Small Workforce Gains for Women and Minorities Fuel Diversity Debate
Feature Story by civilrights.org staff - 1/22/2004
As debates about equal opportunity surface across the country, recent data from the U.S. Census Bureau show little gains for women and minorities in the workplace.
The new report, which is used to determine the effectiveness of anti-discrimination laws and to seek methods of combating employment discrimination, demonstrates an increased presence of minorities and women in the workforce. The growth, however, varies across the employment spectrum.
Although increases for women in the medical and legal fields almost doubled to more than 25 percent, research indicates that the gains for women are limited. For instance, women are more likely to be in lower paying sectors of the medical field and are also significantly less likely to be partners in law firms.
The outlook for women and minorities on science, engineering, and math faculties remains dismal, according to a new report released from the University of Oklahoma. Overall, women comprise only 3 to 15 percent of professors in the top science and engineering programs across the nation. According to the report, minority women fare even worse, with just one African-American female professor and no Native American female faculty in the schools surveyed.
"The Ole' Boy's Club is alive and well in academia," said Kim Gandy, president of the National Organization for Women.
According to the Census figures, minority men overall fare better than women. Minority men, for instance, make up about 25 percent of all doctors. Asian men, who tend to be better educated than other minorities, contributed to the entire increase, while the rate of black and Hispanic doctors has not changed in a decade. Moreover, medical school enrollment for both groups has dropped.
"What you see in medical schools is a reflection of educational disparities that begin in kindergarten," Kevin Grumbach, a family and community medicine professor at the University of California- San Francisco, said in The Washington Post. "That's a tough nut to crack."
Research supports this theme. Black males, for example, account for about 4.5 percent of the workforce, but only 0.3 percent of those workers have post-baccalaureate degrees, compared to 10.5 percent of white male workers.
The Census data show that minorities have seen increases in law enforcement and firefighting, owing to several years of employment discrimination litigation. However, the percentage of black firefighters remains stagnant at about 8 percent. Overall, one in four police officers is a minority, with the greatest increase in Hispanic representation -- a result of their bi-lingual skills. Women remain scarce in both fields at just 13 percent of police officers and only 4 percent of the nation's firefighters.
Overall the data demonstrates a work-in-progress for minority and female workers. Many private sector employers are seeking diversity because it is good for business, and many employers claim that affirmative action programs are a great way to achieve this.
In Detroit, Mich., for instance, the rate of top-level jobs held by women declined between 1990 and 2000, and the percentage for Hispanics and African Americans grew by only 0.6 percent.
"We want a workforce that reflects and can speak for our customer base," John Quattrone, GM's North American vice president of human resources, said in an interview with The Detroit News. "It's the right thing to do. It's our social responsibility."
