O
ver the
past three
decades, diversi-
ty and inclusion work
has gone from the fringe to the main-
stream. At this point, an overwhelming majority of
companies have some kind of diversity and inclu-
sion eforts, ranging from fully stafed departments
to people given functional accountability as part of
their larger responsibilities. Millions of employees
have participated in diversity training programs.
Diversity conferences abound. Hundreds of books
have tackled the subject, as have numerous Oprah
episodes. It is reason-
able to ask, is it making
a diference?
Te metrics, both in society as
a whole and within organizations, do not
bode well. Even though, by many measures of
equality, progress has clearly been made over the
past 60 years since Brown v. Board of Education,
the statistics over the past decade or so indicate a
leveling of, or even a backsliding, of progress. For
example, according to the Government Accounting
Ofce, the gap between women's salaries and men's
is closing at a glacial pace. At the present rate,
We have made many advances in the diversity and inclusion arena.
However, we still have a ways to go—and that requires a paradigm shift.
By Howard J. Ross
Take the Lead
We Mean Business
>
d i v e r s i t y w o m a n . c o m S u m m e r 2 0 1 4 D I V E R S I T Y W O M A N 23
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