by Anti-Racist Parent columnist Mike Lee
My wife and I — we are both in the medical field — never really thought about the “glass ceiling” concept because we often see people of varied ethnicities in high positions in our field. However, my wife’s cousins, who are in the business field, recently reminded us that it is still there.
They raised the point that if you look at most major corporations, they are still predominantly run by older Caucasian men. Look at GM, Ford, Procter and Gamble, AIG, etc. I never really thought about it until they mentioned it to me. I just figured it was because these guys were really intelligent and just stood out among the rest. It was just coincidental that they also happened to all be Caucasian.
However, my wife brought up the topic with her friend whose husband is Asian American and a stock broker in New York. Her friend agreed that she too has noticed a “glass ceiling” at his firm, and that minorities are often given analyst/advisor positions, but upper managment is predominantly Caucasian. My wife’s cousin calls it the Old Boys Club, and said it’s really hard for people of color and women to become a part of it. I thought that there were laws on this stuff.
When I look at minority-run corporations, I now realize that many of them are start ups. In fact, I have recently read stories where some of these CEOs were frustrated at their former corporations because they were not being promoted and left to start their own companies. Then I found this article on how physically attractive people get better promotions and jobs, etc. but that’s a whole other issue.
The topic started to make me think about our future son and what challenges he will be going through when he enters the working world. I wonder if my wife’s friend, cousin, etc. are just being hypersensitive and there is no real “glass ceiling” anymore. I am wondering if it still exists in the medical field. My wife’s other friend who is a physician had the board at her hospital ask to consider changing her Asian first name so people would better recognize it.
I wonder if my future son will have to deal with this in the profession he chooses and what he will do about it. I wonder how to best prepare children in recognizing this racism that still exists in the work place, and how to confront it if they ever do? I don’t want my son to be ignorant and never reach his full potential because he is kept from achieving them.
Mike Lee currently works as a family practice physician. He was born in Korea but came to the U.S. after turning 1 year old and spent much of his life in Southern California. He blogs for Rice Daddies, and is very interested in the issue of dealing with the struggle for being anti-racist as both an individual and as a parent. He and his wife currently live in California.
I’ve wondered about this too. After being told I could do whatever I set my mind to, and obtaining degrees in engineering and law, I was not prepared for the low expectations and restrictions I began to encounter professionally by the time I reached my mid-30s. After several dead-end mid-management positions I left the workplace and started a family. I am not sure if I will ever return to corporate America but I want my children to shoot for the stars recognizing they may encounter plenty of “space junk” along the way.
At present, minority students are many times more likely to gain admission to upper-tier colleges than white applicants with equal or even superior academic records.
At present, black college graduates have an advantage over white college graduates because they are highly recruited by corporations eager to comply with affirmative action mandates. There are not enough black college graduate to go around.
High dropout rates and poor academic performance, not racism, is the reason blacks do not have equal access to college eduations.
The primary cause of poverty among blacks is not racism, it’s unwed or divorced mothers with dependent children, in other words, it’s the same as the primary cause of poverty among whites.
Afircan Americans are “disporportantely” poor, in raw numbers, there are more poor whites than poor blacks. Meanwhile, changing demographics are making a mockery of affirmative action. Hispanic Americans now outnumber African Americans. In Texas and California, the nation’s most populous states, they will soon become an abosolute majority. In my hometown, a border city of 750,000, people, about 90 percent of the population is eligible for affirmative action.
Affirmative action programs were originally intended to compensate African Americans for the decades of Jim Crow laws and defacto segregation; is unlikely to last much longer unless America is willing to accept a rigid quota system based on “diversity,” in which each racial or ethinc group is alloted it’s “fair share” of college admissions and job positions. This might happen (affirmative action policies at many university have already be restructured to limit the number of over-presented Asian American students), but Texas, California and Michigan have recently voted to ban race-based affirmative action. Black Americans should position their children to take advantage of affirmative action while it lasts.
Mike, thanks so much for writing about the
glass ceiling. I worked for a major brokerage
house over twenty years ago. I am pretty
sure that the “club” that existed then is still
very much there today.
On the one hand, I do not want my children
to be prevented from achieving their goals,
but on the other hand, I really wouldn’t want
them to join that “club”. The excess and
greed of the corporate world is a real
turn off to me.
Blair, you write: “The primary cause of poverty among blacks is not racism, it’s unwed or divorced mothers with dependent children, in other words, it’s the same as the primary cause of poverty among whites.”
In my opinion, the primary cause of poverty
is the failure of corporate america to pay
a liveable wage and offer decent benefits
to a large number of people, meanwhile
paying themselves in the millions.
Hunh. Just like one can be a minority and be prejudiced against another minority, one thing everyone should realize is that a business can be “minority” run without having any loyalty to hiring or working with other minorities.
My company is one such start-up, originally women-owned in a field where almost everyone above entry level is traditionally male, both on the business side and in the goverment agencies that are our main clients. Now, with 100 employees, 60% of which are female, ask how ethnically diverse the company really is (like, single percentages, total). When I’ve asked, they claim that they just don’t get a diverse group of potential employees. I think honestly, they just don’t try very hard.
Mike,
Is it possible that the hospital has asked your wife to change (or maybe adapt) her first name simply to make it easier for her patients (the people that she serves) to be able to pronounce her name and address her easily?
I am researching the subject of Social Problems with my focus being on equality in the workplace. I am especially interested in “race card,” I found your article interesting.