Women of Color and Wealth – Looking at Outliers and Outsiders [Part 5]

From the looks of the chart, Asian American men are actually doing the best, income wise – they edge out white men by $1,035.  Asian American women are in second place, trailing their male counterparts by over $10,000 thanks to the income gap, but still putting up a higher income than white women by $4,266.  So does this mean that Asian-Americans have achieved the American dream?  Not quite.

In 2007 and 2008, Racialicious ran a series of posts looking at an emerging phenomenon impacting Asian Americans in business termed “the bamboo ceiling.” Ultimately, the reports showed that while Asian Americans were faring better than other minorities, things still weren’t equal.

Angry Asian Man wrote most of the pieces, and over time, it paints a grim picture of the workplace realities facing Asian Americans.

From Silicon Valley’s Bamboo Ceiling:

A survey of local executives reveals that while Asians make up more than a third of the work force at some of Silicon Valley’s biggest tech companies, they only represent about 6 percent of board members and about 10 percent of corporate officers of the Bay Area’s 25 largest companies.

According to a new study, among the 25 largest Bay Area companies by revenue, 12 had no Asian board members, and five had no Asian corporate officers. Despite the growing prominence of Asians at Silicon Valley tech companies, they’ve made no gains in the share of seats on the boards of large tech companies since 1999. What’s up with that?

From Asian American Employees Underreport Discrimination:

The report, which was released earlier this month, says that Asian Americans face a number of misperceptions and stereotypes, factors that have become “the framework of barriers establishing glass or bamboo ceilings which present [Asian American and Pacific Islanders] from moving into the upper tiers of an organization.”

A 2005 Gallup poll found that 31 percent of Asian respondents said they had experienced discriminatory or unfair treatment on the job. But the EEOC noted in its report that enforcement actions reveal that Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders file only 3.26 percent of discrimination [complaints].

From Comprehensive New Report on Chinese Americans:

According to the study, Chinese Americans, one of the most highly educated groups in the nation, are confronted by a “glass ceiling,” unable to realize full occupational stature and success to match their efforts. The returns on Chinese Americans’ investment in education and “sweat equity” are “generally lower than those in the general and non-Hispanic White population.”

But again, the lack of data floats a ton of questions (why do Asian women have higher incomes, but are more economically vulnerable in retirement?), but provides few answers.

And the information about Native American wealth – and the subsequent pushback about the framing of wealth and assets from the community provides a lot more to ponder.

There is also a larger question here, about data and the census, but I will leave that for later this week.

In the meantime, let’s reflect on what is missing.  What data should be considered vital, but is missing?  What questions are still remaining in your minds?

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