Women In the Workplace 2017 - Alicia Procello
As President of the Avery Dennison Foundation and VP of Corporate Social Responsibility, Alicia Procello Maddox has been an advocate for women in the workplace for many years. In her 15 years as a philanthropic executive she has been a part of many initiatives to spread awareness to the rights of women in corporate America. As the years go by more and more companies are committed to gender equality. Despite this, Alicia Procello Maddox, has seen this progress slow in sectors of diversity, particularly affecting women of color.
Women in corporate America, especially women of color, like Alicia Procello Maddox, still remain heavily underrepresented, despite earning more college degrees than men for the last 30 years! This shows that regardless of “initiatives” and “press- releases” saying different, progress remains stalled. Leaders in this field like Alicia Procello Maddox believe this is due to “blindspots” in sectors of diversity. A recent survey of over 70,000 corporate employees revealed that the vast majority of male employees were either unaware of a diversity issue, or did not care. Also, when it comes to the female employees, many of them seemed to have grown comfortable, and took on a “better them than me” mentality. This type of thinking is alarming, and as a high-ranking executive and a woman of color, Alicia Procello Maddox believes the responsibility falls on the companies themselves, as well as the media to help identify the problem and spread awareness of the barriers that hold back women of color.
Life in America in 2017 is quite different for intelligent, corporate minded women of color, like Alicia Procello Maddox. While they might have advanced degrees, creativity and the know-how to do the job better than their male counterparts. Few are given the chance to gain the necessary experience to advance into executive roles. And while they may be more equipped for these jobs, stereotypes continue to hold them back. In 2018, Alicia Procello Maddox and other female executives believe we as a people need to take a deeper look at the challenges women, and women of color specifically face in everyday life. Only then will corporate America, be fully representative of the growing, ethnically diverse country we are.
