Race, Gender & Work: Pathways to Power

One clear solution: 74% of women in the study want health- care coverage for up to two members of their extended families. Nontraditional families are such a fact of life for minority women that African-American banker Erika Irish Brown, 36, felt comfortable asking to place her fiancé's son on her health plan while she worked for a minority-owned media company. "I felt it was something that was accepted there," she says. "Women of color tend to bear greater responsibilities at home, and we need all the support we can get." She doesn't know whether the benefit would have been extended to her on Wall Street, where Brown recently returned. But as head of recruiting for diverse, experienced professionals at Lehman Brothers, she feels confident that Wall Street is tackling work-life issues--a big draw for potential hires. As an expecting mother, she lauds a new mentoring program that partners new mothers with seasoned working moms.

Sometimes the stigma is what's most dreaded. For many years, Donna James, the Nationwide executive, hid from her colleagues and bosses that her son was born when she was only 17. "I didn't bring them into that part of my world for fear I would be harshly judged," she says. "Knowing the cultural biases about marriage, about being a single mom and being black and a teen parent, I never wanted to have stereotypical views hold me back."

THE ROAD AHEAD

Despite efforts to improve the situation for minority women, most companies have a long way to go. Hidden biases persist in surprising ways. Perhaps the most challenging issue is a perceived prejudice about behavior and appearance. According to the study, 42% of minority women executives at large companies feel they're expected to look, sound and act like white men; 34% of minority men and 29% of white women feel that way. The study calls that pressure "style compliance"; to Hewlett, it's "bleached-out professionalism." African-American women struggle most with perceptions of their behavior; 30% feel they are seen as "troublemakers." Jennifer Braxton, 31, held a communications job at a prestigious Philadelphia think tank. But her exuberant manner at meetings took her white male bosses aback. Other minorities who worked there suggested that she "lie low, not make any waves," says Braxton. "I'm outspoken. I'm passionate. I didn't want to have to change that." She left the think tank and became a community-outreach supervisor at Ikea, where she says she feels her style of communicating is embraced.

The pressure to conform will go on, of course, until the equation changes--in other words, until there are more women of color in a position to call the shots. For now, says Patricia Gillette, a San Francisco labor lawyer, being a minority woman in business is still "a double whammy." But in the meantime, companies that recognize and boost the hidden talent within their ranks will profit in more ways than one.