How employers can champion Black and South Asian women throughout their careers

The ethnic group or gender you identify with shouldn’t prevent your ability to land an interview, secure a job, progress throughout your career, or affect your ability to reach seniority or management positions. Sadly though, in the UK, it does. Our most recent research analyses the reality of job progression for Black and South Asian women throughout their career paths and the obstacles they face. In collaboration with out partners The Diversity Trust, we have gathered in depth insights and put these into a guide packed with the views and experiences of Black and South Asian women, and actionable advice for employers, so businesses can recruit inclusively and create a fair, thriving workforce.

Key findings

• It took Black women 5.1 months and South Asian women 4.9 months to secure their first job out of education meanwhile, it only took white women 2.8 months and white men 3.4 months
• 61% Black and South Asian women are confident they can achieve anything in their career after completing education, yet this confidence later stagnates, meanwhile white men and women’s confidence increases
• 70% of Black women and 64% of South Asian women have felt the need to code-switch (adjusting one’s style of speech, appearance, behaviour, and expression in ways that will optimise the comfort of others in exchange for fair treatment, quality service, and employment opportunities)
• 62% of Black and South Asian women say their wellbeing has suffered at work
• 30% of Black and South Asian managers felt they needed to work harder to reach their position than their white counterparts

The career journeys of Black and South Asian women

Black, Bangladeshi and Pakistani women have the lowest unemployment rate of all ethnic backgrounds and community groups according to the latest ONS data. In addition, Black and South Asian women have notably low representation when it comes to senior and managerial positions in workplaces across the UK. Although these rates are also low for Black and South Asian men, we know that structural bias, both gendered and racial, exists in the UK. The combination of both ethnicity and gender has an impact on the career progression, opportunity and discrimination faced by individuals. With this in mind, we put the voices and experiences of Black and South Asian women at the heart of this research, as we track their path to progression.

Obstacles during the application and interview processes

62% of Black women and 43% of South Asian women mention they faced discrimination during the application process based on their ethnicity, and over a quarter believe that their ethnicity has resulted in at least one job application not progressing. This is highlighted by the actions some women have taken to adapt their name on their CV to increase their chances of progressing to the next stage.

This data becomes more apparent when we look at average time it takes for Black women (5.1 months) and South Asian women (4.9 months) to secure their first job out of education, despite displaying high levels of confidence and ambition. When compared with white men (3.4 months) and white women (2.8 months), the pre-employment bias becomes more evident.

Once the interview is secured, Black and South Asian women are presented with further challenges. The vast majority (75%) of Black and South Asian women have changed their demeanour to appear more ‘approachable and friendly’ during a job interview, while a similar percentage of Black (73%) and South Asian women (63%) have felt the need to tone down certain turns of phrase or mannerisms. This highlights the lack of comfort these women feel during this pre-employment stage, and the additional pressures they feel as they try to secure a role.

Barriers to progression

Positively, 65% of Black and South Asian women feel they have someone to talk to about their career progression, however 22% say this person is not a colleague, indicating they may need to look outside of networks at work to seek career advice.

This ties into the confidence Black women (66%) and South Asian women (62%) hold once leaving education, compared to further along in their career trajectory (Black women 64%, and South Asian women 62%). Although this is still a relatively high percentage, it clearly reaches its peak early on and stagnates further in their career. This is apparent when compared to white men, whose confidence increases by 7% further along in their career and white women, whose confidence increases by 5%, as they are more likely to experience a nurturing work environment built for their needs.

Further along in their careers, 30% of Black and South Asian who hold managerial positions feel they needed to work harder to reach their position than others, a quarter feel respected and 19% feel supported by other members of staff. Clearly, even those who successfully progress within a business continue to face challenges, as they aren’t met with the belief or respect that should be a given.

Impact on mental wellness

The wellbeing of an individual can be impacted by several internal and external factors, however the pressure to act differently, change their tone of voice, the language they use or even their name in order to ‘code-switch’ are methods often exclusively used by non-white people. In this case, these are pressures affecting Black and South Asian women, and this has a considerable effect on their mental health.

Almost two thirds of Black and South Asian women say their wellbeing has suffered at work and 29% say they have received good levels of support from their employers. Although this is a step in the right direction, all employees should feel their mental health and wellbeing is supported and understood equally by their employer.

Creating opportunities and driving support for Black and South Asian women at work

In our research, we gathered data from  surveys and focus groups, which gave us the opportunity to gain insights from Black and South Asian women in the UK. We also sought expertise from our partners The Diversity Trust, for actionable solutions on how to create an inclusive workplace for Black and South Asian women.

The first step in creating a fairer unbiased work environment is accepting that structural racism and misogyny is present at work, throughout all stages, and both covert and overt discrimination can be harmful. Dismissing or avoiding that fact will only exacerbate issues that already exist.

Download An equal path to progression: An employer’s guide to uplifting Black and South Asian women in the workplace, to learn more about our in-depth research including actionable recommendations created for employers, ranging from inclusive attraction and recruitment strategies, to carving out progression paths, and supporting the mental health of Black and South Asian women.

Adopting inclusive hiring: Equality Boost

Inclusive recruitment can be challenging when you don’t know where to start. This research highlights that Black and South Asian women are often waiting longer to land their first role, despite applying, while unemployment rates for Black and South Asian women and men are higher than white men and women.  Equality Boost is an innovative solution that provides practical ways to make diversity, equity and inclusion possible and provide opportunities to the people who are more likely to face barriers to access.

Equality Boost helps you establish when, where and how to reach the talent you need by demographic, location and interest information. Meaning you can target the right people for your roles and create more diverse talent pools in the process.