Diversity Is Not a “Woke” Folly — It’s a Universal Principle of Health and Resilience

We suppress it at our peril

Photo by Kyle Cleveland on Unsplash

Donald Trump’s recent purge of DEI (Diversity, Equity and Inclusion) programs is not just an attack on justice, it is an assault on social resilience itself. Any humane society should have among its aspirations the eradication of systemic disadvantages against specific subgroups such as people of colour, women and LGBTQ+ people. That is simply a matter of fairness, and as such these principles have long been enshrined in anti-discrimination laws across the democratic world.

Let us, however, put aside for a moment questions of social justice — the “equity and inclusion” parts of DEI — and focus on diversity as a goal and principle. Companies usually frame their commitments to diversity in terms of corporate citizenship: they like to be seen to be to be doing the right thing, and an inclusive workforce is seen to be a “good look” — whether or not the policy reflects a heartfelt commitment. Yet diversity is not just a nice-to-have feature to trot out in an annual report to make shareholders feel warm and fuzzy. It is a universal principle of health and resilience.

In the natural world, the health of ecosystems is often measured in terms of biodiversity. Resilient economies are characterised by diverse…