Diversity, Equity & Inclusion For Dummies. Dr. Shirley Davis

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States): Among this book’s predictions was that the future U.S. labor force would include more women and underrepresented groups. Many experts used it as the impetus for creating and making a business case for diversity training.

       1994 — Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell (United States): This U.S. military policy prohibited gay, lesbian, and bisexual people from openly serving in the military. In 2011, this policy was dismantled.

       2006 — Civil Union Act (South Africa): This South African law established legal civil unions for same-sex marriage and civil unions for unmarried opposite-sex and same-sex couples.

       2013 — Marriage Act (United Kingdom): Established legal same sex marriage in England and Wales.

       2015 — Equal Marriage Act (United States): The U.S. Supreme Court legalized same-sex marriage in 50 states and required that all states recognize out-of-state same sex marriage licenses.

       2020 — Crown Act (United States): This law prohibits discrimination against hairstyles and textures in the state of California.

       2020 — George Floyd murder (United States): George Floyd, a Black man, was murdered by a white police officer who held his knee on George Floyd’s neck for more than nine minutes, cutting off his ability to breathe. This event triggered massive outrage, outcries, and international protests for social justice reform and for greater equity and inclusion.

      The laws (from various countries across the globe) have evolved in a sequential process from basic human and civil rights to matters of compliance and then the moral and social imperative. As this book explores, organizations’ policies and practices related to DEI matters tend to follow a similar evolutionary process. This similarity leads to a universal experience for diversity, equity, and inclusion programs: They’re normally initiated with awareness and affinity programs, followed by the establishment of the business case for diversity practices. Keep in mind the local, regional, and national laws vary depending on your location.

Also consider that these social movements, those of the 1960s especially, strived more for racial and gender equality, but not within the specifics of diversity, equity, and inclusion. Therefore, examining these terms (as I do in the following section) and how they’ve evolved into workplace standards and benchmarks is important.

      Considering the social and political climate since 2011, diversity, equity, and inclusion are now terms that are part of the vocabulary of business, educational, and political systems. But the conversation surrounding DEI has become quite muddled because people often use the terms interchangeably without specifying each term’s own unique identity. Like most, you may ask these common questions: “Are these terms one and the same?” “How different and similar are they?” “What do I really need to know and do about DEI?”

      I address these questions and concerns throughout this chapter and the book. But in the following sections, I discuss and define the relationship between diversity, equity, and inclusion.

      Diversity

      Simply put, diversity is the collection of unique attributes, traits, and characteristics that make up individuals. They include values, beliefs, experiences, backgrounds, preferences, behaviors, race, gender, abilities, socioeconomic status, physical appearance, age, and so on. Some of these traits are visible, and many others are invisible.

      

Diversity also has different meanings within various cultural contexts. For example, the U.S. perspective of diversity suggests all the various ways you can see or describe people. But in some European countries, diversity leans more toward gender differences. In Middle Eastern countries, diversity often speaks to religious beliefs.

Schematic illustration of an iceberg, most diversity traits are below the surface.

      Courtesy of Dr. Shirley Davis

      FIGURE 1-1: Just like an iceberg, most diversity traits are below the surface.

      Multiple dimensions of diversity

      In 1990, well-respected diversity pioneers Marilyn Loden and Judy Rosener developed a framework for thinking about the different dimensions of diversity within individuals and institutions. Depicted as concentric circles, their diversity wheel has been used in many different ways to encourage thinking about values, beliefs, and dimensions of identity for people and organizations. It defines the various dimensions of diversity, dividing them into four layers:

       Dimension 1 — Personality: Openness, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness, neuroticism

       Dimension 2 — Internal/Primary Dimensions: Age, gender, sexual orientation, physical ability, ethnicity, race

       Dimension 3 — External Dimensions: Geographic location, income, personal habits, recreational habits, religion, educational background, work experience, appearance, parental status, marital status

       Dimension 4 — Organizational Dimensions: Functional level, work content field, division/department/unit/group, seniority, work location, union affiliation, management status

      At the core of these concentric circles is personality — the innately unique aspect that gives each person their own particular style. This core aspect permeates all other layers. Moving out from that center are the internal factors, the primary dimensions of diversity. These aspects are the ones you have little or no control over. The next level, secondary dimensions, is made up of external, personal, and societal influences. The fourth dimension encompasses organizational influences such as the type of work you do, your level in the organization, seniority, and so on.

      

I hope what you take away from this framework is that it represents who we are from our core dimensions and those that cannot be changed, to those dimensions that we develop over time. This leads to our assumptions, drives our own behaviors, and ultimately impacts others. So, the better we understand ourselves and others, the more effective our interactions and decisions will be.

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