Since taking office last month, President Donald Trump has made “DEI,” or diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives that champion people’s differences, one of his biggest enemies.
Trump has repeatedly criticized DEI, calling it “dangerous, demeaning and immoral” to have race- and sex-based preferences in his executive order ― and has even baselessly blamed DEI hiring at the Federal Aviation Administration for last week’s airliner crash.
In Trump’s own words, DEI policies “undermine the traditional American values of hard work, excellence, and individual achievement.” In his executive order, he said he is dismantling DEI programs to restore “merit-based” opportunities and end an “identity-based spoils system.”
The consequences of Trump’s actions have been immediate and far-reaching. Private companies are scaling back or ending their DEI programs, and federal agencies are ending the celebration of holidays and history months like Martin Luther King Jr. Day, Pride Month and Holocaust Days of Remembrance as a result.
Those who work in DEI stress that Trump’s anti-diversity rhetoric is not just harmful, it is also simply not true.
“What we’re hearing coming out of this administration about DEI, it is a lie,” said Misty Gaither, an advisor for companies on DEI, and former vice president of Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Belonging at Indeed. “And so for people who are doing this work, we have to recognize that this is the intent, to create fear, to make people become disengaged and not do the work. But the work has to continue.”
HuffPost talked to people within DEI to debunk what Trump is saying and to correct the biggest misunderstandings about what DEI actually does. Here’s what they want you to know:
Trump’s idea of DEI popularizes ‘meritocracy myth,’ which experts stress is unfounded.
In Trump’s executive order, Trump said DEI discredits and undermines “the traditional American values of hard work.”
A lot of Trump’s rhetoric subscribes to a popular “meritocracy myth” that if everyone simply works harder, they will all have the same outcomes, and if you did not get an opportunity it was because “illegal” DEI was “diminishing the importance of individual merit,” as his order puts it.
Ruchika Malhotra, a diversity and inclusion strategist and author of “The Diversity Advantage: Fixing Gender Inequality In The Workplace,” said this seductive meritocracy myth comes from a “very core and fundamental premise of the American dream.”
“It comes from this idea that no matter who you are, you can achieve and you can be whoever you want,” she said.
But the playing field is anything but level.
“The way that these [executive] orders talk about merit is a dog whistle that is meant to imply that people who are outside of the privileged or majority groups are not as good as straight white men,” said Davey Shlasko, CEO and Founder of Think Again Training & Consulting.
In reality, DEI is not preventing a meritocracy ― it is what is necessary for people to have equal opportunities to succeed. Because under the status quo, white people and white men in particular are more likely to get job and education opportunities that are not based in merit.
Malhotra cited a 2019 study from the National Bureau of Economic Research that looked at Harvard University student admissions records as one recent example of this fact. Among white admits, over 43% received preferential treatment because they were recruited athletes, legacies or children of faculty and staff that would have been rejected if they were judged on academic merit, researchers found.
In other words, DEI can help remove historical barriers and unconscious biases that prevent everyone’s excellence from being recognized.
DEI is still seen as ‘lowering the bar’ ― but that couldn’t be further from the truth.
Trump’s rhetoric popularizes the pernicious idea of a “diversity hire” that is only hired because of their background, not because of their skills.
The idea of a “DEI hire” is “implying that if a straight, white, abled man gets hired, it’s because of his individual talent,” Shlasko said. “But when anyone else gets hired, it’s because of a preference or sort of charity toward them. And that’s just gross. That’s just not true.”
Malhotra said she is concerned that more people will be emboldened to call colleagues a “DEI hire” when you see someone like Trump “at the highest level of leadership saying it in plain terms.”
The truth is, “Hiring for diversity is not about giving unqualified people jobs; it’s about recognizing talent that has historically been ignored or undervalued,” said Parker McMullen Bushman, CEO and founder of Ecoinclusive Strategies.
“When someone calls a person a ‘diversity hire,’ what they’re really saying is, ‘I’m not used to seeing someone like you in this role.’ That’s not an issue with the person hired — that’s an issue with our expectations and biases,” Bushman explained.
Here are some dismal stats: If you are not a straight, white, able-bodied man, you are underrepresented in the workforce and in leadership. In 21 field experiments contrasting the callback rates of white and Black applicants, Black candidates have faced the same level of hiring discrimination for over 25 years, researchers have found. Black workers represent just 7% of STEM jobs, and Latinx workers are only 6%, according to the Pew Research Center.
And people who are underrepresented in these jobs are not unqualified ― it’s because “they’re actually underestimated,” Malhotra noted.
There are countlessstudies that back up how many overt and subconscious biases people have to deal with on top of their jobs.
Women ― and Black, Latina and Asian woman in particular ― face disproportionate “prove-it-again” scrutiny over their competence, for example. One 2014 gender bias study found that half of Black and Latina STEM professionals have been mistaken for the janitorial or administrative staff at their jobs.
Far from being an unfair advantage, being part of an underrepresented group at your job can put you at a psychological disadvantage to one’s peers.
For example, 50% of Black women reported feeling especially closely watched and as if they have to be ready to defend their expertise at any time when they were the only woman and only person of their race in the room at work, according to a 2019 LeanIn.Org and McKinsey report.
“You can be one of the only, and you can be doing really good work. And it can be very isolating, because you are always defending your position and why you were there,” Gaither said.
DEI is seen as benefiting only some people, but it is truly for everyone.
“Some people see [DEI] as like, ‘Oh, it’s the leadership program for women or people of color,’” Malhotra said. “But it really impacts everybody.”
Malhotra cited sanitary spaces for breastfeeding workers to pump in private, accessible ramps for wheelchair users, and the psychological safety for everyone to speak up in meetings as examples of DEI’s many benefits.
DEI has been used as an abstract shorthand, but its goals are concrete and specific.
“Diversity is making sure that you have a representation of people who have been historically marginalized and left out of the workplace. Equity is understanding and addressing the historical barriers that have kept people from getting an equal opportunity,” Malhotra explained. “And inclusion is making sure that the people who are again, historically underrepresented and underestimated, are able to contribute meaningfully, and lead in society and in the workplace.”
Beyond leveling the playing field for individuals, DEI is needed for businesses to get their best work done.
“A normal part of running any organization is making sure that the organizational culture is conducive to getting stuff done, and part of that is…making sure that people feel respected and want to stay in the organization,” Shlasko said. “You don’t have to call that DEI. You can just call that retention.”
Managers also benefit from having people with different backgrounds than each other who can catch what other people would miss, Shlasko added.
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There is a large body of research that backs up why diverse teams are smarter, because they are more likely to innovate and focus more on facts instead of subconscious biases. Trump may never recognize why different identities and lived experiences on a team are a strength, but you can.
“A workplace that prioritizes diversity isn’t just thinking about how to include Black and brown people — it’s also thinking about how to ensure employees with disabilities have equal access to opportunities, how to support working parents, how to create space for LGBTQ+ employees to be themselves, and how to address ageism in hiring and promotions,” Bushman explained. “When we embrace diversity, we’re not excluding anyone — we’re actually expanding the table so more people can bring their unique talents and perspectives.”