From Surviving to Thriving: 9 Ways to Truly Support Black Women in the Workplace

Black women are vital contributors to innovation, culture, and success across every industry.

They often lead with excellence while navigating the intersecting challenges of race, gender, age, and other forms of bias. Yet despite their impact, the data shows that they remain among the most underrecognized and under-supported groups in the workplace.

When Black women are supported, everyone benefits.

Inclusive workplaces become more effective, more equitable, and better equipped to retain top talent. Practices that affirm, protect, and empower Black women often lead to stronger systems that uplift many, not just one group.

Creating an environment where Black women can thrive means addressing the deepest of inequities. It creates an opportunity for teams and organizations to tackle root issues, leading to healthier, more human-centered and engaged workplaces for all.

This is a call for managers and leaders to go beyond intentions and take responsibility, committing to everyday practices that foster dignity, respect, and opportunity.

Understanding the Landscape: The Data Tells a Clear Story

Black women face compounded challenges due to both racial and gender bias in the workplace. Here are some key statistics:

• Representation: Black women make up only 1.9% of executive and senior-level positions in S&P 500 companies, despite making up 7% of the U.S. workforce (LeanIn & McKinsey, 2023).

• Pay Gap: On average, Black women earn just 66 cents for every dollar earned by white, non-Hispanic men (National Women's Law Center, 2024).

• Leadership Pipeline: For every 100 men promoted to manager, only 54 Black women are promoted, the lowest rate of any race-gender group (LeanIn, 2023).

• Burnout: Black women report higher levels of burnout, isolation, microaggressions, and lower engagement. Many also carry disproportionate DEI-related responsibilities without proper compensation or recognition.

What is the “Curb-Cut Effect” and why does it matter?

The term comes from the sloped edges of sidewalks originally designed for people using wheelchairs. These curb cuts ended up benefiting parents with strollers, travelers with luggage, cyclists, and many others.

The same principle applies in the workplace: when you build systems that support the most marginalized, everyone benefits.

Supporting Black women, through fair evaluation, inclusive mentorship, or equitable development, results in healthier, more inclusive, and more productive workplaces for all employees, not just those from marginalized backgrounds.

9 Tangible Ways to Support Black Women at Work

1. Listen to Understand, Not to Defend

   Black women’s experiences are often dismissed or minimized. Support begins with listening, without defensiveness or preconceived assumptions.

   • Action Step: Host listening sessions or private check-ins grounded in trust and learning. Take feedback seriously, and follow through on it.

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2. Foster Psychological Safety

   Black women are frequently labeled “aggressive,” “intimidating,” or “difficult” for behavior that can be praised in others. They need to know they can speak freely without fear of punishment or misinterpretation.

   • Tip: Set team norms around respectful and inclusive communication. Model inclusive behavior in meetings and during feedback.

   
   

3. Sponsor, Don’t Just Mentor

   Advice is helpful, but advocacy is powerful. Black women need leaders who open doors and create visibility, not just offer guidance.

   • Action Step: Identify their goals and recommend them for high-impact projects where appropriate, invite them to lead, and champion their success, especially when they’re not in the room.

   • Tip: Reflect on who you naturally advocate for, and expand your sponsorship opportunities intentionally.

     
     

4. Provide FLEXIBLE Tools for Success AND ENGAGEMENT

   Generic support isn’t enough. Black women often work in environments where they’re underrepresented or isolated.

   • Action Step: Offer access to culturally competent coaching, identity-affirming programs, peer networks and community engagement opportunities outside of your organization.

   • Tip: Make support proactive and embedded in your policies and practices, not just a response to burnout or attrition.

     
     

5. Audit Your Systems — and Fix What You Find

   Bias hides in “neutral” systems like hiring, promotion, and pay. These often disadvantage Black women without obvious red flags.

   • Action Step: Advocate for audits that analyze data by race and gender. Demand transparency and accountability around inequities.

     
     

6. Recognize Contributions Without Tokenism

   Black women are often tasked with DEI work, mentoring, and representing “diversity” without support, authority, or compensation.

   • Action Step: Offer opportunities but don't expect a "yes" all the time. Compensate extra responsibilities where appropriate. Share emotional labor. Make DEI a collective responsibility, not just one person or group.

   
   

7. Bring in Equity-Centered Support

   Outside partners can help you identify blind spots and build better systems.

   • Action Step: Invest in facilitators, consultants, and coaches with lived experience and expertise in intersectional equity.

   • Best Practice: Don’t rely on one or two Black women to represent a whole community. Create system-wide change and ensure shared learning.

Best Practice: Invite their perspectives, yes, but never position them to represent an entire group. no one group is a monolith and the emotional and mental weight of tokenism can become too heavy.

8. Respect Personal Agency:

   Support doesn’t mean overexposure and heightened expectations. Some Black women may want to lead, speak up or participate in after work activities, others may not. Respect their autonomy.

   Action Step: Create opportunities, not expectations. Let Black women decide how and when to engage beyond their job role.

   
   

9. Normalize Black Features, and Identity:

   Appearance-based bias, toward natural hair, skin tone, and cultural expression is still very common.

   • Action Step: Update policies and training to reflect CROWN Act principles. Shut down inappropriate comments and affirm the professionalism of all cultural realities and expressions.

Final Thought: Equity and inclusion Is a Daily Practice

Supporting Black women is not a trend, it should be a leadership standard. Embedding equity into your culture means valuing care, accountability, and agency.

Building workplaces where Black women don’t have to shrink, code-switch, or overperform to belong is essential to a healthy and productive environment. Commit yourself to taking action to build spaces where they are seen, valued, and empowered to lead safely and authentically.

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