Race Discrimination Affecting Women
This multi-layered discrimination has been well documented by a variety of
organizations. For example, the National Women's Law Center notes that
compensation for women of color differs radically from that of their white peers.
In 1998, the median weekly salary for African American women was $400;
significantly less than that of both white women and men, which was $468 and
$615 respectively. According to the same study, Hispanic women fared even
worse. Their median income for the same period was a paltry $337. Even in
sectors where women have made significant inroads into management, minority
women continue to be underrepresented. Statistics show that:
* In the banking industry, just 2.6% of executive, managerial and
administrative jobs were held by women of color and 5% by Hispanic women,
while 37.6% of these jobs are held by white women.
* In the hospital industry, women of color and Hispanic women each held
4.6% of the aforementioned jobs, while white women held 50.2%.
* In executive circles, women of color represented only 11.2% of all corporate
officers in Fortune 500 companies.
Do not allow your employer to treat you poorly because of your race, national
origin, ethnicity and/or gender. It is illegal to discriminate against any
employee or applicant for employment because of her race or color or to make
employment decisions based on stereotypes and assumptions about abilities,
traits, or the performance of individuals of certain racial groups.
If you feel you have been discriminated against, contact a qualified Plaintiff's
employment discrimination lawyer in your area to seek empowering guidance
and useful strategies that may make all the difference in the course of your
career.
