Intersection: Investing in Black women

DELIVERING ON DIVERSITY, GENDER EQUALITY, AND INCLUSION

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In this issue, we look at an investment in Black women led by Black women and a landmark cabinet appointment in the United States. Plus, we consider the persistent underrepresentation of Black talent in the film and TV industry and how rural communities are faring.

THE ZEITGEIST

Getting to work

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Taking initiative. Goldman Sachs announced this month that, in partnership with Black women-led organizations, it will invest $10 billion in Black women over the next decade. With this new initiative, called One Million Black Women, the company aims to “address the dual disproportionate gender and racial biases that Black women have faced for generations.” Among the Black leaders advising the effort is economist Dr. Dambisa Moyo. In a recent interview with McKinsey, Dr. Moyo said that the world needs businesses to play a bigger role in their communities—and to partner with stakeholders from outside the private sector “to help address the multitude of challenges” the world faces.

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Taking office. Last week, Deb Haaland was sworn in as US Secretary of the Interior. Haaland is a member of the Laguna Pueblo tribe and the first Native American cabinet secretary in US history. Upon taking office, she pledged to “address the climate and nature crises” and to “advance environmental justice.” Indigenous peoples in the US and worldwide face disproportionate risks from climate change, as do Black women and other people of color. This McKinsey interactive lets you explore what it would take for the world to change course.

THE FACTS

Off-screen issues

The share of films with Black off-screen talent is about the same as it was 20 years ago. Fewer than 6 percent of the writers, directors, and producers of US-produced films are Black—despite the fact that Black Americans make up approximately 13 percent of the US population. McKinsey research shows that the handful of Black creatives in prominent off-screen positions are the ones providing opportunities for other Black off-screen talent. If a film's producer is Black, for example, the film is far more likely to have a Black director, too. One positive implication: increasing the representation of Black talent in key off-screen roles is likely to have a multiplier effect on diversity.

THE TAKEAWAY

Rural communities in the United States are now bearing an increasing burden from the COVID-19 pandemic, and the effects aren't equally felt; as in urban areas, people of color have been disproportionately affected. But those who live in rural areas are facing particularly stark inequities. Highly diverse rural counties have experienced a 60 percent higher death rate than less diverse rural counties have—a discrepancy that's far greater than that in urban areas.

Among those most affected are Indigenous, Black, Hispanic, and Latinx members of rural communities. Indigenous Americans are experiencing the highest COVID-19-related death rate in the United States, and more than half of Indigenous Americans live in rural areas.

Diverse rural communities face greater socioeconomic vulnerabilities—including financial insecurity, housing insecurity, and the risk of being uninsured—which contribute to poor health outcomes. Safeguarding rural Americans' lives and health will require a multifaceted approach that accounts for the social determinants of health and the many ways that geographic health disparities can intersect with racial and ethnic ones.

— Edited by Julia Arnous, an editor in McKinsey's Boston office

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