By: Lisa M. Fairfax
As one might expect, there are many similarities between the
circumstances of women directors and directors of color, which
includes African Americans, Latinos, and Asian Americans. Indeed,
both groups began appearing on corporate boards in significant
numbers during the same period—right after the Civil Rights
Movement pursuant to which the push for racial equality throughout
society precipitated efforts to achieve greater representation of
people of color as well as women on corporate
boards. Moreover, while women and people of color have
experienced some increase in board representation over the last few
decades, both groups also have encountered significant barriers to
their success on corporate boards. However, people of color
appear to have experienced more significant barriers than women,
while women of color appear to be experiencing the most formidable
of such barriers.
Without question, corporations have achieved better
representation of women and people of color within their boardrooms
in recent history. Further, if the historical patterns related to
these groups’ increase continue, we may expect that virtually every
major corporation will have at least one woman or person of color
on their board within the next two decades. However, women and
people of color continue to be under represented, suggesting that
they face barriers preventing them from translating their thirty
percent and near fifty percent status in the labor force into
similar numbers at the corporate board level. Part of those
barriers stems from the difficulties women and people of color
experience with advancing into executive positions at major
corporations. Because corporations rely heavily on people who
have held such positions, these difficulties have a negative impact
on efforts to increase diversity on corporate boards. Of
particular concern may be the plight of women of
color. Indeed, studies suggest that women of color have
achieved the least amount of success with regard to board
representation, and that women of color experience the most
significant barriers with regard to achieving success within
corporate America. This is particularly daunting considering
the disproportionate number of African American women in the
workforce and student population as compared to African American
men, which will make achieving more representative percentages of
racial and ethnic diversity on the board significantly more
difficult.