Whose responsibility is it to make sure our workplaces are diverse?

Dare I say that one has to be very careful with this sort of idea? There should be no barriers to entry other than aptitude, but if the vast majority of nurses are women, does that mean that a lot more effort should be made to attract men into the profession? I could never have been an athlete however hard I tried because God didn't make me that way. However, I do have some aptitude for, or at least interest in engineering, so that's how I spend a chunk of my spare time. If we weren't so obsessed with classification and labels, but just accept each other for who were are, the world would be a better place.

What's the difference between that and the changes you are advocating? Looks to be one and the same to me. Exclude on non-relevant criterion. All you will achieve is to reverse the priority of discrimination from negative to positive. Meanwhile the discrimination remains in it's new guise, albeit with a tick in it's box to salve the consciences of the garment rending bleeding hearts.

Virtue signalling via tickbox management of 'quotas' does no one any good in the long run. Imagine a scenario in the NHS whereby they have to recruit a specialist but because of the quota requirement we get -

Promoted on colour? Check. Promoted on disability? Check. Promoted on gender? Check. But can they actually do the job? "Oh that doesn't matter".

If change is needed, then the subject of engineering should be promoted in it's own right, and not because it is politically correct. Not only this, but we are starting in the wrong place. We should begin making engineering interesting way back in the early days of education, and not at a point when people are confronted with a myriad of career choices at 16. We need to make a degree in engineering more attractive than one in Harry Styles on the internet.

We to start at the beginning to make engineering exiting and attractive to younger people rather than embark upon a divisive journey after the fact.

Similar here. I wanted to join the RAF but my eyesight wasn't up to snuff for aircrew. Did I go screaming to the discrimination Board? Of course not!

These replies are informative. but more use when combined. Let us cross corellate

1. 1. Women make up 16.5% of all engineers¹
      In 2019 (ONS) 51% of the UK population were female 
      OK so if the role was gender neutral we would expect about equal nos but the split us 83.5:16.5 Maybe we need to ask how we can alter female behaviour to make more of them suitable for undertaking an engineering role ?
      
      
   2. 9.9% are from minoritised ethnic backgrounds
      
      87.2% of the UK population were White, 6.9% Asian, 3.0% Black, 2.0% Mixed and 0.9% Other 
      So this is roughly representative of the national picture.
      
      
   3. 21% come from lower socio-economic backgrounds³
      We are missing a figure for comparison here. How many of the full population are in this category?   And then education is a factor, if for example you will not get so many potential engineers in higher education from lower socio economic levels, because as soon as they qualify, they leave that level.
      
      
      
   4. Disabled engineers make up 11.1% of the workforce²
      
      In 2020 ENEI estimated that 22% of the working age population have a disability
      So that is about half the representative ratio.
      But of course that assumes the disability does not prevent them from taking on an engineering role - any  mental condition that leads to an inability to concentrate may be prohibitive, for example so these should be excluded from the target.
      
      
      
      
   5. Over a quarter of LGBTQ+ individuals would never consider a career in the engineering profession for fear of discrimination⁴

      Again we are missing a number. We need the same figures for other jobs/careers where the same sort of thing applies, to see if discrimination in engineering is truly representative of society as a whole or not..

      Mike

mapj1 said:

Women make up 16.5% of all engineers¹
In 2019 (ONS) 51% of the UK population were female 
OK so if the role was gender neutral we would expect about equal nos but the split us 83.5:16.5 Maybe we need to ask how we can alter female behaviour to make more of them suitable for undertaking an engineering role

Or there may be other alternatives given that there are engineering sectors which do achieve closer to 50/50 - I work in one of them. My experience is that the behavioural change required is not on the applicants' side...

Thanks for the discussion. 

At the IET we're building an inclusive culture that inspires, engages and celebrates the diversity of all of our members, volunteers, colleagues and the wider engineering and technology community. We want everyone to fulfil their potential and feel they belong in engineering and technology. You can read more about this in our EDI strategy. 

The REflect event on Monday will discuss some of the barriers and solutions to equality of access to education and employment in engineering and technology. Come along and discuss in person or online https://Reflect2022.eventbrite.com

Laura Norton said:

It’s well known that a diverse workforce leads to better outcomes for an organisation, not to mention fulfilling the basic principle of opportunity and inclusion for all.

Hi Laura, 

Are there any examples of studies where this is proven? (That diversity and inclusion promotes a better outcome for an organisation), also when we are talking about diversity do we mean a diversity in engineering backgrounds and engineering related experience? Or non-engineering related diversity?

Regards

Laura Norton said:

It’s well known that a diverse workforce leads to better outcomes for an organisation, not to mention fulfilling the basic principle of opportunity and inclusion for all.

Hi, 

Some of the speakers at the business session at Monday's event will cover some of the evidence as to why diversity is good for organisations and leads to improved outcomes for society. But of course, I can provide a few links here now:  

Why diversity matters | McKinsey

How diversity, equity, and inclusion (DE&I) matter | McKinsey

How gender equality in STEM education leads to economic growth | EIGE (europa.eu)

Collaboration: Strength in diversity | Nature

Evidence for a Collective Intelligence Factor in the Performance of Human Groups (science.org)

Why diversity helps to produce stronger research (nature.com)

Diversity must be at the heart of equitable AI development | E&T Magazine (theiet.org)

As you'll see in our EDI strategy we define diversity as 'anything that can make us different from others' so that encompasses what many of us may expect in terms of protected characteristics in the Equality Act 2010 but also all other factors such as socio-economic status, educational background, geography and engineering background. We're very aware that people do not fit into neat categories and many of us are affected by many different aspects of EDI.  

I hope that helps. 

Best wishes, 

Laura 

Also worth checking out the Management Book Awards shortlist / longlist from our partner institution, CMI:

https://www.managers.org.uk/community/awards/management-book-of-the-year/management-book-awards-2022/

I only got alerted to these yesterday, so haven't had a chance to read any yet, but "The Power of Difference" looks particularly interesting.

Thanks,

Andy

Shame I have been away with work and only just seen this. As an individual who led their company LGBT+ network and was involved for over 10 years, it would be interesting to see the discussions and partake more in the IET direction. Is there a plan for more events in the coming months? Regards.