• over scrutiny and under management
• being labeled as affirmative action hires
• lack of mentors and role models
• greater interpersonal conflict and harassment
• less supportive co-workers or supervisors
• training, education and work experience never enough
• additional performance pressures
• isolation/invisibility
• lack of accessible accommodations
• heightened perceptions of blocked career paths
• stuck in the advancement pipeline
• perceptions of not being a "good fit" or a team player.
• concrete vs. glass ceilings

These stressful and challenging work conditions are intensified among young entrants into the work force. As their expectations of the job are not met, they and their more experienced diverse counterparts are more likely to leave that organization. Businesses and organizations are experiencing a significant "brain drain" as a result of the departure of their talented, diverse employees, especially women. This turnover is costly in multiple ways to the organization as they experience the loss of:

• intellectual capital
• cross-cultural skills
• knowledge of growing consumer markets
• unique contributions influenced by life experiences and perspectives
• community networks and outreach sensitivity
• creative and innovative talent

Yet these are world-class competencies and awarenesses essential to pilot organizations into the future.

Corporate leaders are speaking out in public statements, corporate policies, recruiting literature and advertisements affirming their commitment to diversity. The message is clear and powerful, setting the tone and clarifying the continuing importance of diversity in organizations, as we complete the first decade of this new century. Leading CEOs across the United States confirm that organizations and individuals seeking competitive advantage are developing or expanding diversity goals-creating an effective and diverse organization as quickly as possible.

Regrettably, women have not shown leadership in diversity recruiting, hiring and retention. The absence of women speaking out on the major gaps in professional employment among diverse women, on their inability to secure loans to develop small businesses and on the continuing lack of acceptance and support for their advancement at all levels in organizations is most discouraging.

As a career counselor/coach, I advise many talented women who are entangled in a web of disadvantage caused by women managers, who are sabotaging their advancement, either by complicity or neglect. Because women do experience discrimination in their own career progression, I believe their actions ought to be far more supportive and their voices far more persistent and forceful in raising concerns and in finding solutions. When white women ask me about the continued need for preferential treatment and affirmative action, describing such as unnecessary crutches for "talented minorities," I am thoroughly incensed. White women continue to reap the benefits of the legislation, without ever asking for it or carrying the stigma attached to it -- thus permitting themselves to be oblivious to the disparities -- despite the preponderance of data from the Department of Labor, the Equal Opportunity Commission and the Catalyst research on Women of Color in Corporations, to the contrary.

For eight years, Black Career Women, implemented our groundbreaking "Can We Talk? National Diversity Forums to illuminate these disparities, but sustained awareness and advocacy for change are slow to come.

In 2007, women-owned businesses and women leaders in our organizations and in the community must move to the forefront and take an affirmative stance on diversity recruitment and advancement for all women. As a group, we must be purposeful and driven in our determination to locate, hire and retain our sisters in our workplaces. We must use our programs and publications, our presence on boards, on committees, in work groups and in our power networks to speak out on the importance of mirroring the diversity that we seek in our consumers. To do less is a disservice not only to women colleagues, but also to our consumers, our business partners to those to whom we supply goods and services and to our community. Let us not end this decade with a continuing passivity or confusion on the 21st century diversity mandate. This is a woman-to-woman call to arms!
    
Plan now to join BCW for our first ever, Can We Talk? National Diversity Webinar, September 12, 2007,
   
where we will once again tackle these important issues in a brand new format. 

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