Diversity … or Is It?

It’s an interesting phenomenon. 

On one hand: Good corporate citizens support the concept of diversity. When we ran a story in November about hiring military veterans (Minnesota’s veterans unemployment ranks third-highest in the nation)—response from readers was overwhelming. Last month, a story came out about Minnesota’s racial disparity in hiring (the highest in the nation) and got colleagues talking. 

On the other hand: Something interesting takes place when I mention the scarcity of women in upper echelons in the workplace, and the notion of covering that “diversity story”: People start dividing into camps: “Cover it” and “Don’t talk about it.”

Is it because we’ve been talking about equality for women in the workplace for so long now, that we no longer want to think of it as a diversity issue?

I was curious, so I posed questions on my personal Facebook page: 

“FB friends, your thoughts, please: Business publications have success doing stories on women in business, and minorities in business. Yet, we’d never do ‘men in business’ or ‘white guys in business.’ What do you think: Is it a disservice not to do a women in business story? Thank you for your opinions!” 

With names deleted (so I won’t be “unfriended”!), here’s what some friends had to say:

• “It’s a tired and dated theme. The jury is in. Women and minorities have been making their mark justifiably for a long time. Maybe the angle is that someone should point that out. The news peg is that it is no longer news.”

• “I don’t like the fact that we still need to have this kind of attention paid to women and work; however, there is still a lot of progress to be made. If we consider the length of time that the workplace was male-dominated, especially, white male-dominated, then it makes sense that it will take at least as long for the idea of women in the workplace to become commonplace.” 

• “Given that there still is a glass ceiling in many companies, there probably is still a need for such stories … if only to provide encouragement and support.”

• “From a reader perspective, I don’t care if it’s a man or woman for the story—I want to know how they became a success.” 

• “Certain industries have a much lower percentage of women at the top. When they get there, it’s newsworthy IMHO.”

• “Focus on the person, the accomplishment, the journey, the innovation. If you find that only white men have interesting stories to tell—then we all have a much bigger problem.”

• “Surprisingly, the percentage of women in 'senior management positions' in privately held companies in the U.S. is only 20 percent, less than even China and Armenia and far less than Russia and—can you believe it—the Philippines.” 

• “Interesting profile of COO of Facebook. Sadly, while Googling to find this piece, I came across a story called ‘Top 10 Beautiful, Hot and Sexy Female Executives to Watch in 2011.’ So two steps forward, one step back.”

This discussion is far from over.