As a new member of the Evenbreak team, I am on a steep diversity and inclusion learning curve. Although years of nursing experience has given me a great start, I didn’t know how much there still was to learn. This means that equality and inequality in the workforce are pretty much all I talk about now (that and dogs). It also means that I’m always asking friends how inclusive their employers are.
Conversations go something like this:
“Morning Rach, how are you? Can you tell me what percentage of disabled people your workforce has?”
When friends aren’t crossing the street to avoid me, I learn a lot. For example, one friend has an employer who is beginning to think about diversity. As a result, they have started a gender equality working group.
As a woman and a single parent, this is important to me. Because I have experienced the disadvantages of being a single, female, working parent many times. I know we need decision makers to make changes, act, consider us. But what about everyone else? And the disadvantages they face? Do we only think about the inequalities we understand or experience ourselves? And is there a hierarchy of inequity? To create a diverse workforce do we need separate working groups for each group of people facing inequalities? Or do we need an inequalities network? To consider inequality wherever it may raise its head, and in whatever form.
Do you know what you don’t know?
I’m learning a lot. And there’s so much more to learn. The Founder of Evenbreak, Jane Hatton, posted on LinkedIn recently and gave me a head start. She recommended that all white people read Reni Eddo-Lodge’s book: “Why I’m No Longer Talking to White People About Race”. Consequently, it’s next on my ‘to read’ list. I don’t want to be someone that only considers the inequalities that affect me. And I bet your organisation doesn’t want to do that either. So, what else to read? I’d love to hear your thoughts and recommendations…
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And to find out more about best practice around disability in the workplace take a peek here
