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90% of CEOs report that diversity is a top business priority, yet the dial towards progress has hardly moved in recent years. A quantitative study by MassBio showed that although women make up half of the entry-level positions in biotech, they fill only 20 percent of senior leadership slots and 10 percent of board seats. While a 2017 study of the US biotech industry by Nature Biotechnology, a trade journal, found that African-Americans, who make up 13 percent of the population, hold only 3 percent of the executive positions at biotech firms, and Latinos/Hispanics, who make up 18 percent of the population, hold only 4 percent of management positions and 2 percent of board seats.
Women of color face a 'double jeopardy' because of their gender and ethnicity. In this guide, we explore the current ‘state of the union’ for women in color in STEM-related fields and the underlying processes within recruitment that may create obstacles to increasing their representation in the workplace.