Bridging the Gap: Accelerating Workplace Equity for Women of Color

Women of Color continue to encounter challenges that hinder their advancement in the workplace despite significant strides toward gender equality and diversity in the workplace. These challenges derive from the intersection of gender and racial biases that can lead to career and income disparities. Addressing these issues requires systemic changes with targeted support for women of color.

Persistent Challenges

• Underrepresentation in Leadership: The underrepresentation of Women of Color in executive positions across different business sectors reflects the systemic barriers that prevent their advancement.

• Pay Inequity: The gender pay gap is more pronounced for Women of Color, who often earn significantly less than their white male and female counterparts. This disparity reflects broader issues of inequality and discrimination in the workplace.

• Microaggressions and Bias: Women of color frequently encounter microaggressions and implicit biases that undermine their professional credibility, limit their opportunities for career advancement, and impact their overall well-being at work.

• Limited Access to Mentorship and Sponsorship: Effective mentorship and sponsorship are crucial for career advancement. However, Women of color often have limited access to such networks, partly due to the lack of diversity in senior leadership roles.

Pathways to Empowerment

• Promoting Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) Initiatives: Organizations must prioritize DEI initiatives that specifically address Women of Color challenges (e.g., implementing bias training, fostering inclusive cultures, and setting clear goals for diversity in leadership).

• Transparent Reporting and Accountability: Companies should adopt transparent reporting of diversity metrics and hold leaders accountable for meeting these objectives. Transparency in pay scales and promotion criteria can also help address inequities.

• Mentorship and Sponsorship Programs: Creating mentorship and sponsorship programs accessible to Women of Color can provide them with the guidance, support, and opportunities needed to advance in their careers.

• Building Supportive Networks: Encouraging the formation of networks and affinity groups for women of color can offer a sense of community, provide professional development resources, and empower members to advocate for systemic change.

• Cultivating an Inclusive Culture: Organizations must actively work to create an environment where Women of Color feel valued, heard, and supported. Including addressing microaggressions, promoting diverse voices, and ensuring equitable opportunities for growth and advancement.

Conclusion

While women have made significant inroads into the workplace, Women of Color still face barriers to their advancement. Overcoming these challenges requires a committed effort from individuals, organizations, and society. By implementing targeted strategies to address the unique barriers experienced by Women of Color, fostering inclusive workplace cultures, and holding organizations accountable for diversity and equity goals, we can move closer to a workplace that truly values and uplifts every individual. The path toward equity is a collective journey that demands persistent effort, empathy, and a steadfast commitment to change.

Submission

A husband would never have to ask his wife to submit if he’s submitting his will to God. And, it’s quite challenging to surrender your will to a man who doesn’t know his mission for God, his life, and family.

God called man to be the head (leader) of his family; not the boss! There is a difference. When husbands recognize and acknowledge God’s will for them to lead like Jesus led, (i.e., without coercion, but by example), their family will follow with honor and respect; without resistance.

She's Not a B****, She's Confident

Why are women called a B**** when they exude confidence? Confidence has nothing to do with lewdness, selfishness, or being a female dog. It has everything to do with relying on an inner power and strength to achieve and succeed in life. Once a woman reaches a level of self-confidence, she doesn’t need to be torn down. No one knows her journey to reach her height and our level of confidence will never increase when we tear women down.

We've launched a tee-shirt campaign to end negative languages and images associated with confident women and women in general. And you can show your support here.

How We Get Here?

Having access to statistics about the status of women (especially minority) is great. However, it would be even better if women of color would use data to collaborate and harness their power to change the trajectory of the economic conditions that lingers among women of color.

Over the next few months, The SOFEI Group will host community forums addressing the question, How We Get Here? to discover the underlying causes that negatively impact the lives of women throughout the Washington region. We will seek and encourage input from the community-at-large, social change agents, politicians, spiritual leaders, and subject matter experts. Following are topics we will discuss during the forums:

1. How We Get Here? – Why black women and their issues are ignored in politics? - Source: Status of Black Women in Politics
2. How We Get Here? – Black women 16 years and over has experienced the highest unemployment rate among all other ethnic groups since 2007. - Source: The African American Labor Force in Recovery
3. How We Get Here? – Black women are more likely to have children outside of marriage than other racial or ethnic groups. - Source: Congressional Research Service
4. How We Get Here? – Women and Violence – 1 out of 5 women is sexually assaulted in college. Source: insidehighered.com
5. How We Get Here? - Women Living with HIV and AIDS - Source: CDC.gov
6. How We Get Here? - Women are 80 percent more likely than men to be impoverished in retirement. - Source: National Institute on Retirement
7. How We Get Here? - Women of Color are more likely to suffer with depression. - Source: Huffingtonpost.com

Click here if you would like to join us as a speaker or panelist, and here as a community forum participant.

Take Back Your Power

Is your current stance in life stagnant? Do you know how you arrived here? You may have landed here because of the power you gave to someone or something that depleted your true being. This can cause you to feel stuck, out-of-balance, or out-of-touch.

If you’re not satisfied with your life right now, you have the power to change it. No one is stopping you from creating the life you want and deserve, but you! All it takes is a vision, a transformed mind, faith, and the gift(s) within that needs to be ignited.

Ten D’s of Women Trailblazers

1. Dreamers – Where there is no vision, the people perish (Proverbs 29:18a). You have to envision where you want to be so your actions can follow.
2. Destined – Always begin with the end in mind. Women trailblazers predetermine how they want to end their struggle and work towards ending it.
3. Driven – What's the force behind your actions - your spirit, struggles or faith?
4. Determined – Women trailblazers have the will power to carry out their mission to improve the social, economical, and educational stance of women.
5. Devoted – Whatever you do, have a passion for it. When you have a passion, you’ll work without wanting anything in return.
6. Disciplined – Women trailblazers prepare themselves to face challenges and/or obstacles.
7. Dignity – Women trailblazers think highly of themselves and present themselves with high regard and honor.
8. Diligent – Women trailblazers are perseveres. They stay on course regardless of the challenges they may face in life.
9. Daring – Women trailblazers have unshakable faith and aren't ashamed to be different.
10. Decisive – Women trailblazers do not waiver in their decisions and actions to advance the lives of all women.

You Can Have a Great Career

Do you have a great career? How do you measure your greatness? Is it measured by what you acquire or what you contribute? A great career is more than working in a profession to collect a paycheck. It’s about using your unique skills, gifts, and talents to serve (i.e., add value). And, a great career is achievable to anyone who wants one. Here are three ways to get started:

1. Take Inventory of Your Strengths - What are your current strengths and how have you added value to your clients through your place of employment or business? If you can't answer these questions with clarity or certainty, a career assessment can help you develop a framework to discover your true passion, personal, or vocational traits.
2. Develop a Contribution Plan - Once you’ve discovered your passion and strengths, create a plan to determine the contribution(s) and impact your passion and strength will make in the lives of others.
3. Invest in Your Strengths – When you invest in yourself, your strengths will come into fruition and grow stronger as you elevate others. You can read books, periodicals, take an online course, enroll in a non-credit course, or join a networking group. Just don't tell yourself you don't have time or money to invest in your greatness.

Poverty is Colorblind

When you hear the word poverty, what's the first image you see or your first thought? Women and children in an impoverished country or women with polished nails holding a sign for help? If you could help a group of women living with poverty, which group would you choose and why?

Poverty is more than having more bills at the end of the month than money. It's extreme, situational, institutional, or generational; making it difficult to create pathways to economic independence, wealth, and stability.

When we seek support or investment in our work to decrease the trend of poverty amongst women throughout the Washington region, we often receive a plethora of reasons of why we shouldn't help them because their level of poverty isn't as severe as women experiencing poverty in other countries. A local pastor stated, You haven't seen poverty until you've been to a country where people have to drink and bathe in dirty water. Now, that's poverty. What we have here (i.e., in the U.S.), isn't poverty. Does this mean we should negate our efforts to help women and children experiencing poverty in the U.S. if they have access to clean water?

When our lives are threatened by a disease, we collaborate our energy and resources to find a cure, or a way to stop it from spreading. We don't assess if one disease deserves more attention than the other because of the impact the disease may have on all humanity.

Ignoring the plight of poverty will not eradicate it, but heighten it because poverty affects all ethnicities and nationalities.

Equal, But Different

When women stop seeking validation and approval from men, their equity will grow. Some women dress seductively for men. Wear heels for the approval of men. Buy hair and make-up for men. Quit their jobs for men. Surrender their will to men who don't surrender their will to God. Live under the pretense that man knows what's best instead of God.

Should women who live subjectively to men expect equal treatment?

According to Genesis 1:26, God said, Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; and to let them have dominion over every living thing that creeps on the earth. And, according to Genesis 1:27, "God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them."

These verses share how God equally created men and women in His image to have dominion over the earth in our own distinctive roles. If women grasp hold of this knowledge, maybe women will seek equality through the Image of God instead of man.