issues in your own organisation,” said Bullivant.
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