Black employees at the 50 most valuable corporations in the United States comprise only 8 percent of the top executive positions at these companies, according to a new Washington Post report. While “glass ceiling” discrimination often refers to the lack of women in corporate executive positions, numerous studies have found that promotion discrimination against Black employees is even more entrenched, hence the term “concrete ceiling” when referring to the dearth of Black—particularly Black female— employees in the C-suite.
The Washington Post’s investigation found that, a year-and-a-half after many of these Top 50 corporations pledged to increase diversity and address racial inequality in their workforce, the measurable gains made on these fronts are “strikingly small.” This includes:
“At least eight companies — Walmart, Nvidia, Cisco, Pfizer, T-Mobile, Costco, Honeywell and Qualcomm — list no Black executives among their leadership team as of December [2021]”
Companies have turned to diversity and inclusion officers to help create diverse work environments and encourage participation of underrepresented groups among executive leadership. Yet many of these diversity officers lack the resources and access to power to make meaningful progress because, for example, they are not included in top leadership and instead report to the human resources department.
Glass ceiling discrimination generally refers to an unfair, artificial...
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