positions being fairly filled? Following your logic, wouldn't 99% of positions be fairly filled in that scenario?

What would you propose we do differently? At every company I've worked for, we specifically track and mentor high potential women and minority employees. We also track progress against diversity goals.

Right now, I am fighting to get a guy on my team promoted to sr director after he took on a new role (which was leveled as a sr director role), but we put him in the role as a lateral move initially and if he performed to the expected level of his new position, we would promote him after a year. I am now getting a lot of push back on this promo because budgets are tight. By contrast, just a few months earlier, I promoted an African American woman on my team to director and it sailed through the approval process without one iota of pushback. Now this woman is a rock star and is 100% deserving of the promotion, but the guy I'm trying to promote is also very deserving. On balance, does she have it easier than him? Probably not, all things considered. She's originally from Ghana, and the guy is originally from London, so I'd say she had a harder path to where she is today. BUT at my company today, she has a much easier time getting the attention and focus of senior management with respect to her career progression as an AA woman.

Are there more things we can do? I'm sure there always are, but I'm not sure what I would do differently at any of the companies I've worked for.