There's definitely truth to this phenomenon and I like your likening it to broader society. I hadn't thought about that before, but it's right on. While I can't speak for the experience of all women or any people of color (as a white woman), I do agree that the employment decisions made by some leaders in some organizations are certainly indicative of the inequities that exist across society.

I suppose the advice I might give to people in this scenario is that if your manager can't give you concrete examples of why your performance isn't at the managerial level and/or doesn't partner with you on developing a roadmap to bridge those gaps, then perhaps they are part of this problem and you should look elsewhere.