A DEI expert shares her insights around the recent backlash against these efforts; what to do and what not to do; and why she remains hopeful about the future.
With respect to diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI), collective awareness has definitely increased in recent years, but some apathy has set in. Some have even used the term ‘backlash.’ How would you describe the current state of workplace DEI?
There are a few things going on here, but one of the big reasons people might be feeling some ‘diversity fatigue’ is the perception of being stuck. People feel like this work has been going on for too long and that it has cost too much for there to still be a problem. With all the time and money that’s gone into creating diverse, equitable and inclusive spaces, why are we still talking about this?
The problem is that much of the work that’s been done around DEI has been focused at the level of the individual. On one hand, we have seen efforts to change or ‘fix’ the minds of the people who are doing the discriminating. For example, many readers will be familiar with unconscious bias or diversity training, and many will have attended at least one of these types of trainings at work or school. On the other hand, we’ve had efforts to change or ‘fix’ the people who are experiencing discrimination — the thinking being that if women and members of minority groups just work harder and do better, no one will have a reason to discriminate against them anymore.
Unfortunately, neither of these approaches has been very successful. At best, diversity training and ‘lean-in, pull yourself up by your bootstraps’ type approaches have little to no effect — and at worst, they create the kinds
