Power and Diversity

NP
by Nico Paradis1 view·Updated Oct 4, 2021
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  1. power and diversity.
  2. People in positions of power can use their power to
  3. promote diversity in a number of different ways In the
  4. workplace, for example.
  5. Um one awesome place to start would be investing in
  6. diversity and inclusion, education and training and making sure this
  7. is mandatory for all employees.
  8. Another way would be for all members of the organization,
  9. possibly through the diversity training, but it's super important that
  10. all members of the organization be aware of unconscious bias
  11. and what that means.
  12. Um it's typically associations, negative associations and stereotypes with people
  13. different from you.
  14. So either different cultures, ethnicities, backgrounds, genders, sexualities, etcetera.
  15. Another way would be to hire a diverse team.
  16. Obviously representation isn't everything, but it is a really solid
  17. Place to start and great 1st step.
  18. Um and just to avoid any sort of tokenism.
  19. Another way would be to develop a really strategic training
  20. program aimed at promoting from within.
  21. So even if you as an organization leader or as
  22. a ceo feel like you can't hire a diverse team
  23. at the top, which shouldn't be an issue, but if
  24. it ever was um you could develop a strategic training
  25. program that worked on um really promoting people from lower
  26. down in the organization up.
  27. Um, and then of course, just acknowledging all holidays um
  28. for a wide range of cultures, so not just christian
  29. holidays for example, it's not a christmas party, um acknowledging
  30. different times of the year that your employees may need
  31. time off, even if they haven't specifically stated that they
  32. were um a part of a religion.
  33. It's still great to honor that religion.
  34. Bye communicating with your team that you know, for example,
  35. Rosh Hashanah is coming up and if anybody um on
  36. your team needs that time off their welcome to take
  37. it. And then this should go without saying, but promoting
  38. and practicing pay equity, pay equity for um the gender,
  39. so male, female or pay equity and then um also
  40. racial pay equity and um making sure people of different
  41. abilities are also paid the same in educational settings are
  42. in schools.
  43. Um I think this is also very important to talk
  44. about when we were having our synchronous session.
  45. My partner Melissa had a really awesome example um and
  46. she had said that her daughter Who is 16 and
  47. in high school in their small town.
  48. Um she thinks that her daughter will be in homecoming
  49. court um this year.
  50. And the reason for that is because her daughter does
  51. not have a boyfriend and is very active um and
  52. she goes to all the parties, she goes to all
  53. the events.
  54. And so because in her small town, the boys pick
  55. homecoming court.
  56. Um she thinks that her daughter has a pretty good
  57. shot, whereas her eldest daughter did not make homecoming court
  58. because she had a boyfriend throughout high school and wasn't
  59. as active in um part in party settings or um
  60. special events and the boys wouldn't have picked her because
  61. she um was already taken.
  62. So this is really a good example um of how
  63. boys at that high school, at that particular high school
  64. hold the power to decide homecoming court, which of course
  65. anybody who's gone to a traditional american high school knows
  66. plays a big role in um popularity going forward, but
  67. Melissa's example really got me thinking about about power and
  68. diversity in an educational setting.
  69. So some some more um things that people in positions
  70. of power in that setting can work on would be
  71. to consider, I think first and foremost their teachers and
  72. principals, even the school board can really consider teaching materials,
  73. especially textbooks and what voice is being heard in the
  74. classroom. So, um are you telling history from uh white
  75. perspective or are you telling history from many different perspectives?
  76. Um of course hire diversely.
  77. This is really big, especially I think in the high
  78. school setting, um kids need role models and having teachers
  79. that look like you or come from a similar background
  80. as you is super beneficial.
  81. Um and then also just getting to know your students
  82. individually and what kind of background they come from, what
  83. holidays they celebrate, what kind of food they like, really
  84. get to know them and celebrate them so that they
  85. feel comfortable and proud of um where they came from
  86. and and who they are, and then of course also
  87. invest in those diversity and inclusion trainings and make sure
  88. they're mandatory.
  89. Um lastly I thought that it would be interesting to
  90. just consider how parents and caregivers are in a position
  91. of power within the home.
  92. Um, and they really have a big, um, they just
  93. really make a big impact on their own Children's ability
  94. or likeliness of celebrating and accepting diversity in a positive
  95. way. So I think one major thing that parents and
  96. caregivers can do is to have open and honest dialogues.
  97. So a common example of this would be if you're
  98. at the mall and you're four year old is pointing
  99. to somebody maybe in a wheelchair or with an obvious
  100. outside disability.
  101. Um, instead of like shushing them and telling them not
  102. to point or not to stare or that's rude.
  103. You could have an open and honest dialogue about, um,
  104. the fact that this person is in a wheelchair and
  105. what that means, or perhaps even if the situation is
  106. conducive, um, take your child over and have them say
  107. hi to the individual, um, and just be very open
  108. instead of closed off about people that are living different
  109. lives than you and your family.
  110. I'm also just a fun way would be to explore
  111. new foods and learn about the cultures from which they
  112. came from.
  113. Um, so I could try thai food one night and
  114. talk about where Thailand is and different customs in Thailand
  115. um, or Ethiopian food and do the same thing.
  116. Be a fun way and just to get kids excited
  117. about different cultures.
  118. Also just to have aged appropriate conversations about current events,
  119. anything in the news.
  120. If you think that it's worse talking to your child
  121. about age appropriate, I would say it's a good idea.
  122. Um and then also to associate with diverse groups.
  123. I think this one is maybe the most difficult for
  124. me as a mom.
  125. I'm thinking about my friends and we're all really pretty
  126. similar. We're all younger moms were all white.
  127. Um we come from similar backgrounds.
  128. And so this is tricky because of course I want
  129. to have a more diverse friend group.
  130. But um this was talked about a lot in the
  131. book. Me and white supremacy.
  132. Um white women have this tendency to search out friends
  133. of different races And that's 100 um racist behavior and
  134. white supremacists behavior.
  135. Um so this is a tricky one, but I think
  136. one way to go around it would be maybe two.
  137. put yourself out there more and go to different events,
  138. eat at different restaurants, go to different parts of town
  139. um with your kids, not necessarily looking for a friend,
  140. but just to have day to day conversations with individuals
  141. that are not in you realm of realm of things
  142. necessarily. Okay, that's it.