Broken Rung: Systemic Obstacles to Career Advancement
“Just because someone carries it well, doesn’t mean it’s not heavy.”
This quote deeply resonates with me as I reflect on the professional journeys of women, particularly women of colour.
Despite talent, ambition, and hard work, women often encounter barriers that make advancement unnecessarily difficult. One of the most significant—and systemic—obstacles is the ‘broken rung’ in the corporate ladder.
Understanding the Broken Rung
The term “broken rung” refers to the barriers that prevent women from securing their first promotion from entry-level roles to manager. This isn’t just a small hiccup—it creates a bottleneck effect, limiting representation at every subsequent level of leadership.
The Women In the Workplace 2023 report by LeanIn.Org and McKinsey & Company highlights how pervasive this challenge remains. Although women of colour are often highly ambitious and capable, they experience lower promotion rates and are severely underrepresented in leadership positions.
Examples of Systemic Barriers
Women face multiple, often overlapping obstacles in their professional journeys:
Microaggressions: Frequent, subtle, or overtly negative comments and behaviors that undermine confidence and morale.
Unequal access to opportunities: Fewer chances for high-visibility projects, leadership training, or key networking events.
Stereotyping and tokenism: Being pigeonholed into specific roles or expected to represent an entire community.
Bias in performance evaluations: Stricter scrutiny and less favourable assessments compared to peers, often fuelled by unconscious biases.
For women of colour, these challenges are compounded by limited access to mentorship, sponsorship, and critical career guidance, leaving many feeling stuck despite their ambition and talent.
Why This Matters to Me
This reality fuels my passion and commitment. While I’ve had the honor of coaching a diverse range of clients, empowering women of colour to bridge the promotion gap and advance their careers is my priority.
Addressing the issue also requires targeted strategies and systemic changes spearheaded by organizations to create equal opportunities for career advancement for women of colour.
Here are 5 remedies that can have an impact:
Mentorship and Sponsorship Programs: Establish formal mentorship and sponsorship programs that specifically pair women of color with senior leaders who can advocate for their career advancement, provide guidance, and offer visibility within the organization.
Leadership Development Programs: Offer tailored leadership development programs that equip women of color with the skills, knowledge, and networks necessary for advancement into managerial and executive roles. Include opportunities for exposure to senior leadership and decision-making processes.
Networking Opportunities: Facilitate access to networking opportunities, professional associations, industry events, and conferences where women of color can build relationships, gain visibility, and access career-enhancing opportunities.
Work to de-bias performance reviews and promotions. Establish safeguards to ensure that evaluation criteria are applied fairly by supervisors and bias doesn’t creep into decision making.
Track inputs and outcomes. Track and report out on talent development and recruitment processes using an intersectional lens of race and gender to help uncover inequities. The data can be used to inform targeted interventions to address the obstacles faced by women of color.
Moving Forward
Addressing the broken rung requires both personal empowerment and organizational accountability. Women of colour need support, visibility, and opportunities to thrive — and organizations have the responsibility to dismantle systemic barriers.
When we shine a light on these issues and implement intentional strategies, we create pathways for women of colour to lead with confidence, influence, and impact.
