Invisible Her

April 2, 4:34 PMWorkplace Diversity ExaminerJessica Faye Carter

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Catalyst's recent research on Women of Color in U.S. Securities Markets provides an illuminating window into the experiences of women of color on Wall Street.  What few realize is that this research is part of a much larger trend heralding the emergence of this powerful, cross-sectional demographic. With women of color increasing in population size and economic clout, we need more consistent and reliable data to track the combined impact of race and gender throughout our society.

Here's what we do know: recent statistics put the number of women of color in the U.S. at 38 million, making them the one of the largest diverse groups in America—behind Hispanics (45.5 million) and African-Americans (40.5 million), and more than double the population of Asian-Americans (15.2 million).

When it comes to spending, women of color also have the power of the purse.  According to Packaged Facts, women of color spent $1 trillion in 2008.  Their buying power exceeds that of Hispanics (over $860 billion), African-Americans ($845 billion), and Asian-Americans ($459 billion) as reported by The Selig Center for Economic Growth. Women of color are sufficiently impactful in our society that public and private research on women and people of color should include a unique category for ethnically diverse women.

Prominent financial institutions are already in the know: Goldman Sachs, the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, and JPMorganChase have developed initiatives to specifically address the challenges facing women of color on Wall Street.  Policy researchers in the world of finance such as the Women's Institute for a Secure Retirement released research on minority women and retirement income.  The Consumer Federation of America has also provided extensive research on the impact of subprime lending on African-American women and Latinas.

Politicos and lawyers have a keen interest, too: the American Bar Association's Commission on Women in the Profession issued a report in 2006 on the experiences of women of color at law firms.  This presidential election, approximately 30 million women of color are eligible to vote according to Engage Her, a recently launched documentary on minority women voters.

With such broad interest in women of color, one might wonder why there is not more substantive research on the combined impact of race and gender in areas such as health care, education, politics and business.  It is probably due to an implicit assumption that pre-existing data on women and people of color obviates the need for specific, additional research on women of color.  But without such research, we are left unable to understand, explain or trace the double impact of race and gender in our society.  Nor can we compare women of color's experiences to those of white women and men of color—to say nothing of addressing the widespread gender discrimination that continues to exist within ethnic communities.

So despite the existence of diversity initiatives and similar programs for almost two decades, it is no surprise that Catalyst's newest research found women of color experiencing greater disadvantages than either white women or men of color.  Until more researchers measure women of color as a distinct group, the combined effects of racial and gender discrimination in our society will continue to remain largely invisible.