Analysis: Workplace DEI policies have become an all-purpose right-wing boogeyman in the US for everything from wildfires to plane crashes
Controversies over diversity, equity and inclusion policies (DEI) have dominated the news from the US and elsewhere this year. Since Donald Trump’s inauguration a fortnight ago, DEI has become an all-purpose boogeyman in right-wing politics. There have also been moves as a result by companies such as Facebook, Amazon and Google to scale back diversity programmes.
In a news conference shortly after the collision between a commuter jet and a military helicopter at Washington Regan Airport, the new president claimed, without a shred of evidence, that DEI policies were to blame for this crash. Republicans have gone on to blame diversity policies for the Los Angeles wildfires, the collapse of Baltimore’s Key Bridge, the failure of Silicon Valley Bank and security failures leading to the attempted assassination of Trump in July 2024.
In a series of Presidential Executive Orders, Donald Trump has taken several steps to dismantle DEI programmes in the federal government and in the private sector. One of his orders states that “influential institutions of American society, including the Federal Government, major corporations, financial institutions, the medical industry, large commercial airlines, law enforcement agencies, and institutions of higher education have adopted and actively use dangerous, demeaning, and immoral race- and sex-based preferences under the guise of so-called” DEI”.
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From RTÉ News, US president Donald Trump blames diversity policies for poor air safety standards
The recurring theme of Trump’s criticism of DEI is that it represents the use of quotas and other illegal means to give women and members of minority groups preference in hiring and promotion, instead of hiring and promoting people on the basis of merit. But right-wing claims that DEI involves hiring unqualified women or minorities rather than more qualified white males are flatly wrong.
US federal law has explicitly forbidden the use of quotas in hiring and promotion (with limited exception of some veteran preferences) for over 50 years. Similarly, the use of race in college admissions has been sharply curtailed by Supreme Court decisions in recent years, and there have even been successful legal challenges to scholarship programmes that are directed toward increasing educational opportunities for under-represented minorities.
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From CBS News, what is DEI and why is it facing pushback in the workplace?
So if DEI is not a policy for hiring or promoting unqualified women or minorities, what exactly is it? The answer is not always clear, because DEI is a blanket term for a range of activities designed to enhance employment opportunities for a wide range of people who are often shut out of employment markets, and to increase the likelihood that they will succeed if hired. DEI represents a set of policies which organisations might choose to adopt to identify and correct discriminatory policies in their organisations.
For example, DEI policies might include implementing accessibility measures for people with disabilities, addressing gender pay inequity, expanding recruitment practices among underrepresented demographics, or holding anti-discrimination trainings. The latter has been the most controversial of these activities. While the goal of anti-discrimination training, to identify and reduce biases, is commendable, there is little evidence that this training works, and there are even credible claims that this training increases rather than decreases bias.
In Ireland, businesses have embraced and embedded diversity polices, not just as an act of compliance, but because it has been established that they lead to better decisions and innovation, writes Petula Martynhttps://t.co/faO7FHxq0d
— RTÉ News (@rtenews) February 8, 2025
While critiques of DEI have often assumed that they involve preferences for members of racial and ethnic minority groups, the major beneficiaries of DEI have been white women. In one way, this makes perfect sense. Women are still substantially under-represented in many high-paying jobs, especially managerial and executive jobs, and they represent the largest of the under-represented groups.
DEI policies have also benefited disabled workers, whose disabilities have historically kept them out of the workforce. Encouraging organisations to be proactive in finding reasonable accommodations for disabled employees benefits both employers and employees. DEI efforts have been increasingly successful in increasing employment opportunities for neurodivergent applicants.
Another critique of DEI programmes is that they stir up antagonism between groups. For example, Florida adopted a law forbidding schools from teaching what it called critical race theory, including banning educators from teaching certain topics related to race. It is designed, in part, to prevent teachers from making students feel guilt or shame about their race because of historical events.
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From the Daily Show, how to un-DEI your office
Exactly what this includes had never been unclear, but a similar law in Ireland might make it illegal to teach that England were substantially responsible for the Great Famine on the grounds that this might make English students feel uncomfortable. Like the claim that DEI involves quotas or racial preferences, the claim that teaching students the facts about how laws and organisations discriminated against women, racial minorities, or disabled individuals in the past might stir up racial hatred, are largely based on the fevered imaginations of right-wing politicians, not on any solid data.
If you are fear DEI, you probably have the wrong idea of what DEI entails. Some aspects of DEI are annoying; diversity training sessions rarely get rave reviews from participants. Efforts to boost inclusion can be uncomfortable for people who are used to a workplace where there are few women or no disabled colleagues. On the whole, DEI policies are at most a mild corrective that have small effects on the way organisations recruit, hire, promote and treat their employees. There may be a boogeyman, but it isn’t DEI.
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The views expressed here are those of the author and do not represent or reflect the views of RTÉ
