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The State of Latinas in Corporate America 2024

Introduction

Latinas lose the most ground across the corporate pipeline

The last five years of Lean In’s research on the state of women at work reveal a disturbing trend: Latinas face the steepest climb up the corporate ladder and end up the most underrepresented of all groups of employees in the C-suite. Despite these barriers, Latinas remain highly ambitious and increasingly committed to advancing.

Lean In’s first-ever report on the state of Latinas in corporate America offers an in-depth look at the distinct, compounding obstacles Latinas face at work. It also provides specific actions companies can take to ensure Latinas are given equal opportunities to grow, develop, and lead their organizations into the future.

Latinas face the biggest drop in representation from entry level to the C-suite

Latinas enter the corporate workforce at a disadvantage. There are roughly half as many Latinas at the entry level as in the general population: Latinas make up over 9 percent of the population but just under 5 percent of entry-level workers.1 This scarcity of Latinas at the entry level makes them the most underrepresented of any group of women at the beginning of their careers.

From there, Latinas face the steepest climb up the corporate ladder—or the biggest drop in representation from entry level to the C-suite.2 As a result, they end up the least represented at the top: only 1 percent of C-suite executives are Latina.

If this trend continues, they will not be able to catch up to other groups of women—let alone men—in leadership roles and will remain the most underrepresented group at the highest levels of corporate America.

Latinas lose the most ground from the beginning to the end of the pipeline

In 2023, between the entry level and the C-suite, white men’s representation increased by 64 percent while Latinas’ decreased by 78 percent—the most of any group.

Latinas experience a broken rung at the initial step up to manager

Alongside Black women, they experience the most significant “broken rung” at the critical initial step up to management. For every 100 men promoted from entry level to manager, only 74 Latinas are promoted.4 As a result, there are far fewer Latinas to promote at every subsequent level and their representation dwindles from there.

A second hurdle stands in Latinas' way just when the C-suite is within reach

At the critical step into senior leadership, Latinas face another barrier: alongside Asian women, Latinas have the lowest promotion rates of any group of women from director to VP. For every 100 men promoted to VP, 90 Latinas are promoted.5 This holds Latinas back at a key moment when the C-suite is finally in view.

Together, these two obstacles make it nearly impossible for Latinas to gain ground and cement their position as the least represented group in the most senior levels of leadership.

For more on the experiences of Latinas in corporate America and solutions to make Latinas’ advancement a priority:

Read The Report

About the report

The State of Latinas in Corporate America draws heavily on Lean In and McKinsey & Company’s annual Women in the Workplace study. Since 2015, more than 590 companies employing more than 22 million people, along with a quarter of a million individual employees, have participated in Women in the Workplace. To our knowledge, this makes it the largest study on the state of women—and Latinas in particular—in corporate America. This report primarily highlights data from the 2019–2023 Women in the Workplace studies. It also draws on an analysis of in-depth interviews conducted between 2021 and 2024 with more than two dozen Latinas; the findings from this analysis are featured in the “Beyond the Numbers” report sections.6 A brain trust of external experts on Latinas’ workplace experiences—in addition to an internal team of Lean In employees who identify as Latina—were consulted in the writing of the report.

Acknowledgments

Special thanks to our brain trust and external contributors: Daisy Auger-Domínguez, Marianne Cooper, PhD, Anna Dapelo-Garcia, Dr. Patty Delgado, Ileana Musa, Marlene Orozco, PhD, Emma Justine Williams-Baron

And to our Lean In team who supported this report: Gina Cardazone, PhD, Brittany Cornejo, Briana Edwards, Caroline Fairchild, Priya Fielding-Singh, PhD, Madelyn Flores, Sarah Ferreiro Hand, Ryan Hutson, Thamara Jean, Lizbeth Kim, PhD, Erikka Moreno, Mary Noble-Tolla, PhD, Andrea Ortiz, Emma Spitzer, Rachel Thomas

Other Resources

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Footnotes

  1. Based on data from the U.S. Census Bureau, “2023 Annual Estimates of the Resident Population by Sex, Race, and Hispanic Origin for the United States: April 1, 2020 to July 1, 2022 (NC-EST2022-SR11H),” https://www.census.gov/data/tables/time-series/demo/popest/2020s-national-detail.html. Pipeline data in comparison includes companies from both the U.S. and Canada; additional analysis of combined data from the U.S. Census Bureau and Statistique Canada was performed to confirm that findings hold when looking at combined U.S. and Canadian populations.
  2. In this report, “steepest climb” or “steepest path” are defined as the largest drop in representation from entry level to the C-suite.
  3. Published and unpublished data, LeanIn.Org and McKinsey & Company, Women in the Workplace 2023, October 2023, https://womenintheworkplace.com/women-in-the-workplace/2023-pdf.
  4. Published and unpublished data, LeanIn.Org and McKinsey & Company, Women in the Workplace 2023; LeanIn.Org and McKinsey & Company, Women in the Workplace 2022, October 2022, https://leanin.org/women-in-the-workplace/2022; LeanIn.Org and McKinsey & Company, Women in the Workplace 2021, September 2021, https://leanin.org/women-in-the-workplace/2021; LeanIn.Org and McKinsey & Company, Women in the Workplace 2020, October 2020, https://leanin.org/women-in-the-workplace/2020; LeanIn.Org and McKinsey & Company, Women in the Workplace 2019, October 2019, https://leanin.org/women-in-the-workplace/2019.
  5. Ibid.
  6. The qualitative analysis for this report is based on in-depth interviews conducted between 2021 and 2024 with 26 Latinas working across roles, levels, and companies in the private sector.