How best to fight anti-Asian hate and bust the ‘model minority’ myth: detailed data
- There are at least 19 Asian origin groups in the US, but they are all lumped together and inaccurately seen as the ‘model minority’, despite huge disparities
- Two new initiatives share a common mission: collect data on anti-Asian hate, and let the numbers do the talking. Data is knowledge, and knowledge is power
In education, the myth that all Asians are well educated blinds policymakers to the fact that Asians need equal access to higher education as much as other racial minorities. The high school dropout rate among Hmong, Cambodians, Vietnamese and Pacific Islanders is as high as that among blacks and Latinos. Yet, in New York, the mayor wants various high-performing high schools to abolish an entrance exam to boost diversity.
Meanwhile, the University of California suspended SAT and ACT tests as an admission requirement last year, a measure that could have the effect of increasing diversity and reducing the Asian student population.
In the corporate world, Asians are facing a bamboo ceiling that is opaque and difficult to shatter. Asians represent 12 per cent of the professional workforce in the US, but less than 1 per cent of S&P 500 CEOs are of East Asian descent. Worse, according to Harvard Business Review, Asians are the “least likely group” in the US to be promoted to management – “less likely than any other race, including blacks and Hispanics”.
To achieve equality and social equity in the US, Asians must take proactive steps to unite as a group of 23 million people. Also, Asians should encourage information transparency and granular data.
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Despite the diverse backgrounds of at least 19 Asian origin groups, ranging from the Chinese to the Burmese, from Indians to Cambodians, Asian-Americans share similar experiences as “perpetual foreigners” in the US. Asian solidarity can turn empathy into compassion that leads to united actions.
These business leaders include Jerry Yang, the Taiwanese-American who co-founded Yahoo; Li Lu, the Chinese-born American who founded Himalaya Capital Management; and Joseph Tsai, the Taiwanese-Canadian who co-founded Alibaba Group. Despite their diverse backgrounds, they are united by a common cause.
These two united actions share a common mission: collect the data on anti-Asian hate, and let the numbers do the talking. Data is knowledge, and knowledge is power.
In the US, Asians are traditionally lumped together in a single group. Aggregate data may give the public a misleading impression that all Asians are well-educated and wealthy, even though there is a huge disparity in education and income levels among Asian-Americans.
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In fact, Indian-Americans have a median annual household income of US$100,000, while the Burmese-American annual median household income is US$36,000. Because this economic divide is not widely known, Asians are regularly left out of discussions about discrimination and often overlooked for promotion in the workplace. In fact, Asians are excluded from most diversity and inclusion plans.
To correct such misconceptions, Asians must collect granular data. Ascend, a US-based non-profit organisation that focuses on professional development for Pan-Asians, has presented statistics showing that it is 3.7 times harder for an Asian than a woman to crack the glass ceiling at tech companies including Google, Hewlett-Packard and Intel.
According to the study, Asian women are the least represented at these companies as executives, relative to their percentage in the workforce.
Granular data can trigger corrective action. Since 2020, firms have been collecting granular data about career progression and promotion for employees from entry level to executive level, sorted by affinity group (age, race, ethnicity and gender). Also, major firms such as Ernst & Young, KPMG and Deloitte are sharing their DEI (Diversity, Equity and Inclusion) transparency reports.
This form of information transparency can expose the glass ceiling, which can stimulate a constructive dialogue between Asian employees and senior management on ways to reduce unconscious bias and develop Asian leadership.
To improve equality, Asians should stand up and be counted. Numbers do matter.
Christopher S. Tang is Distinguished Professor and the Edward W. Carter Chair in Business Administration at the University of California, Los Angeles
