Exploring the Career Advancement Experience of Black Women on their Journey
to Executive Levels in Large American Corporations

Corporations began hiring Black people into management positions in the 1960’s and 1970’s following the passage of the Civil Rights Act (1964) which made it unlawful to discriminate in hiring based on race, gender, religion, or country of origin. Black men were the first to benefit from this change in the law and Black women began to appear in entry level management roles in the 1980’s. Forty years later, there have only been four Black women CEOs in the history of the Fortune 1000, the largest American companies based on reported revenues. This level of representation is closer to zero than one percent despite over six percent of the American population self-reporting as Black or African American women. The purpose of this study was to explore the career advancement journey of Black women that achieved the executive level in Fortune 1000 companies to identify what events were most critical in helping or hindering their career advancement. The research design was an exploratory, qualitative study using critical incident technique (Flanagan, 1954) as the methodology. The study consisted of 20 participants, Black women that achieved executive level in Fortune 1000 companies with a minimum of fifteen years of management experience. The analysis of the data revealed two over-arching themes across the participants, the experience of being the first and, or only woman, Black person, or Black woman and a small group of sustaining beliefs shared by the Black women. These beliefs served to sustain them over their career advancement journeys. Consistent with the critical incident methodology, the antecedents or what led to the incidents, the incidents themselves, and the outcomes of the incidents were all analyzed for themes. The study data was reviewed to identify practical implications and recommendations for Black women leaders, people who advocate for Black women in leadership, leadership in companies, and people in positions in diversity, equity, and inclusion.

Committee
Lize Booysen, DBL, Chair
Harriet Schwartz, PhD
Kathleen Brown, PhD

TUESDAY OCTOBER 4, 2022 1 - 3 PM ET / 10 – 1 PT
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