Latinas still account for only 1% of C-suite roles

While the gender pay gap persists for all women relative to their white male counterparts, it has long been widest for Latinas, who are paid 46% less than white men and 26% less than white women. One explanation offered for this gap has been that Latinas are more likely to hold low-wage jobs—but research indicates that those pay disparities remain in place among women who are more educated or work in more lucrative industries.



Even in corporate America, Latinas are more likely to find themselves up against hurdles that impact their earnings potential. As Fast Company has previously reported , Latino workers face many barriers to entry and a more difficult path to promotion in industries like tech, but those obstacles transcend any one sector. A new report by Lean In , the nonprofit founded by Sheryl Sandberg, finds that Latina workers see the lowest rates of representation in the C-suite, accounting for just 1% of executive roles.



The report, which draws on Lean In’s wide-ranging surveys of women in the workplace, indicates that the disparities start at the entry level. Latinos account for about one in five workers across the country; Latinas, in particular, make up 9% of the U.S. population but only hold 5% of entry-level roles, according to Lean In.



The “Broken Rung” Problem



For many women, the hurdles to career advancement start well before they reach the glass ceiling . Those barriers are greater for Latina workers: Even after getting a foot in the door, Latinas often struggle to get promoted, the report argues, because they face a “broken rung” while trying to make the jump into management roles, much like Black women do. (The broken rung refers to the phenomenon of women in the corporate world losing out on promotions earlier in their career journey, as they try to move from entry-level roles into management.)



At the manager level, the report found that Latinas account for just 3.3% of roles, and there’s a steady dropoff from that point that helps explain the paltry representation of Latinas at the C-suite level.



When Latinas do get promoted into management, it can be especially difficult for them to move into VP-level roles that bring them closer to the top rung of leadership. While there’s a similar trend in declining representation for all women in the corporate world—especially among Asian women—the impact on Latinas is most marked: From entry-level roles to the C-suite, their representation drops by 78%. (At the moment, Priscilla Almodovar of Fannie Mae is the only Latina CEO among the leaders of the 500 biggest U.S. companies by revenue.)



Racial bias and stereotypes



The Lean In report—along with other research, including a recent report by the nonprofit Coqual—also indicates that there’s a clear disconnect between what Latinas want out of their careers and how they are treated in the workplace. According to the report, Latinas are, in fact, more interested in being promoted and reaching senior leadership than many white women, but their career ambitions are not always recognized by their peers and managers.



The Latino workers surveyed by both Lean In and Coqual claim that they continue to be defined by their identity in the workplace and are often perceived by colleagues as less interested in or less qualified for taking on leadership roles. Many of the respondents in the Lean In report claimed that they did not get the kind of support and advocacy that would help them get to the next level; they were more likely to be micromanaged and less likely to be able to work remotely or set flexible hours.



Even as companies tout their continued commitment to diversity and inclusion and invest in trainings to mitigate bias, it seems corporate America has a long way to go in addressing the stereotypes and microaggressions that Latinas still face in the workplace—which not only keep them from reaching the C-suite, but also continue to fuel the gender pay gap.