Book review: “Breaking the Rainbow Ceiling”

By Layla McCay, ca. 2024, Bloomsbury, $24.00, 240 pages

You can see the CEO’s office from the outside. You’ve actually been in that office, so you know what it looks like inside. Big, expansive desk. Comfortable, expensive chair. Ankle-deep carpet. The CEO has come there regularly throughout his career – something you’d love to do too. But as you know, and as the new book tells us, “Breaking the Rainbow Ceiling” by Layla McCay, You have to take a different path.

Of all the thousands of board seats and C-suite positions in corporate America, very few – less than 1 percent – ​​are occupied by people who identify as LGBTQ+. In London, says McCay, no one on the Financial Times Stock Exchange identifies as such. Only six of the world’s leading figures, current or past, have come out as LGBTQ+.

The reasons for this are varied and range from discomfort to feelings of insecurity to plain mistrust. Employees often do not talk about it and employers cannot or do not want to ask about it, which can lead to many problems that cis and heterosexual employees do not have to think about.

LGBTQ+ employees earn less than their heterosexual colleagues. They experience discrimination ranging from sexual violence on one hand to microaggressions on the other. Discrimination can be found in educational institutions and at networking events, in a lack of mentoring and a feeling of having to “code-switch.” Even getting a job offer abroad can be made more difficult by identifying as LGBTQ+.

And yet, says McCoy, there are benefits to coming out, including the sense of authenticity and relief that comes with it.

If you’re an employer, McCoy says there are things you can do to help. Include LGBTQ+ people in your workplace diversity programs. Insist on it when hiring. Make sure your employees feel safe to be themselves. Always make all policies inclusive from the start. This benefits your company. It helps your employees.

“It’s good for society.”

Pretty sensible, right? Yes, it is; most of what you read in Breaking the Rainbow Ceiling is actually very sensible. And if you’re gay, lesbian, bi, trans, or queer, you won’t find anything new or radical in this book.

And yet, in all the nothing-new, readers will generally find things they would at least like to see underlined. The statistics that author Layla McCay cites, for example, would be helpful when asking for a raise. It is useful, for example, to be reminded of why you want to come out at work or not. The advice on how to become a mentor and how to find one is Gold. These things are presented through interviews with business leaders from around the world, and readers will find comfort and wisdom in them. You just have to work through a lot of things you already know to understand it, that’s all.

Is it worth it? That depends on your situation. Maybe you won’t find anything in Breaking the Rainbow Ceiling, but maybe it will help you lift the ceiling.

— The bookworm says