Sometimes, you don’t take a single step back, you take a dozen. This week, a certain re-elected “leader” of the world announced not just an end to DEI efforts, but a vehement branding of them as “radical”, “wasteful”, and even “illegal”.
While the rhetoric surrounding this rollback is centred on efficiency and clarity, the driving force of the new administration – heavily focused on strictly heterosexual Christian “morals” – spells out the message very clearly: If you’re not like us, we don’t want you. If you believe that this is not the case, it’s probably because you’re a straight caucasian Christian, and probably male.
For the record, I am a straight white male. (We’ll debate the “Christian” another time.) And make no mistake, I need DEI.
Why? Because the majority of decisions have been made by my demographic, and I assure you, there’s a reason why we have so many problems. When organizations are run only by CIS white guys, you only get CIS white guy ideas.
Even within my own industry (software development), the majority of decisions tend to come from the white guys. Seeing anyone who wasn’t white – let alone not male – was a rarity for a large part of my early career. It’s more common to see breaks in that model these days, but unless you’re actively working with an Indian offshore, I’m willing to bet you’re still in a pale sausage party.
Why do I need DEI? Because, and this is getting worse as I get older, I have difficulty thinking outside of my white bread box. I will do this accidentally: despite efforts to the contrary, I am trained after many years of working with the same straight white men to think like those straight white men, because I have to sell to those straight white men. DEI keeps me honest, because – spoiler alert! – CIS white guys make up only about 22% of the population, 8% of whom are within 12 years of the end of their lives (per life expectancy averages). Not a growth market, folks.
Does having DEI make me uncomfortable? YES. YES IT DOES. And I need that discomfort. It challenges me to think about the things I do and the consequences of any potential actions. Do I walk into a room and proudly announce “Buenas dias, bitches!” because I want to seem hip and cool, or do I recognize that the room has mostly women and such a statement pretty much ruins any chance they’ll listen to what I have to say, let trust me?
Because I used to be like that. I was with all the men and we acted like … well, boys, to be honest. We didn’t recognize what we were doing or even thought about it. Meanwhile, we were minimizing – if not denigrating – our coworkers. Our actions and words were shameful, but we didn’t have the policies nor did we have the processes to allow us to change.
And that’s why we need DEI – because men will be boys and they will not change until they grow up. And it’s clear from the “new” administration that growing up isn’t an option. Weirdly, I don’t know if this is a generational thing (the Greatest and Boomers certainly have no reason for such a backpedal, and my own X folks really have no reason to even think about such a move; my daughter’s generation are shocked by what’s happening), a religion thing (though there are a few Atheists in crowd, I see), or simply that the wealthy happen to be – wait for it – largely CIS white men.
So maybe that’s the reason – the wealthy don’t want to be held accountable for being respectful to others, so ditch the DEI. So, really, it’s up to the rest of us to keep the practices doing, under any term – or under no term at all – just so we can all be civil with one another.
