I’ll consider what EDI has achieved in workplaces in a future post but first, let’s take a look at society as a whole. I have put together this graphic of the experiences of some ‘marginalised’ people in the UK in the 2020’s, focusing on key issues that determine quality of life. Of course, statistics can be used to ‘prove’ all sorts of conclusions, I could have chosen other characteristics and figures, but I hope that the range of issues here and the reliability of sources will help paint a realistic picture of our social progress towards equity. There have been some positive changes, but I think we must conclude that over the last 59 years (since the 1965 Race Relations Act, the first piece of Equalities legislation), progress has been painfully slow and has even begun to reverse in some respects.
In my next post, I’ll put forward some ideas about why this is the case, despite all the effort and money that has been dedicated to EDI.
And just to be clear – I am utterly committed to EDI, having spent most of my adult life fighting for social justice. I do believe, however, that some fundamental mistakes have been made, which we need to correct to make real progress.
Please share this post to broaden the discussion.
