Women of Color in U.S. Securities Firms—Women of Color in Professional Services Series
Securities firms are giving increasing levels of attention to workforce diversity and creating inclusive work cultures to attract and retain top talent, impact the bottom line, and court clients across geographies. With changing demographics, talent is no longer just white men, aged 25 to 40. In fact, white men represent only 17 percent of the global talent pool of people with graduate education. Furthermore, an increasing number of minority women and men are pursuing Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in business; on average, more than one-third of students enrolled in the top-tier U.S. business schools are international students.
Impetus: This report continues Catalyst’s investigation of the experiences of women of color in professional services firms, which are characterized by a client-service focus and firmly entrenched “old boys’” networks. For the first time, Catalyst is able to benchmark the experiences of women of color against other demographic groups in the workforce. This examination lets us understand better the “intersectionality” that women of color experience: that is, how a person’s different attributes and characteristics interact with one another and inform personal and professional identities, experiences, and expectations about privilege and disadvantage in the workplace.
Methodology: This study consisted of both qualitative (interviews) and quantitative (survey) data collection. The qualitative portion consisted of interviews with senior executives (managing directors) in a subsample of participating firms. For the quantitative portion of the study, a survey was distributed to a sample of employees at the top ten largest (by revenue) financial services firms in the United States. Participating firms fielded the web survey between February 2007 and June 2007, and the surveys were open for two to four weeks at each firm. The survey was sent to a total of 5,300 individuals, and a total of 1,873 responded, for an overall response rate of 35.3 percent. For the analyses in this report, we used data from the 955 front office/client-service employees.
Findings: This report examines the experiences and perceptions of women of color in comparison with those of white women, men of color, and white men. We also compared the experiences of U.S.-born women of color to foreign-born women of color. Our analyses found that women of color risk experiencing a deceleration in their career trajectories as a result of the combined effects of race/ethnicity, gender, and birth country. Women of color face disadvantages that white women, men of color, and white men do not. These start with an exclusionary workplace, lead to difficulties forging connections with others—including managers, mentors, and in informal relationships—and result in fewer business development opportunities. With fewer connections and chances to shine, women of color advance at a slower rate than others, and, ultimately, many are faced with a “concrete” ceiling.
In particular, U.S.-born women of color perceived a greater level of exclusion, especially when it came to relationships with other employees, than foreign-born women of color did. They also perceived diversity efforts at their firms to be ineffective in addressing subtle racial biases and providing adequate manager training. These women were more likely to have lower organizational commitment and to be disadvantaged by inequitable distribution of important client engagements.
Lead Sponsor: Morgan Stanley
Contributing Sponsors: Goldman, Sachs & Co.
Price: $40.00