How to break the Rainbow Ceiling

Guest post by Layla McCay, who publishes Breaking the Rainbow Ceiling on 23rd May RRP £16.99 (Bloomsbury)

If you were asked to name a prominent LGBTQ+ tech CEO, you might think of Tim Cook. When the Apple CEO came out publicly in 2014, he was the first leader of a Fortune 500 company to do so. This decision made waves. The visibility of an LGBTQ+ person succeeding in such a prominent role challenged prejudices. It made staff, employees and the general public think differently and it super-changed young queer people’s career aspirations.

How to deal with the Rainbow Ceiling

Prior to that moment, and certainly in my own youth, we just hadn’t seen LGBTQ+ people visibly, unapologetically succeeding in senior positions. We were more used to being whispered about or portrayed in negative ways. Having this successful, confident role model was different. Tim Cook’s decision to come out changed perceptions about LGBTQ+ people at work in ways that are still reverberating.

A decade later, you might assume that Cook’s trailblazing would have opened the door to far more publicly out LGBTQ+ people in senior roles. But it has not. Today only three of the CEOs running America’s five hundred biggest companies are publicly known to be LGBTQ+. And it’s a trend we see repeated in board rooms around the world. The data tell us: disproportionately few LGBTQ+ people make it to the upper echelons of our careers – and this is nothing to do with our ability.

The discrimination and other barriers that contribute to inequality in LGBTQ+ people’s careers have largely been flying under the radar on board papers and on managers’ priority lists for some time. But we only need to look at the research or to ask LGBTQ+ people about their personal stories and a pattern emerges.

Most people are familiar with the concept of a ‘glass ceiling’, a metaphor typically used to describe how women are prevented from reaching the top jobs. It’s less well known that there is also a rainbow ceiling. It’s a barrier that does not affect everyone equally. Just as the rainbow rises up in an arc, the height of an individual’s rainbow ceiling can be lower or higher according to factors like experiences growing up, societal prejudices of the day, and the culture that exists in different sectors and workplaces.

The rainbow ceiling is often invisible to employers and sometimes even to the LGBTQ+ people who work under its constraints. Many tend to assume: “Oh, that was a problem in the old days, but it’s fine now.” The evidence tells us that it is not. A ceiling exists, and it still holds down LGBTQ+ people at work.

There are two big reasons that this matters: breaking the rainbow ceiling is not just the fair thing to do; it can improve the performance of individuals and the overall performance of the organization. First, even in companies and countries that consider themselves strong on policies, legislation and culture that do not tolerate discrimination, there is still, right now, a difference in opportunity between LGBTQ+ people and our peers. This difference becomes more pronounced, though often unrecognized, as people climb the career ladder.

Any leader committed to fairness should factor this particular challenge into their work. The second reason is that there is a compelling link the between diversity in the workplace, including on executive teams, and better recruitment and retention; problem solving and innovation; and ultimately, financial performance, including revenue and market share. If LGBTQ+ people are given a fairer chance to succeed in our careers, it makes things better for everyone. Ten years ago the tech sector led the way. Can it follow through?

Layla McCay is Director of Policy at the NHS Confederation and Executive Lead of the national Health and Care LGBTQ+ Leaders Network. A psychiatrist and founder of the Centre for Urban Design and Mental Health, her co-authored book, Restorative Cities: Urban Design for Mental Health and Wellbeing, was a finalist for the Great Places Book Award. Layla has been recognised on the Outstanding 100 LGBTQ+ Executives Role Model List 2023 as a global role model driving LGBTQ+ inclusion in business. She lives with her wife in London.

Breaking the Rainbow Ceiling by Layla McCay is out 23rd May RRP £16.99 (Bloomsbury)

Link to buy Breaking the Rainbow Ceiling: How LGBTQ+ people can thrive and succeed at work: Amazon.co.uk: McCay, Layla: 9781399410762: Books

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