BARRIERS TO PROGRESS AND PRACTICAL ACTIONS
INTERSECTIONALITY AND COMPOUNDED INEQUITIES Efforts to address the ethnicity pay gap often fall short when they adopt a one-size-fits-all approach to diversity. Such approaches fail to account for the complex, overlapping identities that shape how individuals experience exclusion, opportunity, and advancement. Ethnicity does not operate in isolation, it intersects with other aspects of identity such as gender, disability, class, nationality, and educational background, producing layered and compounded barriers. For example: Black women may face both racialised and gendered assumptions that affect hiring, progression, and leadership visibility. Disabled employees of colour often navigate both accessibility challenges and racial bias, resulting in exclusion from formal development pathways. Individuals from lower socioeconomic backgrounds may be further disadvantaged by lack of access to professional networks or expectations around workplace ‘polish’ and cultural fluency. Despite these realities, current reporting frameworks and interventions tend to focus on single-axis categories, limiting their effectiveness. Without intersectional data and strategies, key disparities remain hidden, particularly for those most marginalised, and are therefore not addressed in equity planning. PRACTICAL ACTIONS FOR MAKING CHANGES To move from surface-level inclusion to meaningful change, organisations must: Collect and analyse disaggregated, intersectional data to better understand how different identity groups experience the workplace. Provide targeted support, sponsorship, and progression pathways tailored to the specific barriers faced by intersectionally marginalised staff. Foster a culture that recognises complexity, moves beyond simplistic categories, and challenges assumptions that reinforce homogeneity at senior levels.
Addressing the ethnicity pay gap through an intersectional lens is not just more equitable, it is more accurate. Without this depth of understanding, strategies will continue to serve the few while leaving the most affected behind.
“What gets measured gets improved. But only if you measure what matters, segment it meaningfully, and follow it with accountability.” - Anthony Horrigan
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