White employees see themselves as allies—but Black women and Latinas disagree
- June 19-25, 2020
- 7,406 Respondents
- 7 Questions
About the study
These findings are from an online poll conducted by LeanIn.Org and SurveyMonkey between June 19, 2020, and June 25, 2020. Our sample consists of approximately 7,400 U.S. adults ages 18 and over. Unless otherwise noted, the findings reflect responses from people who were either employed or temporarily furloughed at the time of the survey.
Key findings
Most white employees see themselves as allies to people of color at work
When “allyship” is defined as “using one’s power or position to support or advocate for coworkers with less power or status,” more than 80 percent of white women and men say that they see themselves as allies to colleagues of other races and ethnicities.
However, many Black women and Latinas don’t feel they have strong allies at work
Despite an overwhelming majority of white employees seeing themselves as allies, less than half of Black women and only slightly more than half of Latinas feel they have strong allies at work. Additionally, only about a quarter of Black women and Latinas say it’s mostly accurate that Black women have strong allies in their workplace.
Relatively few Black women and Latinas say most of their strongest allies are white
Only 10 percent of Black women and 19 percent of Latinas say the majority of their strongest allies are white, compared to 45 percent of white women. Since white employees, particularly white men, are more likely to be in positions of power, this disadvantages women of color—and points to the importance of white employees stepping up as allies for their Black and Latinx coworkers.
A majority of white employees have never spoken out against racial discrimination at work
Challenging racism is a basic act of allyship, yet only about four in ten white employees say they’ve spoken out against racial discrimination at work. Black women and Latinas are about as likely as their white colleagues to speak out against racial discrimination, but they are far more likely to face retaliation—including being fired—for doing so.
See all the data⁴
Go to next sectionDo you consider yourself an ally to people of different races/ethnicities at work?
Have you ever spoken out against racial discrimination at work?
When you spoke out against racial discrimination at work, were you ever retaliated against in some way (e.g. given a poor evaluation, fired, excluded from meetings)?
Do you have strong allies at work?
How accurate is it that Black women have strong allies at your workplace?
Thinking about your strongest allies, would you say they are:
Thinking about your strongest allies, would you say they are:
Methodology
This SurveyMonkey poll was conducted online on June 19–25, 2020, among a total sample of 7,406 adults ages 18 and over living in the United States, including sample boosts for employed Black women and employed Latinas. Respondents for these surveys were selected from more than two million people who take surveys on the SurveyMonkey platform each day. The modeled error estimate for the full sample is plus or minus 2 percentage points, and for the following subgroups: women +/- 2, men +/- 3, white women +/- 2.5, Black women +/- 4, Latinas +/- 4.5. Data have been weighted for age, race, sex, education, and geography using the Census Bureau’s American Community Survey to reflect the demographic composition of the United States population ages 18 and over.
Footnotes
- Defined as respondents who said that it is mostly or extremely accurate that Black women have strong allies in their workplace.
- These findings are for all survey respondents who reported having strong allies at work.
- These findings are for all survey respondents except for those who have never worked or have always been self-employed.
- The survey oversampled Black women and Latinas. Data for Black men, Latinos, and other women of color are not included due to small sample sizes.
