Compared with white women, minority women also are under-represented in management circles. While whites make up 86 percent of female managers, blacks make up 7 percent, Hispanics make up 5 percent and Asians 2.5 percent. Asian women managers earn 67 cents for every dollar bankrolled by a white male manager, while white women earn 59 cents, black women earn 58 cents and Hispanic women just 48 cents. Male minority managers, in contrast, earn 73 cents of that dollar. All categories of women earn less than men in their same ethnic groupings.
Education levels vary widely.
While nearly half of Asian women managers hold college and advanced degrees, only 18.2 percent of Hispanic women do. Nearly 34 percent of white women managers and 39 percent of black women managers hold such degrees. But Giscombe observed it's almost impossible to draw clear conclusions yet about the reasons holding minority women back. That's one reason why Catalyst's research is crucial, said the organization's president, Sheila Wellington.