Black and Asian women are severely underrepresented in senior leadership positions in the UK. The obstacles they face, for example being overlooked or underestimated, often result in a perception that career success is beyond their reach. It’s no surprise then that these women can end up feeling invisible and powerless.

Unlike white women, who face “glass ceilings”, research shows ethnic minority women, who have less support and even fewer opportunities to advance, encounter “concrete ceilings” or “concrete walls,” which are more difficult to break.

These women often find prejudices blocking their path and impeding their progress to senior positions. Unsurprisingly, being constantly overlooked despite being competent can severely damage their leadership aspirations.

So how do these women shield themselves from the frustration and marginalization that comes with the racial and gender prejudice they face? And how do they actually achieve career success?

To understand this, in our recent research we interviewed 50 ethnic minority women in senior leadership positions. Our findings revealed persistent discrimination from early career stages right through to the upper echelons of the workplace.

Early in their careers, women faced discriminatory experiences such as lack of management support, being openly mocked for their aspirations and being overlooked for promotion. They also reported a lack of opportunities for development, progression or networking. And they were often left with the sense that other staff were preferred.

This evolved at later career stages into harsher and more derogatory experiences such as excessive scrutiny, invisibility, isolation, not being supported and being undermined. Sometimes, they were simply dismissed as a “diversity hire.”

Contrary to the belief that once you reach the pinnacle of your career, you’re less likely to experience discrimination and microaggressions, our findings showed that for Black and Asian women in the UK the opposite is true.

Some participants in our study especially felt they had faced more hostility later in their career, with one saying she “really began to feel the heat” when she reached a senior level. Another said the negativity became clearer as she progressed, noting: “there’s definitely a sense of … let’s say, ‘how did you get this position?” It can be quite frustrating that people don’t think you’re senior.”

Rather than enjoying a “shield” from the power they had earned, they felt it opened them up to further scrutiny, discrimination and subtle forms of racism and harassment. These experiences had a negative effect on their health, well-being and career outcomes. They even caused some to leave their job.

Strategies for success

Our study did, however, offer some positives. Through exploring Black and Asian women’s career journeys and pathways, we identified strategies and attributes that enabled them to climb the career ladder. This has contributed to our understanding of Black and Asian women’s agency and the motivation that empowers them as they pursue their career goals.

Particularly, our findings revealed certain cognitive processes such as making strategic career decisions, self-advocacy and resilience, helped these women challenge boundaries, especially in the face of knockbacks.

For these women to be successful, it was important to have leadership aspirations and goals from very early on in their careers. As one participant told us: “It is very important to set yourself a personal goal and work to achieve it … so long as you have your eye on that goal, you pick yourself up and continue, you would achieve it.”

Participants in our study also emphasized the importance of having the confidence to ask and self-advocate. One of our interviewees stressed that Black and Asian women cannot wait to be “offered something on a plate” but should put themselves forward for opportunities when they meet the criteria.

Strategizing also helped participants navigate challenges and excel in leadership roles. As one participant put it: “I decided which rooms I wanted to be in, and I make sure that I’m in rooms which give me something and which nourish me.”

Resilience and emotional intelligence became particularly relevant at late career stages, and this included having strong personal and professional networks. This was because of the increasing experiences of discrimination as they reached the upper levels of their careers.

There are, of course, actions that organizations need to take to support Black and Asian women in progressing in their careers. First, they need to develop an environment that prevents double standards, where Black and Asian women attaining leadership positions is normal and openly accepted.

Second, organizations should look more closely at performance, recognizing Black and Asian women for extra work that they do that is often unacknowledged.

Third, we encourage organizations to create an effective reporting system, which is safe and confidential, so that women can raise their concerns without the fear of backlash.

Finally, accountability is key and employers should have mechanisms to tackle people, systems and processes that are discriminatory.

By exploring the career success stories of these trailblazing participants, we have uncovered suggestions that could improve the representation of ethnic minority women in leadership positions at work. Our research also offers an opportunity for young Black and Asian women to reflect on their own career goals, and chart out strategic routes to achieving them.

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

Depending on what side of the Atlantic you’re on, your iPhone will soon be very different.

In Europe, the iPhone is about to open up in big ways. Europeans will be able to download third party app stores beyond Apple’s App Store, including the Epic Games Store (which means “Fortnite” is coming back to the iPhone, for some people at least). They will be able to change default apps, swapping out Apple Pay or iMessage for other non-Apple options. They’ll even be able to leave Safari behind and use other web browsers, like Google Chrome or Mozilla Firefox, if they want.

Why, in Europe, is choice now the name of the game for Apple, a company known for its walled garden of apps and services? It all comes down to European regulators, who have taken a decidedly different approach to regulating Big Tech than their American counterparts.

Rather than taking antitrust cases in piecemeal fashion, like the U.S. Department of Justice has done in the U.S., in 2022, the European Commission implemented a comprehensive suite of regulations called the Digital Markets Act. The DMA is the first of its kind: a broad, far-reaching set of regulations and enforcement tactics aimed at making digital markets more fair and open.

In Apple, the EU has an early test case for how effective these regulations will be. But will it be better for consumers? And will it really change competition in Big Tech?

Christo Wilson, a professor of computer science at Northeastern University, says the changes being required of Apple could be a huge shift, both for users and Apple as a company.

Tech companies offering different versions of their products in different regions is not a new concept. Facebook, for example, has different privacy settings in Europe than in the U.S. But this is one of the first cases of a widely adopted piece of hardware, not software, behaving fundamentally differently between regions.

Wilson says it will be a “technical nightmare” for Apple, but one the company will wade through because of its commitment to a specific business model.

“If the EU really pursues this and puts a lot of effort into enforcement, we could end up with very different iPhones,” Wilson says. “If they end up forcing them to allow third party app stores and apps that are not just from the Apple store, that’s a big deal. That makes their ecosystem a lot more like the Android ecosystem, which is a lot more open.”

Wilson says there is a scenario where European iPhones don’t come preloaded with a browser, payment app, email app or messaging app. Users would “go to the [app] store and make explicit choices.”

All of that runs counter to Apple’s entire business model, a “walled garden” approach that keeps users inside a streamlined, curated and contained ecosystem.

The EU has used choice screens in the past, giving people a chance to choose their default apps when they turn on their device for the first time. That has had some positive effects on competition, but Wilson says in the world of Big Tech it’s not always that simple. Companies like Apple and Google often find ways to push back against regulations.

Wilson says they are also adept at designing their devices and software with dark patterns, tricks used in design that lead users toward doing certain things, like using a specific app or signing up for recurring payments.

Elettra Bietti, an assistant professor of law and computer science at Northeastern, says that is the biggest challenge for regulators when it comes to antitrust and competition law.

“The task of regulators is not just to impose obligations or prohibitions on a company like Apple, but it’s also to constantly monitor that they’re not doing something opaque … [or] using some other mechanism to actually make it really hard for users to access those alternative channels but also for competitors to emerge and succeed against the incumbents,” Bietti says.

One of Apple’s biggest arguments against the DMA regulations is that by opening up its phones to third parties, it will also make them less secure and private. Wilson calls these arguments “fairly disingenuous.” There is more malware in the Android ecosystem, but “it doesn’t mean we’re in a crisis situation,” he says.

“On balance, I think we’re better off in a world where you can sideload [download apps outside of an official app store] on the iPhone and there is freedom,” Wilson says. “If that comes at the expense of a tiny bit more malware, so be it.”

As Apple starts to roll out some of these changes, the biggest question remains how it will affect other parts of the world. Will the U.S., which is in the middle of an antitrust push against Big Tech, follow the example set by the E.U. or will the European iPhone just be an anomaly for Apple and the rest of the world?

In the world of tech and digital regulation, all eyes are on Europe, Bietti says. And while she doesn’t expect U.S. regulators to roll out a comprehensive framework like the DMA any time soon, she has hope that “courts and regulators will look to the European experience and take some inspiration.”

More likely, seeing a more open—and maybe more fun—iPhone in the EU might make American iPhone users realize what they’ve been missing.

“More broadly, once people in this country see what is possible, there may be a lot more outcry here: ‘Why aren’t you protecting our rights and giving us the same freedoms as Europeans? It’s an American company,'” Wilson says.

This story is republished courtesy of Northeastern Global News news.northeastern.edu.

The Big Four firms are eager to adopt progressive positions in support of diversity, but it doesn’t always play out in reality for staff.

The experiences of LGBTQI+ people working in professional services are still heavily influenced by their clients, according to a new study from the University of Sydney Business School.

The research, published in Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, is based on 56 in-depth interviews between 2018 and 2019 with LGBTQI+ staff and allies in Australia across the Big Four firms: Deloitte, EY, KPMG, and PwC.

The study was led by Dr. Matthew Egan, a Senior Lecturer in Accounting, Governance and Regulation at the University of Sydney, and explored the experiences of professionals during and following the legislative passing of marriage equality in 2017.

It found that while the Big Four firms each adopted progressive positions in support of diversity, LGBTQI+ staff reported feeling pressure to act differently to manage relationships with different types of clients—sometimes speaking openly about their sexuality to attract more progressive clients, and at other times remaining silent with more conservative clients.

“Each firm was keen to carve unique and bold responses to changing societal attitudes regarding sexuality and gender. There has been a clear move towards greater inclusivity, driven by societal changes and a recognition of the value of diverse perspectives,” Dr. Egan said.

“For example, the firms were vocal supporters of the marriage equality campaign and advertised diversity and inclusion consulting services.

“On the other hand, the enduring influence of client expectations in consulting often complicates these efforts. Staff are required to continually adapt and negotiate their identities depending on the client.”

Staff also reported feeling unsupported by their manager in some cases, when they experienced bigoted comments from clients.

However, when repeated issues arose with clients who were unwilling to adapt to the firms’ changing values, the Big Four were also increasingly willing to lose those clients.

“The concept of ‘the client’ still holds significant sway, sometimes at odds with the firms’ internal diversity policies. Nonetheless, we found that any privilege the more conservative clients might once have enjoyed was eroding,” Dr. Egan said.

“The findings suggest that while firms are increasingly supportive, the reality for many LGBTQI+ professionals is still one of navigating complex and sometimes contradictory expectations. It’s clear that further efforts are needed to ensure that diversity policies are effectively embedded and translate into everyday practice.”

Dr. Egan said the research contributes to ongoing conversations about diversity and inclusion in the workplace, which has only become more contentious in the years since the interviews took place.

The findings call for a more nuanced understanding of how diversity initiatives interact with client relationships and the broader social context.