Media’s Trending Chokehold on Diversity, Equity and Inclusion
Author: Vea Gunawan | President 2023
Is more always better? The social media swarm today consistently feeds into this paradox of choice; more devices, more media platforms, more trends, more awareness, more action… the list goes on. Increased social media usage and diversity of target audiences has accelerated the exposure and digestibility of content, enabling users to learn about events in almost real time, and to understand complex ideas, simply. This influx and understanding of new knowledge and trends places particular pressure on past and current social issues, and the uniting force of technology incites a cross-generational urge to remedy them. Notably, today more so than ever, our society preaches diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI); we rejoice to halo our universal differences and challenge the status quo. The establishment of DEI company statements, gender work mandates and increasing media representation all denote the high expectation society has placed in DEI across different sectors. Social media has become a powerful weapon in the war against discrimination, but it also serves as a double-edged sword in promoting diversity, equity and inclusion. Although the hurricane of social media has propelled DEI reception, its importance is being swept away in the backward culture of trends, and the empty excession and exploitation which follows. So, can we achieve more DEI action, without it being too much?
DEI faces the risk of being subject to the impermanent life cycle of trends, typically defined as a directional change requiring consensus, several touchpoints, with the potential to gain greater traction if deemed progressive – everything DEI embodies. Indeed, the increasing representation in the gender, ethnic, sexual, religious realm - any realm really - is a pivotal step in starting conversations to embolden and empower diversity. It is valued, it is needed, and it is certainly not undermined. However, more and more companies are capitalising upon this ‘DEI trend’ for the sake of completion and not commemoration, cannibalising its significance.
DEI has been strongly present in both the corporate and commercial sphere, however social media has created an ambiguous fine line on what is ‘good’ for DEI progress and representation. DEI statements and hiring mandates denote value alignment and imperative for action, but executive boards of white middle-aged men beg to differ. Increased television race and sexuality representation is momentous and wonderful, until Netflix is littered with ‘progressive’ plotlines where the gay best friend is relegated to the background for comedic effect. Sure, cast diversity may have increased, but has this representation also been transcended to entertainment production teams of directors, scriptwriters, and costume designers? Increased diversity within fashion is another prime example of an industry which has experienced large paradigm shifts in response to increased DEI social media presence. Is the increased range of clothing styles, sizes, and model ethnicities a shift towards improved acceptance of diversity, or more so trends for businesses to increase their target market? Indeed, these actions may truly intend to advance DEI, but social media is dangerously evolving DEI into a mask for corporations to hide behind and capitalise upon.
A “checklist effect” is created when the corporate desire to integrate DEI for society’s stamp of approval unites with trend-filled platforms, forcing DEI to teeter on the edge of superficiality. For example, establishing a DEI statement might appear as a small initiative, however it holds the immense power of standing for the collective whole. Therefore, to only mandate it for the societal “tick” without intending to take action, sadly strips away its core importance and mobility for change. If the “trendy” behaviour of DEI persists, we will fall into the dangerous trap of framing DEI as a black and white static fulfilment, when it is in fact a prismatic cycle of progress. No doubt, it is a momentous step that more than 1600 CEOs have signed on the CEO Action for Diversity & Inclusion Pledge, and a Gartner survey indicated that HR leaders’ DEI efforts were 1.8 times higher in 2020 than 2019. But whilst it is important to equitably weave nuanced threads of diversity throughout organisational levels, product lines and media representation, diversity must also be complimented with strong inclusion. More DEI leaders are identifying metrics to measure DEI progress, however this raises challenges of: defining what is ‘good’ for DEI, and tying metrics to intangible sentiments in a DEI workspace such as feeling respected, supported and a sense of belonging.
The issue of creating a universal metric to track DEI progress feeds into the ‘checklist’ effect, but holistically integrating DEI into focus areas such as leadership, employee engagement and job satisfaction can mitigate this. Microsoft is an example of a firm consistently building upon their positive DEI impact beyond their ‘Global Diversity and Inclusion’ website page. Several research findings have praised Microsoft for their strong inclusion of women and people of colour in the tech industry, alongside their highly regarded culture of empathy cultivated by their CEO. Moreover, Microsoft’s Diversity and Inclusion Report also demonstrates the firm’s transparency and commitment to their DEI efforts. Microsoft’s efforts to champion diversity and inclusion by evolving its corporate structure and culture is the active DEI action missing in most industries. It is often easier to identify what is ‘bad’ than ‘good’, but an organisation’s active change may be the defining factor on which is the better initiative.
The fine line between genuine and ingenuine acts of diversity, equity and inclusion has been further blurred by social media. Media trends have morphed DEI into a futile corporate duty rather than an active responsibility, and the lack of objective metrics makes it harder to decipher the DEI deception. DEI is becoming diminished as another “trendy movement”, and we cannot ignorantly let its importance get lost in our eyes, or the eye of the media hurricane it is engulfed in.