Minority Women Have Made Strides, But Hurdles Linger

When Rockville resident Saquiba Ahmed, 38, sought a corporate job in 2000, she researched the diversity policies of several companies and networked mostly with women of color. On her rsum, she listed her fluency in the Urdu and Hindu languages and her involvement in an organization that assists Pakistani women.

But while Ahmed did not downplay her ethnic and racial background to potential employers, she was unsure how comfortable she would feel as a South Asian American in the workplace. “I was nervous about not being able to fit in because of my cultural values and the color of my skin,” she recalled.

Ahmed was hired by Sodexho Inc., a food- and facilities-management services company, as a generalist in the human resources department. She’s now the company’s diversity coordinator. She was among the 150 attendees at a recent Women of Color Multicultural Town Hall, an all-day event held recently in downtown Washington. It was sponsored by New York-based Working Mother Media, publisher of Working Mother magazine.

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