Women of color are a growing presence in American workplaces, businesses, and public institutions, but representation remains uneven across levels of authority. The figures below show where progress is visible, where advancement slows, and how women of color contribute to the economy and civic life.
Contents
- Workplace representation
- Promotion into management
- Leadership timelines
- Workplace practices
- Women-owned and minority-owned businesses
- Nonemployer businesses
- Political representation
Workplace representation
The Women in the Workplace 2024 report from McKinsey & Company and LeanIn.Org shows a sharp difference between entry-level representation and representation at the top of the corporate hierarchy. At entry level, women make up 48% of employees. White women represent 28%, women of color 19%, and White men 33%.
At the manager level, women account for 39% of employees. White women represent 27%, women of color 13%, and White men 41%. This distribution means that the share of women of color is lower at the manager level than at entry level in the same report.
The gap continues in senior leadership. Women represent 28% of senior vice presidents, while White men represent 58%. At the C-suite level, women make up 29% of employees: 22% are White women and 7% are women of color. White men represent 56% of C-suite employees.
The report separately identifies women of color as holding 7% of current C-suite positions. That share is four percentage points higher than in 2017. The historical comparison implies a 3% share in 2017; the report’s current figure is the 2024 measurement.
| Career level | Women overall | White women | Women of color | White men |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Entry level | 48% | 28% | 19% | 33% |
| Manager | 39% | 27% | 13% | 41% |
| C-suite | 29% | 22% | 7% | 56% |
Source: Women in the Workplace 2024, McKinsey & Company and LeanIn.Org
Promotion into management
The first promotion to manager is a key point in the career pipeline. In 2018, 79 women were promoted for every 100 men who received their first promotion to manager. In 2024, the comparable figure was 81 women per 100 men. The overall change was modest across the period.
The 2024 comparison for White women was 89 promotions per 100 men. The report also tracks several groups of women of color separately, showing that the path into management varied substantially by group and year.
Asian women were promoted at a rate of 80 per 100 men in 2018, 83 in 2019, 98 in 2020, 116 in 2021, 95 in 2022, 89 in 2023, and 99 in 2024. The 2021 figure was above parity with the comparison group, while the 2024 figure was just below parity.
Black women were promoted at a rate of 60 per 100 men in 2018, 58 in 2019, 58 in 2020, 82 in 2021, 96 in 2022, 54 in 2023, and 54 in 2024. The sequence shows considerable year-to-year variation, with the highest reported figure in 2022 and the lowest reported figures in 2023 and 2024.
Latinas were promoted at a rate of 81 per 100 men in 2018, 68 in 2019, 71 in 2020, 86 in 2021, 75 in 2022, 76 in 2023, and 65 in 2024. Their 2024 rate was the lowest in the seven-year series provided.
| Group | 2018 | 2020 | 2022 | 2024 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Asian women | 80 | 98 | 95 | 99 |
| Black women | 60 | 58 | 96 | 54 |
| Latinas | 81 | 71 | 75 | 65 |
Figures are promotions per 100 men promoted to manager. Source: Women in the Workplace 2024, McKinsey & Company and LeanIn.Org
Leadership timelines
The same Women in the Workplace 2024 report projects parity for White women in senior leadership in 2046. Its projection for women of color is 2072. These are forecasts, not measurements of current representation.
The report states that it would take 48 years for the representation of White women and women of color in senior leadership to reflect their share of the U.S. population. This estimate describes a projected time horizon under the report’s assumptions; it should not be read as a guaranteed date.
Representation in the C-suite also needs to be considered alongside the starting point. Women of color held 7% of current C-suite positions in the 2024 report, compared with the implied 3% share in 2017. That increase is meaningful, but the projected 2072 parity date indicates how slowly changes at the top can accumulate.
Workplace practices
Employer practices changed unevenly between 2017 and 2024, according to Women in the Workplace 2024. Company reporting of gender diversity fell from 88% to 78%, while reporting of racial diversity fell from 76% to 69%. Managers encouraging respectful and inclusive behavior declined from 97% to 95%.
Some forms of support also became less common. Flexible work hours fell from 85% in 2017 to 77% in 2024. Career development programs tailored to women moved from 55% to 54%. Formal mentorship programs tailored to women fell from 45% to 37%, and formal sponsorship programs tailored to women fell from 31% to 16%.
Other practices increased. Managers promoting employees’ contributions to others rose from 44% to 64%, while managers checking in on general well-being rose from 68% to 82%. Remote or hybrid work options increased from 76% to 92%.
The use of clearer evaluation processes also rose. Clear and specific evaluation criteria established before hiring increased from 72% in 2017 to 76% in 2024. Clear and consistent criteria for evaluating performance increased from 72% to 80%.
The report also finds differences between top-performing organizations and others. Top-performing organizations were 15 percentage points more likely to track attrition rates for women and women of color and 14 percentage points more likely to track promotion rates for these groups. They were 23 percentage points more likely to offer menopause support, 18 points more likely to offer paid sick and family leave, 13 points more likely to offer IVF or fertility treatment support, and 12 points more likely to offer adoption or surrogacy support.
Women-owned and minority-owned businesses
The Census Bureau’s 2024 employer-businesses release counted about 5.9 million U.S. employer firms in 2022. Around 1.3 million, or 22.3%, were owned by women. Women-owned businesses had an estimated $2.1 trillion in receipts, 11.4 million employees, and $508.5 billion in annual payroll.
Minority-owned businesses accounted for 1.3 million employer firms, or 22.6% of the total. The release also provides group-specific figures. Asian-owned businesses numbered 650,680 in 2022; 144,141, or 22.2%, were in accommodation and food services, and the group had $1.2 trillion in receipts.
Black or African American-owned businesses numbered 194,585 and had $211.8 billion in annual receipts, 1.6 million employees, and about $61.2 billion in annual payroll. American Indian and Alaska Native-owned businesses numbered 47,519, with $78.5 billion in receipts, 333,153 employees, and about $14.6 billion in annual payroll.
Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander-owned businesses numbered 9,552, with approximately $13.8 billion in receipts, 68,795 employees, and $3.2 billion in annual payroll. Hispanic-owned businesses grew about 14.6%, from 406,086 in 2021 to 465,202 in 2022. They represented about 7.9% of all U.S. businesses in 2022 and had an estimated $653.5 billion in annual receipts, 3.6 million employees, and approximately $143.2 billion in annual payroll.
Nonemployer businesses
The Census Bureau’s 2023 nonemployer-business data describes businesses without paid employees in 2019. Women owned 41.1% of the nation’s nonemployer businesses, with $313.6 billion in receipts. Minorities owned 35.3%, with $342.9 billion in receipts.
Hispanic-owned nonemployer firms accounted for 15.5% of businesses, or 4,191,000 firms, with $156.5 billion in receipts. Asian-owned nonemployer businesses accounted for 8.6%, or 2,334,000 firms, with $114.2 billion in receipts. Black or African American-owned nonemployer businesses accounted for 12.7%, or 3,455,000 firms, with $83.6 billion in receipts.
American Indian or Alaska Native-owned nonemployer businesses accounted for 1.2%, or 315,000 firms, with $10.5 billion in receipts. Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander-owned nonemployer businesses accounted for 0.3%, or 82,000 firms, with $3.0 billion in receipts. Veteran-owned nonemployer businesses made up about 5.1%, or 1,382,000 firms, with $59.7 billion in receipts.
When employer and nonemployer businesses were combined, women owned and operated 12,338,407 businesses with $2.1 trillion in receipts. Minorities owned and operated 10,630,319 businesses with $1.9 trillion in receipts. Hispanics owned and operated 4,537,836 businesses with $619.8 billion in receipts, while veterans owned and operated 1,713,151 businesses with $1.0 trillion in receipts.
Political representation
Pew Research Center data on the 119th Congress found 110 Democratic women and 40 Republican women across both chambers at its opening. Women made up 42% of congressional Democrats and 15% of congressional Republicans. In the House, women represented 44% of Democrats and 14% of Republicans; in the Senate, they represented 34% of Democrats and 17% of Republicans.
Since 1992, 68% of women in the House have been Democrats, and 67% of women in the Senate have been Democrats, according to Pew Research Center.
Pew’s data on the 118th Congress counted 153 women among 540 voting and nonvoting members, a 59% increase from the 96 women in the 112th Congress a decade earlier. Women held 128 House seats, or 29% of the chamber, and 25 of 100 Senate seats. Among 22 freshman women elected to the House, 15 were Democrats and 7 were Republicans.
On the first day of the 118th Congress, women voting representatives included 26 Black women, 18 Hispanic women, 7 Asian American women, 2 Native American women, and 1 multiracial woman. At the start of that Congress, 22 of the 25 women senators were White, 2 were Asian American, and 1 was Hispanic; no Black women or American Indian or Alaska Native women served in the Senate.
Pew Research Center also reported that President Biden’s Cabinet included 12 women among 25 Cabinet or Cabinet-level positions, a 48% share and the highest in history at that time. The group included four White women, four Black women, one Asian American woman, one Hispanic woman, one American Indian woman, and one multiracial woman.