Careers in Conflict Transformation and professional peaceworking: DEI workers

 DEI workers

Diversity is the hallmark of success. A diverse natural world is a resilient world, as evolution experts tell us. The more species there are in an environment, the more that environment can withstand pressures. Similarly, a stock portfolio that is diversified weathers problems to various sectors of the market with more abilities. Studies done on the intersection of cross-cultural competence, conflict transformation training, and work teams show the more trained a team is in both, the more productive they are. Diversity tends to make groups of humans more successful. 

Equity is not mandated sameness, or even equality. When someone plays poker all night and is found cheating at 3 a.m. the players don't agree, well, okay, play fair from now on--that is equality. No. They confiscate the cheaters' winnings. That's equity.

Inclusion is avoidance of exclusion. Getting everyone possible included in the workings of society, the successes that flow from those workings, and leaving no one behind--that's inclusion.

These are simple concepts until attempts are made to enact them, at which point many parties begin to howl about relative deprivation, which is the idea that whatever the other party has is somehow more than I have and thus more than they deserve. People will resist that perceived or real relative deprivation, as we see all over the world and in our communities, our families, and our workplaces. The DEI officer at an institution is someone who is a master of the arts of conflict transformation. That official will excel at the problem-solving approaches learned in all the courses taken to earn a CTPS degree. It will not be enough to be BIPOC, though that seems to be an assumption some have made through their own lens of relative deprivation. 

DEI has thus been under attack and it will often be approached using alternative terminology to avoid attack by the political officials inclined to do so, oftentimes elected by resentful voters whose own perceptions are driven by feelings of relative deprivation. Now, starting in January 2025, entire federal agencies have banned the term DEI and all words that seem associated with it. That ban cascades not just to federal employees, but to recipients of federal funds in any capacity. It has also metastasized to the corporate world and into higher education as business and universities seek to avoid being punished for apparently favoring DEI.

The obvious problems with this lurch to the right and heavy-handed attack on what DEI directors achieve are many, yet enlightened organizations continue to practice it and even hire new DEI staffers and directors.