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Is DEI Real?

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sipdeymy

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Disclaimer: The following piece of writing might include some confidential material.

From this point onward, I intend to embody my DEI Philosophy. Aren’t you curious about what it is?

The following figure illustrates that I am the ‘minutest’ minority you can think of: ‘A single mom, divorced, Brown Shia Muslim Pakistani Asian Woman in Tech’. Does that sound fascinating?

The fact of the matter is that it is anything but fascinating because the world has not been truly fair to my species. Think of any scenario at the top of your head and I have survived firsthand ranging from: gender discrimination at workplace; gender discrimination within community; gender discrimination within family; sexual harassment within educational institution, sexual harassment at the workplace; domestic violence; verbal harassment; emotional abuse; religious persecution; discrimination as a woman in technology; discrimination as a divorced woman within the society and discrimination as a single mom in the world…

However, none of these experiences even once managed to pull me down and reach my goals because I am a survivalist. Not only did these experiences make me who I am today, but they also inculcated the drive in me to take the leap forward to help other minority groups by Creating, Embracing and Embodying my Diversity Equity & Inclusion (DEI) Philosophy as a future ‘self-proclaimed’ DEI Leader.

Before I jump into my DEI philosophy, I would like to highlight a few concepts I learnt which made a great impression on how I understand DEI principles now.

The first was ‘identifying unconscious bias’. No matter how much we claim we know about DEI concepts and respect them, there are still some unconscious biases that we hold.

Before taking this course, since I had a fat and lazy childhood myself and I worked hard to lose almost 150 lbs. in my life, I thought all fat people are lazy and can lose weight if they want. Now, I think quite the opposite. I accept that everyone has their weight loss struggle and for some, it is beyond laziness. Also, size is just a number, and so is weight, so why judge people based on it anyway?

Moreover, I learnt and strived to inculcate inclusive behaviors in myself before I could even think of developing a DEI Philosophy.

In this regard, I took assistance from Deloitte study on Six Signature Traits of Inclusive Leadership [6].

The trait I resonated the most with was Courage. The paper states:

“Highly inclusive leaders speak up and challenge the status quo, and they are humble

about their strengths and weaknesses” [6]

One can never advocate for minority rights and DEI initiatives if they do not possess the courage to speak their heart and soul.

Martin Luther King Junior is my biggest inspiration when it comes to DEI. He said, and I quote:

“Courage faces fear and thereby masters it.  Cowardice represses fear and is thereby mastered by it. Courageous men never lose the zest for living even through their life situation is zestless; cowardly men, overwhelmed by the uncertainties of life, lose the will to live. We must constantly build dikes of courage to hold back the flood of fear.” [7]

If there is one word which lead the ‘minutest’ minority’ in me here today from the city of Rawalpindi in Pakistan to the University of Connecticut in the United States breaking all the barriers of discrimination and odds, that I identified in the first section, it is Courage.

The Philosophy

My DEI Philosophy revolves around two simple elements:

  • Want for others what you want for yourself
  • Every time you are faced with a DEI question, put yourself in the shoes of others and then find an answer

These elements seem very simple on the surface but are very complicated to implement.

The first inspiration for my philosophy comes from the Diversity Iceberg which is at the heart of defining DE&I. Understanding the differences in individuals is not about what is there on the surface but diving deep into Beliefs, Life experiences, Perspectives and more…

Every single individual is unique, and the first step is to really understand the uniqueness of your workforce and giving them the freedom and platforms to let them be their true selves. In this century, people at workplaces have very few friends and they are scared to share their life experiences for instance.  

“Work relationships remain a large part of our social circles, as over 1 in 3 respondents (34%) make most of their friends in the workplace. However, this is clearly diminishing with each generation. This is how many of each generation responded “yes” to the question, “Do you make most of your friends at work?”: Baby Boomer: 40%, Gen X: 37%, Millennial: 35% and Gen Z: 24%” [3]

This is the kind of culture that my DEI philosophy aims to break. I want to create an environment whereby people are not afraid to share their life experiences and just be themselves at the workplace to make real and life-long friends. For instance, a woman who is expecting a child should not be afraid to say she is pregnant at her workplace owing to fear of being denied promotion or being fired.

Also, whenever it comes to DEI and minority initiatives, most people chant for equality or equal rights, but DEI is truly beyond that. It is all about Equity:

” Equality gives every individual access to the same resources and opportunities. Equity differs from equality in that it accounts for specific disadvantages and obstacles that certain groups or individuals may experience on the path to obtaining the same outcome. That is, something that is equitable might not be equal – in some situations, the most equitable path is to give certain individuals additional support to provide fair access to a certain opportunity.” [4]

No philosophy on Equity within the DEI can work in practice without the necessary tools.

So, what do you think about DEI?

Sources & Credits

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