Creating a Future: 2012 Multicultural Women’s National Conference

By Melissa J. Anderson (New York City)

This week Working Mother Media celebrated the 10th year of its Multicultural Women’s National Conference. The event, led by Carol Evans, President of Working Mother Media, celebrated a decade of progress in advancing multicultural women in the corporate workplace.

Evans presented data showing how the percentage of multicultural women in corporations, while still slim, has grown significantly over the past ten years. The first time the organization surveyed its member companies (“Best Companies”) on the subject of multicultural women, Evans continued, “Nobody knew whether it was okay to release these numbers or if they should stay hidden.”

Looking at the total workforce of Best Companies, 21% are multicultural women. “But as you go up the ladder…” Evans continued, the percentage decreases significantly. Today 12% of officers or managers at Best Companies are women of color, compared to only 7% nationwide. Only four percent of board members at Best Companies are multicultural women.

Evans noted that 4.3% of direct reports to the CEO are multicultural women, while 72.7% are Caucasian men. Multicultural women only make up 2.8% of P&L roles at Best Companies, compared with Caucasian women at 19.5% and men at 77.7%.

But, she continued, despite these small numbers, multicultural women represented 14% of top earners at Best Companies, compared to 11% last year. Finally, she added, companies are working to increase diversity. Over four out of five respondents (84%) said they rate managers on how they handle diversity issues. And 36% have compensation practices that reward managers for helping multicultural women advance.

She called for more trust and cooperation between white women and multicultural women in order to share the growing space for women at the top. “Our future together is for us to create together,” she said.

Seizing Opportunities

Maritza Montiel, Deputy Chief Executive Officer and Vice Chairman of Deloitte and co-chair of the conference began the second day discussing the challenges she has overcome in her career and her principles for leadership. Most of all, Montiel discussed the importance of seizing opportunities.

Having begun her career in 1974 in Miami, she recalled attending a conference at the firm shortly after making partner ten years later in 1984. “The good news was that there was no competition to get into the ladies room. The bad news was that there was a sea of blue blazers, and I wasn’t wearing one of them.”

Nevertheless, Montiel prevailed, becoming one of the top women at the firm – ever. “Everything you do in life, later on, somehow potentially connects with something else,” she said.

She described working through the savings and loan crisis early in her career, in Deloitte’s Miami office. The office had decided to go after the public sector market – because that was the only market left at the time, she explained. She heard through the grapevine that Miami’s airport was about to put out an RFP, but her boss pointed out that the group didn’t have the qualifications. It didn’t faze Montiel. “I said I’m going to go pursue that, and I picked up the phone.”

“And eventually they became our largest client in Florida,” she said, pointing out that at the time the firm did very little public sector work, and now its federal business is booming. “It essentially helped us get to the next level.”

Navigating Stereotypes

Keynote speaker Dr. Jo Ann Piña, CEO of InspirAction and adjunct professor at Johns Hopkins University discussed the stereotypes that multicultural women must navigate in the professional workforce. She said that oftentimes a clash of values can hold multicultural women back. For example, humility is highly valued in Hispanic and Asian American culture, particularly for women. “Something that keeps us from promoting ourselves is that core value.”

She also explained that self-expression is another value that is practiced differently depending on one’s culture. For Hispanic women, she said, passionate expression is the norm, whereas for Caucasian women, restrained expression is more acceptable. For Hispanic women, passionate expression can be perceived as aggressiveness by the majority, Dr. Piña explained.

She believes that multicultural women should learn to moderate their behavior to ensure their true intentions or messages aren’t misinterpreted in a way that can damage their career. For example, she pointed out that many images of Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor during her confirmation hearings show the justice with her hands splayed face down on a desk. This is likely because, Dr. Piña suggested, she had received coaching not to speak with her hands in a way that might be distracting.

While this tactical approach may be useful in helping multicultural women advance, does it imply an underlying encouragement of assimilation? Does moderating your cultural behavior to fit in equate to giving up your authenticity and tacitly accepting a monocultural status quo? Or is it simply a useful or even necessary strategy for advancement? Does modifying your behavior now make it possible to set the professional stage for more culturally authentic expression by the next generation of multicultural women? Share your thoughts and opinions below.