Blends are OK, but why aren’t diversity panels diverse?
Outsider is pleased that, even though it took too long, the issue of diversity has become an important matter for many financial services firms, on the surface at least.
Outsider has noticed the increasing number of webinars dedicated to diversity, though mostly tackling gender diversity.
During one such webinar a panel discussed the number of female CEOs in the ASX 200, and workforce barriers for women.
After an audience member questioned the panel about the additional barriers faced by women from ethnic backgrounds and how firms could overcome the lack of non-white female women in executive roles, it was clear to Outsider that this particular issue was beyond the panel’s expertise.
Why? For the simple reason that the panel looked, well, uniformly Caucasian. While the panel were respected high-level women from various sectors, it appeared to Outsider none of their backgrounds could help them in providing views on how the issues of colour or ethnicity could be tackled.
This is not the first time Outsider has encountered panel discussions where the participants discussed diversity but were not particularly diverse themselves. Dammit, Outsider confesses to having been on some of those panels and his experience of diversity is limited to single malt versus blend.
Outsider reminds the industry that while gender diversity is incredibly important, diversity also included ethnic backgrounds, age, disability status, sexual orientation, gender identity, socio-economic background, caring responsibilities, intersex status, and religious affiliation and, ahem, not Speyside versus highland.
Outsider wonders whether webinar fatigue could be overcome with more inclusivity to stand out against all the beige or, dear he suggest, white.
AUTHOR
The Outsider
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