September 1, 2025: A Note from Kimberly Lee Minor, CEO, Women of Color Retail Alliance (WOCRA) — A couple of weeks ago, I wrote about the exodus of more than 300,000 Black women from the workforce this year.
On Aug. 31, this New York Times article puts a face to those numbers — and it’s chilling.
- Dr. Peggy Carr, the first Black woman to lead the National Center for Education Statistics in its history, was escorted out of her office after 35 years of service
- Denise Joseph, who had built a career supporting minority-serving institutions, was placed on administrative leave without explanation
- Kissy Chapman-Thaw, a former teacher living with multiple sclerosis, was dismissed despite a decade of dedicated service.
These sweeping federal layoffs have targeted agencies where Black women are concentrated — and where their work has long been a backbone of public service.
- Between February and July 2025, Black women lost 319,000 jobs in the public sector
- The private sector is the only major female demographic to see such staggering losses
- White women gained 142,000 jobs
- Hispanic women gained 176,000
- White men gained 365,000 in the same five-month period
Lawsuits now allege these dismissals “disproportionately singled out federal workers who were not male or white” in violation of civil rights law.
- Attorney Kelly Dermody said that of the workers who sought legal help to challenge their dismissals, 80 percent were people of color, and the majority were Black women. “When an organization goes after really, really highly competent, singularly great, Black women — the message it sends, the terror it sends to every other professional woman, person of color, really is so profound,” she said. She came to a clear conclusion: “This is an attack on Black women — fully.”
- Gender economist Katica Roy reminds us, “Black women are the canaries in the coal mine. The exclusion happens to them first. If any other cohort thinks it’s not coming for them, they’re wrong.”
Why This Matters for WOCRA: This is a signal of what happens when competence is dismissed as DEI, when pay equity is reframed as “waste,” and when representation is treated as expendable.
At WOCRA, our work is to: Amplify the warning. Let no one say they didn’t know. Strengthen the ladder through mentorship, pathways to leadership, and cross-industry alliances, and we rebuild what systems dismantle.
Claim the future: On September 25 in New York, at our inaugural B.I.G. Summit!
We are not gathering to commiserate-we are convening to strategize, skill up, and set the agenda for how women of color lead in this new reality. This isn’t just about job loss. It’s about dignity stripped in front of colleagues, about careers cut short without cause, about generations of progress threatened by policy shifts. But here’s the truth: Black women have always been the builders, the early warners, the leaders who clear a path where none existed.
We will not be silent. We will not be sidelined. And we will not be erased.
Join the Revolution: Register for the Sept. 25 Summit here.