Recently I had the pleasure of moderating a “Power Women Panel” at Uber HQ featuring three Silicon Valley general counsels.
We had a dynamic, wide-ranging conversation about how these women navigate work/life integration, challenges they’ve encountered in their careers, and what it takes to get more “power women” and other diverse leaders into senior roles.
On this last point, one of the important things we talked about was the need to be intentional about promoting diversity, especially in the leadership ranks. Because all too often, when people use the word “diversity,” in practice they’re talking about either women or people of color.
The result? Women of color often get erased from the conversation—and the workforce. This is especially true in Silicon Valley.
Research on this subject has been limited. But a recent McKinsey study suggests black women, in particular, may have a harder time becoming CEOs—in part because they’re drastically underrepresented in jobs on the path to the C-suite. Another 2018 report, based on data from 177 of the largest tech companies in the Bay Area, showed that black women and Latinas account for less than two percent of professionals (like attorneys and engineers) at those companies, and less than 1.5 percent of leadership.
I can’t speak for the other three participants on last week’s panel, but this squares with my own anecdotal experience as one of very few Latinas in both law and tech (working, not incidentally, with Tony West, who is one of too few black GCs at a major tech company).
And this is where intentionality comes in—starting with the way we talk about diversity.
The only way to prevent women of color and others from being erased is to make sure “diversity” means much more than a single-issue analysis of race and gender.
This conversation has to be both nuanced and intersectional, considering various—and simultaneous—identities. And women of color are far from the only population we need to bring back into the diversity dialogue. Going forward, we need to account for the interplay of a wide variety of factors—from race to gender identity, sexual orientation, and ability; from experience, to belief, to socioeconomic status.
Starting this year, Uber’s own diversity report began to explore some of these intersectional views more deeply. This will help to inform our diversity and inclusion strategies, and will enable us to track our progress from year to year.
It’s a first step, not a solution in itself. But it reflects the kind of intentionality—in our language, our priorities, and the voices and perspectives we lift up in the workforce—that makes progress possible.
Posted by Tammy Albarrán, Deputy General Counsel for Uber
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