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Double Down: On Diversity, Equity and Inclusion

“For, after all, how do we know that two and two make four? Or that the force of gravity works? Or that the past is unchangeable? If both the past and the external world exist only in the mind, and if the mind itself is controllable – what then?”

― George Orwell, 1984

In case you haven’t heard, since taking office on 20 January, President Trump has issued a series of Executive Orders taking aim at eliminating diversity, equity and inclusion policies from the federal government.  

Cloaked in the guise of protecting merit-based hiring, these Orders should be seen for what they are - the first step in an effort to identify an enemy (anyone who is not male and white) and exert control over the populace. 

Let’s start by looking at diversity, equity and inclusion policies and programs and understanding what they are and why they are important. Put simply, these policies seek to ensure that people from all walks of life have the same opportunities to succeed. 

The most common example is that if you are a private school educated, white, english speaking woman, and you are interviewing for a position at your workplace, you are more likely to hire a person with the same background as you. DEI programs seek to ensure that you give an equal opportunity to a person with the right qualifications but a different background to you.

The same goes for schools, universities, sports teams, orchestras - any organisation that has an element of bias in selection.

What it does NOT mean is that a highly qualified white man is going to fail to get a job because an organisation is going to hire a less qualified woman of colour to fill a DEI quota. In fact the opposite is true - it may feel like it is harder for that man to get a job because there is more consideration now given to other candidates, but actually in the past he may have had a leg up because he had a similar background to the hiring manager.

As the old adage goes, when all you've ever known is privilege, equality feels like oppression.

The truth is that DEI is actually good for businesses. A 2021 report from Bankwest Curtain Economic Centre and the Workplace Gender Equality Agency found that the more women ASX200 companies had on Boards and in senior leadership positions, the better company performance, greater productivity and greater profitability.

What Trump is trying to do with his Executive Orders goes beyond hiring practices. It goes to controlling the populace. These Executive Orders send a clear message about who Trump is governing on behalf of and what kind of government he intends to run.

A poster used to hang at the Holocaust Museum in Washington, D.C. naming the 12 Early Warning Signs of facism. Among them are: disdain for human rights; identification of enemies as a unifying cause; rampant sexism and more. Sound familiar? 

Many, many people in the U.S. and in Australia are feeling economically insecure right now. Our economy is changing, the nature of work is changing, an AI program can probably write this blog better than we can. 

Many of us are working very hard and yet finding we can buy less and less. Meanwhile we are watching as the rich seem to get richer and the entrenched wealth seems to entrench further. It is very scary and we cannot deny that. 

But we cannot be fooled into thinking that cutting DEI programs is going to solve this. It is not. In fact, it is going to worsen our economic problems and cut opportunities for thousands of deserving people. 

We need leadership - not facism. Let this be a warning cry to us all.

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