Women of Color in the United States: Quick Take

POPULATION

Women of Color Will Be the Majority of All Women in the United States by 2060 ¹

EDUCATION

The College Graduation Rate Continues to Rise for Most Women of Color ²

Of total bachelor’s degrees earned by US citizen women and permanent residents in 2017–2018, the percentage of those earned by women of color: ³

• Hispanic women: 14.9%.
• Black women: 11.4% (this percentage has decreased since its high of 12.3% in 2011-12).
• Asian/Pacific Islander women: 7.6%.

Of total bachelor’s degrees in business earned by women in 2017-2018, the percentage of those earned by women of color: ⁴

• Black women: 11.5%.
• Hispanic women: 13.7%.
• Asian/Pacific Islander women: 8.1%.

LABOR FORCE

Latinas and Asian Women Will Make Up a Larger Percentage of the US Labor Force ⁵

Between 2018–2028 the projected percentage increase in the labor force of women by race or ethnicity: ⁶

• Hispanic women: 28.7%.
• Asian women: 24.9%.
• Black women: 9.7%.
• White women: 4.1%.

LEADERSHIP

From Entry Level Positions to the C-Suite, the Share of Women of Color Remains Small

In 2019, women of color represented 18% of entry-level positions. Few advanced to leadership positions: managers (12%), senior managers/directors (9%), VPs (7%), SVPs (5%), and C-suite positions 4%). ⁷

In 2019, Black and Hispanic women made up a smaller percentage of total women employed in management, business, and financial operations occupations than white or Asian women.⁸

Women of color among the total US employees in 2019:

• Hispanic or Latinas: 10.3%.
• Black women: 12.3 %.
• Asian women: 18.3%.
• White women: 16.7%.

Black Women Aim High, But Emotional Tax Can be a Barrier to Success ⁹

Black employees experience a heightened awareness of their difference in the workplace which manifests itself in disruption of sleep patterns, reduction of their sense of “psychological safety,” and diminishment of their ability to contribute fully at work. ¹⁰

Despite this feeling of exclusion black women report wanting to:

• Remain in the same organization (88%).
• Be an influential leader (87%).
• Work toward a high-ranking position (81%).

PAY GAP

Women of Color Have a Greater Wage Gap

In 2019:¹¹

• Black women working full-time earned 62 cents for every dollar white, non-Hispanic men earned.
• Latinas working full-time earned only 54 cents for every dollar white, non-Hispanic men earned.
• Asian women working full-time earned 90 cents for every dollar white, non-Hispanic men earned. ¹²
  • However, the wage gap is substantially larger for some subgroups of Asian women. For example, Nepalese women (50%), Burmese women (52%), Fijian women (55%), and Cambodian women (57%) are paid well below the earnings of white, non-Hispanic men. ¹³

Women of Color Represent Almost Half of the Low-Wage Workforce¹⁴

Among the low-wage workforce in 2016:¹⁵

• Black women: 18%.
• Latinas: 24%.
• Asian, Hawaiian and/or Pacific Islander women:  7%.

In the same year, women of color accounted for nearly half (46%) of three occupations that are low-wage, female-dominated, but are considered among the fastest-growing jobs for the next decade: personal care aides, home health aides, and combined food preparation and serving workers (including fast food workers).¹⁶

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES

Alliance for Board Diversity/Deloitte, Missing Pieces Report: The 2018 Board Diversity Census of Women and Minorities on Fortune 500 Boards (January 16, 2019).

Catalyst, Flip the Script: Race & Ethnicity in the Workplace (May 7, 2018).

Catalyst, Quick Take: People of Colour in Canada.

Catalyst, Too Few Women of Color on Boards: Statistics and Solutions (January 31, 2020).

Dnika J. Travis and Jennifer Thorpe-Moscon, Day-to-Day Experiences Of Emotional Tax Among Women And Men Of Color In The Workplace (Catalyst, 2018).

Dnika J. Travis, Jennifer Thorpe-Moscon, and Courtney McCluney, Emotional Tax: How Black Women and Men Pay More at Work and How Leaders Can Take Action (Catalyst, October 11, 2016).

Black Women Connect, “Black Women Connect.”

Zuhairah Washington and Laura Morgan Roberts, “Women of Color Get Less Support at Work. Here’s How Managers Can Change That,” Harvard Business Review (March 4, 2019).

DEFINITION: The U.S. Office of Management and Budget (OMB) requires federal agencies to use a minimum of five race categories: White, Black or African American, American Indian or Alaska Native, Asian, and Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander. Note that Hispanic is defined as an ethnic heritage and people who identify their origin as Hispanic, Latino, or Spanish may be any race.¹⁷

NOTE: Hispanic or Latino refers to persons of Cuban, Mexican, Puerto Rican, South or Central American, or other Spanish culture or origin, regardless of race.  In accordance with OMB and NCES standards, Brazilians are not categorized as Hispanic (but may identify as Latino). Therefore for accuracy, this Quick Take follows the race/ethnicity label used by each government agency to ensure we represent their specific data collection.¹⁸

How to cite this product: Catalyst, Quick Take: Women of Color in the United States (March 19, 2020).

1. U.S. Census Bureau, “Annual Estimates of the Resident Population by Sex, Race, and Hispanic Origin for the United States, States, and Counties: April 1, 2010 to July 1, 2018,” 2018 Population Estimates (2019); U.S. Census Bureau, “Table 4. Projected Race and Hispanic Origin,” 2017 National Population Projections Tables (2018).
2. National Center for Education Statistics, “Table 322.20: Bachelor’s Degrees Conferred by Postsecondary Institutions, by Race/Ethnicity and Sex of Student: Selected Years, 1976-77 through 2017-18,” Digest of Education Statistics (2019).
3. National Center for Education Statistics, “Table 322.20: Bachelor’s Degrees Conferred by Postsecondary Institutions, by Race/Ethnicity and Sex of Student: Selected Years, 1976-77 through 2017-18,” Digest of Education Statistics (2019).
4. National Center for Education Statistics, “Table 322.50: Bachelor’s Degrees Conferred to Females by Postsecondary Institutions, by Race/Ethnicity and Field of Study: 2016-17 and 2017-18,” Digest of Education Statistics (2019).
5. Bureau of Labor Statistics, “Table 3.1 Civilian Labor Force by Age, Sex, Race, and Ethnicity, 1998, 2008, 2018, and Projected 2028,” Employment Projections (2019).
6. Bureau of Labor Statistics, “Table 3.1 Civilian Labor Force by Age, Sex, Race, and Ethnicity, 1998, 2008, 2018, and Projected 2028,” Employment Projections (2019).
7. Rachel Thomas, Marianne Cooper, Ellen Konar, Ali Bohrer, Ava Mohsenin, Lareina Yee, Alexis Krivkovich, Irina Starikova, Jess Hoang, and Delia Zanoschi, Women in the Workplace 2019 (Lean In and McKinsey & Company, 2019).
8. Bureau of Labor Statistics, “Table 10: Employed Persons by Occupation, Race, Hispanic or Latino Ethnicity, and Sex,” Labor Force Statistics from the Current Population Survey (2020).
9. Emotional Tax is the heightened experience of being different from peers at work because of your gender and/or race/ethnicity and the associated detrimental effects on health, well-being, and the ability to thrive at work. Dnika J. Travis, Jennifer Thorpe-Moscon, and Courtney McCluney, Emotional Tax: How Black Women And Men Pay More At Work And How Leaders Can Take Action (Catalyst, 2016).
10. Dnika J. Travis, Jennifer Thorpe-Moscon, and Courtney McCluney, Emotional Tax: How Black Women And Men Pay More At Work And How Leaders Can Take Action (Catalyst, 2016).
11. National Women’s Law Center, Fact Sheet: The Wage Gap: The Who, How, Why, and What To Do (September 27, 2019).
12. National Women’s Law Center, Fact Sheet: Equal Pay for Asian American and Pacific Islander Women (January 30, 2020).
13. National Women’s Law Center, Fact Sheet: Equal Pay for Asian American and Pacific Islander Women (January 30, 2020).
14. Meika Berlan, “The Future of Work is Female…AND Low-Wage,” (National Women’s Law Center, August 16, 2018).
15. Jasmine Tucker and Kayla Patrick, “Women in Low-Wage Jobs May Not Be Who You Expect,” (National Women’s Law Center, August 30, 2017).
16. Kayla Patrick, Meika Berlan, and Morgan Harwood, “Low-Wage Jobs Held Primarily By Women Will Grow the Most Over the Next Decade,” (National Women’s Law Center, August 13, 2018).
17. The White House/Office of Management and Budget, “Revisions to the Standards for the Classification of Federal Data on Race and Ethnicity” Federal Register Notice, October 30, 1997; U.S. Census Bureau, 2010 Census Briefs: Overview of Race and Hispanic Origin: 2010 (March 2011): p. 2.
18. National Center for Education Statistics, “Statistical Standards,” National Center for Education Statistics, Email messages to author, November 1, 2018.