The latest issue of Think Global People magazine is out now!

---

Equalities legislation

Today’s focus on equity, diversity and inclusion (EDI) has its roots in equalities legislation. In the UK, for example, discrimination on grounds of sex and race took effect in the mid-1970s. In the USA, civil rights legislation was introduced in the 1960s.The Equalities Act 2010 in the UK lists nine protected characteristics: age; disability; gender reassignment; marriage and civil partnership; pregnancy and maternity; race; religion or belief; sex; and sexual orientation. In essence, the legislation prohibits direct and indirect discrimination on grounds of these protected characteristics.The Equality and Human Rights Commission defines direct discrimination as: “when you are treated worse than another person or other people because: you have a protected characteristic; someone thinks you have that protected characteristic (known as discrimination by perception); you are connected to someone with that protected characteristic (known as discrimination by association)”. It defines indirect discrimination as “when there is a policy that applies in the same way for everybody but disadvantages a group of people who share a protected characteristic, and you are disadvantaged as part of this group.” 

Equal chance

Equalities legislation sets the legal framework for providing the same to everyone – everyone has an equal chance of success. Just like throwing a dice, there is an equal chance of any of the faces coming up on top. With respect to employment this means that anyone holding any of these protected characteristics should have an equal chance or opportunity to access and progress within the workforce.The key problem though with the equal chance agenda is that individuals do not start from a level playing field. In other words the dice is weighted in favour of the majority group. In employment, this group usually comprises white, heterosexual, males. This means that equal opportunity to gain employment and career progression is hampered by individuals’ protected characteristics (and others not covered by legislation) as well as individuals’ social backgrounds and other personal circumstances.

Equity versus equality: equal access and equal share

This is where the notion of equity comes in as this goes beyond the notion of equal chance to encompass both equal access and equal share. Equity refers to fairness and justice and thus differs from equality. If the equity agenda is to be pursued, over and above the baseline equality agenda, organisations must recognise that individuals all start from different places and adjustments will be needed to address these imbalances.For example, if women are to have equal access to - and an equal share of - leadership positions, and when those positions are awarded based on global experience, women’s under-representation in expatriation can act as a barrier to entering senior management and gaining their fair share of leadership roles.To help to facilitate equal access of minority groups to leadership roles, positive action may be required such as ensuring that minorities are made aware of positions that are available and are encouraged to apply.Open and transparent recruitment and selection procedures can also help to widen access for minority groups. These include advertising all positions and adopting structured interviews using diverse panels. By contrast, closed and opaque processes might, for example, rely on word of mouth and unstructured one-on-one interviews.Minority groups have fewer networks and role models than the white, heterosexual male majority. Organisational support for networks and role models for minorities can help to widen leadership access and other career opportunities.Equal access goes only part way towards achieving equity. The question then becomes equal access to what? If minority groups cannot achieve an equal share of leadership positions despite accessing them, then true equity has not been achieved. This is where interventions become paramount to ensure there is a culture of true equity. Allies can support progression of minorities. Coaches, mentors and sponsors can also play a valuable role here. Top management support is critical to fostering a culture of equity that pervades the whole organisation.

---

Read related articles

• How to achieve true equality in the workplace
• Rethinking DEI? Women, equity and work
• The case for male allyship
• A woman’s promotion is seen as ‘less fair’ if a company commits to gender equality

---

Positive action

Positive action is not the same as positive discrimination. Positive action concerns taking steps to enable or encourage those sharing protected characteristics to minimise the disadvantage linked to that characteristic. An example would be offering confidence building courses to women seeking to enter management.By contrast, positive discrimination refers to action that favours someone holding a protected characteristic by treating them differently in a positive way (discriminating in their favour).  An example would be if a woman does not hold the skills required but is given a leadership role to improve diversity statistics (increasing the percentage of women in leadership).

Diversity and inclusion

This brings us on to consider diversity and inclusion and actions to promote an equal share agenda.Diversity concerns celebrating difference. A diverse workforce brings a range of skills and talents to an organisation. The business case for diversity is well known. Diverse workers bring new ideas, reflect diverse customer profiles, and are known to help improve financial performance. However, pursuing diversity means embracing a wide range of individuals with differing characteristics and this can result in conflict. If such conflict is constructive it can have positive outcomes but manging such conflict can be time consuming and difficult. The argument though is that the longer term outcome is better for business.One of the problems though is that the business case for diversity can prove to be fickle. In tight labour markets, employers can clearly see the need to draw from a wider and more diverse talent pool. When the labour market is plentiful, it becomes easier to fall back on traditional profiles and remove support measures that enable and encourage minorities. So, for example, in tight labour markets employers might fund workplace nurseries or childcare provision to encourage women (who typically carry out the majority of childcare) to work. If the labour market is plentiful, such schemes might be closed down due to their cost.A further issue to consider is that diversity can end up becoming a numbers game. Organisations record their diversity profiles and this can look very good on paper. However, if the various minorities do not get equal access to - and an equal share of - the better career opportunities, but remain in the lower end of the hierarchy, then only lip service is paid to equity.Inclusion is needed for diversity actions to be effective. By this we mean that minorities are included within the group or organisational structure. In essence, they have voice. They are listened to and any barriers they may face are identified and addressed. Unless someone has experienced disadvantage, prejudice and/or discrimination, they cannot truly understand what the barriers to progression are. Organisations therefore need robust engagement and voice processes for inclusion to take place and efforts to widen diversity to become meaningful.

Intersectionality

This leads us to consider the role of intersectionality in EDI strategies. Intersectionality refers to each individual’s unique combinations of discrimination and privilege. Each and every individual brings with them a range of personal characteristics and a unique social and political identity. Some facets of this unique profile can be linked to protected characteristics specified in legislation; others are not addressed by law (such as obesity and class). Some of these confer privilege, others disadvantage and the context in which this is assessed can vary. For example, would a white, gay, man experience greater privilege or disadvantage than a black, straight, man?There can be competing claims flowing from the intersectionality of overlapping protected characteristics. This can result in employers finding it difficult to reconcile and manage the boundaries between, for example, religion and belief and other equality protected characteristics. For instance, certain religions may consider homosexuality immoral, resulting in conflict between these equality strands.Intersectionality refers to the interconnected nature of difference categories. In essence, the point is that it is not possible to categorise individuals under a single banner heading because everyone will be unique. This reinforces the need for inclusive voice mechanisms that truly hear what individuals’ circumstances are and respond to them, such that the playing field can be made as fair and just as possible. In this way everyone can reach their full potential through an equal share of career opportunities and seniority to the benefit of individuals, organisations and societies.

---

---

Find out more about the Think Global People and Think Women community and events.

---

Subscribe to Relocate Extra, our monthly newsletter, to get all the latest international assignments and global mobility news.Relocate’s new Global Mobility Toolkit provides free information, practical advice and support for HR, global mobility managers and global teams operating overseas.

©2024 Re:locate magazine, published by Profile Locations, Spray Hill, Hastings Road, Lamberhurst, Kent TN3 8JB. All rights reserved. This publication (or any part thereof) may not be reproduced in any form without the prior written permission of Profile Locations. Profile Locations accepts no liability for the accuracy of the contents or any opinions expressed herein.