The DEI tides have turned…and that doesn’t bode well for a society that benefits from diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI).
Not long ago, companies and universities that advocated for equality and demonstrated inclusion were considered progressive – even, shall I say, forward-thinking. Today, however, there is a riptide of anti-DEI sentiment suggesting that these programs have gone too far, that “woke” practices have discriminated against white males, and that DEI has resulted in a plethora of women and people of color being promoted into leadership positions for which they are not qualified.
“DEI must DIE,” tweeted Tesla CEO Elon Musk recently. He called DEI “just another word for racism” and referred to diversity, equity, and inclusion as “propaganda words.”
Anti-DEI legislation has been introduced in Alabama, Florida, Texas, and 20 other states. The U.S. Supreme Court ended race-conscious college admissions programs. University DEI initiatives are being eliminated across the country. A rash of lawsuits challenge company diversity and inclusion policies as discriminatory. Many corporate DEI programs are being downsized, renamed, or cut.
What are these “DEI initiatives” that are being vilified? They include activities focused on recruitment and retention of diverse constituencies, others aimed at promoting an inclusive climate and culture, some that support professional development opportunities and community engagement, and still more that focus on ensuring products are designed to be usable by all. Here are a few examples:
- Mentoring and tutoring programs create a sense of belonging for historically underrepresented, marginalized, first-generation, or economically-disadvantaged students or employees.
- Unconscious bias and inclusivity training helps employees and managers understand mental shortcuts that can lead to snap judgements – often based on race and gender – and promotes equitable recruitment, hiring, advancement, and leadership practices.
- Employee resource groups enable connection and provide a support network for workers with shared identities and interests.
- Inclusive product design practices help companies reach as many customers as possible. These include finding ways to appeal to new communities and audiences, to serve diverse users, and to ensure accessibility for all.
The anti-DEI movement has been gaining momentum over the past year, but that ratcheted up in late 2023 after three elite university presidents testified in front of a Congressional committee about antisemitism on college campuses. The three presidents – of MIT, Harvard, and the University of Pennsylvania – all happened to be women. They all also happened to do an atrocious job of addressing valid concerns about their universities’ handling of calls for the genocide of Jews. I watched the hearing and cringed at their equivocating comments and dodging of questions. I believe they should have done a much better job, that they could have been clearer and more decisive, and that they ought to have shown up more self-assured and assertive.
What I did NOT do was assume that their poor performance – on an emotionally-fraught topic on a worldwide stage where they were undoubtedly coached by lawyers not to accept blame – was because they are women or because they are unqualified to be elite university presidents. But many others did.
In the aftermath of the testimony, there were calls for the presidents to resign – amid a maelstrom of DEI noise. Notably, billionaire hedge fund manager Bill Ackman accused Harvard of hiring its Black, female president solely because of its DEI initiatives.
Listening to the rhetoric, one might think that – somehow, when none of us was looking – most universities placed (unqualified) women and minorities into positions of senior leadership. Did they?
Let’s consider the Ivy League, which is made up of eight top universities that have been around an average of 277 years each. Over that time, these universities have had a total of 153 presidents – of which just 13 have been women (13/153 = 8.5%). Today, four out of the eight Ivy League universities are led by women (after the resignation of women presidents from Harvard and the University of Pennsylvania).
Overall, just 32% of all U.S. college presidents today are women, even though a majority of college students are women. About 70% of college presidents are white and only 10% are women of color. So, let’s be clear: women and minorities have not taken over university leadership.
What about the corporate world? In an article aptly titled, “Who has power in corporate America? Men do,” USA TODAY reported that only 17% of the executive officers of the nation’s top 100 publicly traded companies are women and only 17% are people of color. Roughly 10% of Fortune 500 CEOs are women and fewer than 2% are Black (an all-time high of eight!). Of Fortune 500 board members, 30% are female and 22% are people of color. Less than 2% of venture capital (VC) funding goes to women and 1% to Black founders.
So, don’t be fooled into thinking that somehow these DEI initiatives have re-righted the ship and tilted positions of power in favor of women or underrepresented minorities. That’s simply not the case. (For sure there are scattered examples of individuals who were promoted to fill some quota or who got their jobs for the ‘wrong’ reasons. Unfortunately, this undermines our collective goals. And surely this does not only happen for women.)
Rather than accuse DEI programs of going “too far,” I’d instead argue that DEI has not done nearly enough to drive needed societal change.
And yet we see a dangerous and divisive rhetoric. Take this recent tweet by Donald J. Trump, Jr: “Sign this petition demanding airlines stop prioritizing dangerous DEI policies over our safety! Unskilled & unqualified mechanics, engineers, and pilots should NOT be getting hired just to appease the DEI agenda.” Let’s be clear: There is NO evidence that DEI policies in any way contribute to the quality of airline staff nor is there any correlation to safety.
So, let’s have a brief reminder about the value of and business case for diversity: Bringing together people with varied backgrounds ensures perspectives are not only representative of a select few. Diversity has been shown to lead to a better understanding of customer needs, creating more successful products and services. Diverse teams often outperform homogeneous ones in decision-making and creative problem solving. Research shows that diverse and inclusive companies tend to be more profitable. And yet, of course, DEI is not a panacea. There are also challenges associated with heterogeneous teams – including difficulty establishing effective group processes and a higher tendency for conflict – that must be overcome to reap the benefits.
The original goals of DEI are still critical imperatives: to create educational and work environments that better reflect all of America and allow everyone to experience a sense of belonging and to be successful. Like any pivotal moment in history, this one presents an opportunity to double-down on what’s working and to reassess what’s not. DEI initiatives that are simply window dressing should be discarded in favor of impactful, measurable programs that create more equitable organizations poised to achieve better outcomes for business and society.
Photo by Hannah Busing on Unsplash.
