Source page: McKinsey & Company
Commentary
All alone
Diversity & Inclusion | Retail
August 4, 2021 – People of color in fashion often feel like they do not belong. Black employees in particular say they have a range of difficult feelings associated with being at times the only Black person in the room.
To explore the interactive, see “Voices and viewpoints of fashion students and emerging designers,” July 20, 2021.
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Visual form
Five-panel icon-array comparison chart.
Layout / body structure
The chart is a single horizontal row of five equally sized panels on a dark background. Read left to right from the first dot matrix to the last, using the headline above each panel and the percentage over the grid together.
What is being compared
Each panel compares a different way Black employees describe being the only person of their race or ethnicity in the room. The five themes are feeling under pressure to perform, feeling that actions reflect on people like you, feeling expected to represent or speak on behalf of an identity, feeling on guard, and feeling closely watched.
Measurement system
Each panel uses a 100-dot grid to represent percent of respondents. Blue dots indicate the share reporting the feeling, gray dots indicate the remainder, and the exact percentages are printed above each matrix.
Visible structure inside the graphic
Five dot arrays sit side by side, each with the same size and spacing so the amount of blue fill can be compared directly. The first three panels have more than half their dots filled, while the last two panels are visibly smaller fills, especially the rightmost grid.
Main takeaway from the visual
The strongest feelings cluster around pressure and representational burden rather than mere visibility alone. The first three panels dominate the row, showing that these experiences are common enough to fill more than half of each grid, while the last two still remain substantial rather than negligible.
Key standout values or extremes
The highest panel is under pressure to perform at 63 percent. Actions reflect on people like you is 56 percent, expected to represent or speak on behalf of identity is 55 percent, on guard is 39 percent, and closely watched is 30 percent. The spread from the first to the last panel is 33 points.
Controls / sequence, when applicable
This is a static chart image with no in-chart controls to operate.
Companion media, when applicable
There is no separate companion audio or video; the chart image is the full visual on this page.