How white leaders can actively support women of color at work

Executive overview

Women of color hold under 11% of management roles and under 4% of executive roles in Fortune 500 companies — yet over 70% report their managers are not invested in their success. The gap is not effort; it is access, sponsorship, and intentional advocacy.

Minda Harts, author of The Memo, outlines what white leaders — and white women in particular — must do differently: move from self-labelled allyship to activated, visible sponsorship.

Calling yourself an ally is not the same as being one — allyship only exists in action.

The workplace reality women of color face

• Women of color often suppress their authentic selves to avoid being labelled "angry" or dismissed.
• Racial unrest outside work hits differently when you are also expected to explain and solve it inside work.
• Being asked to fix a system you did not create — while grieving — is an unfair double burden.
• Microaggressions are recent, not historical: being mistaken for waitstaff in 2016, not 1955.
• Lack of psychological safety means most women of color never raise these issues with managers.

What managers are getting wrong

• Over 70% of women of color interviewed said their manager was not invested in their success.
• Managers tend to advocate for people they golf with or share backgrounds with — not their full team.
• Diversity initiatives framed around "women" routinely fail women of color: one in 25 reaches the C-suite vs. one in five white women.
• Recruiting from the same talent pools produces the same demographic results — switching headhunters or sourcing channels is a concrete fix.
• "We hired more women" does not equal intersectional diversity; gender and race must both be tracked.

The allyship gap

• McKinsey/LeanIn data: over 80% of white women call themselves allies; fewer than 20% of women of color felt that allyship in practice.
• White men were cited as the sponsors behind pivotal career moments by the overwhelming majority of women of color interviewed.
• White men helping women of color advance does not diminish their own careers — scarcity thinking is the obstacle.
• The Biden/Harris example shows intentional choice is possible at any level of an organisation.
• Allyship without activation is just a label — ask: when did I last do something?

Language and perception traps

• Calling a woman of color "articulate" signals an expectation of a low bar — it is not a compliment.
• "Professionalism" standards around hair were created by the dominant majority and did not include natural Black hairstyles.
• Passing someone over for braids or natural hair while accepting equivalent styles on white women is discrimination.
• The word "women" in workplace initiatives defaults to white women — it must become intentional and intersectional.
• "Woke" and "ally" have been hollowed out; the operative question is what concrete act followed the label.

What active sponsorship looks like

• Speak someone's name in rooms they are not in — surface them for stretch assignments, promotions, salary reviews.
• On video calls, notice when a woman of color is trying to contribute and create space: "I think Minda had something to add."
• Reach out for a 15-minute coffee after a shared session — relationship-building precedes meaningful advocacy.
• Read The Memo and other books on intersectional experience (e.g. Making Hispanics) — education precedes activation.
• Ask each person on your team: "What can I do to help you do the best work of your career here?" — manage individuals, not a monolith.
• Privilege is not inherently bad; the question is whether you use it only for yourself or to bring others along.