African Americans and the Glass Ceiling: The Concrete Wall

• African Americans are 12.1 (30 million) percent of the U.S. population and 12. 9 percent of the U.S. workforce.
• African Americans represent a
• 257 billion consumer market in 1993.
• African American men and women comprise less than 2.5 percent of total employment in the top jobs in the private sector.
• The foremost barrier to the advancement of African American men and women is subtle racism and prejudice.
• African American managers have less access to mentoring, are subjected to bias in their performance ratings, and are usually segregated into jobs less likely to be on the path to top mangement. Jobs typically filled by minorities and women have short or no career ladders so that few of the people filling these positions ever compete for the top managerial positions.
• Equal educational attainment does not guarantee that black men and women are getting through the glass ceiling or that they are fairly compensated.@ (Minority male focus group)
• African American women and men with professional degrees earn only 60 percent and 79 percent respectively, of what white males earn to the race/ethnicity.
• African-American women managers have a lower promotion rate (ratio of number of promotions to years of work experience) than White women managers. The promotion rate of African American women was related to getting good career counseling, systematic training and development, and challenging job assignments. However, promotion was negatively related to feeling accepted by white males. It appears that African American women mangers who have advanced did so without being accepted by insiders.
• An estimated 90 percent of Black female professionals, 73 percent of Black female technicians and 50 percent of Black female managers work in government and the non-profit sectors of the economy.
• According to Labor Department data, in 2992, 3 percent of executive, administrative and managerial positions in the private sector were held by African American women.
• African American women felt they receive less organizational support than their peers, were in positions where they had less control and authority, and believed that their jobs were less likely to allow them to use their skills and knowledge. Compared to White women, African American women did not perceive their work to be as significant, and wee less positive about their relationships with their bosses and how their companies managed race and gender relations.
• African American women are more conscious of their racial identity at work, felt less accepted by their colleagues, received less collegial support, and perceived a higher level of sex discrimination on the job.
• The majority of African American men work for a living. In fact, the total African American male labor force participation rate (63.1 percent ) increased by 5.5 percent between 1980 and 1990 compared to an overall 4.2 percent increase for whites.
• The total Black female labor force participation increased by 11.9 percent between 1980 and 1990, compared to an overall 12.0 percent increase for their White female peers. In 1990, the percent of African American women, ages 35 to 44, in the labor force was higher (79.0 percent) than that of their White female peers. (Bureau of Labor Statistics).
• African Americans have a successful business tradition and experience as managers and entrepreneurs. Between 1982 and 1987, the number of employees of these firms increased by 81 percent, from 121,373 to 219,685. (Bureau of the Census).
• Private sector industries that showed the most progress in hiring and promoting African American women to executive, administrative and managerial positions were: communications (4.9 percent) and insurance (3.0 percent).

In Sum:
Public hearings, private studies, CEO interviews, and focus groups, and other research contracted for the Commission, indicate that the major barriers to the advancement of African Americans in business are the following:

• The disproportionately small pool of African Americans with the educational credentials required for senior management positions.
• Recruitment practices that overlook or do not identify African Americans with the required credentials.
• Stereotypes that African Americans are not suited for leadership positions.
• Prejudice and bias that makes White middle-level managers reluctant to promote African Americans.
• Exclusion from informal communication networks.
• Reluctance of White mangers to mentor African American men or women.
• Lack of career counseling and exclusion from careers ladders.
• Lack of equal access to assignments that provide key career experiences.
• Lack of equal access to assignments that provide visibility and interaction with senior managers.