Kemi Badenoch: Diversity policies should not "come at the expense of white men"

Maybe so.
Women do worse than men though, and as a feminist that's primarily what I'm interested in.

This obfuscation by breaking down all the categories to write the sort of thing you just have, when we all can see that power and money in this country is disproportionately in the hands of white men from rich families, just serves to uphold the status quo.

Family structure. 2 parents household and stable family are the biggest privileges you can have.
This is not proven. And in terms of life opportunities in the UK, wealth and access to private education and resulting networks would beat a 2 parent family hands down.

Educational opportunity - see above
Cultural values - not sure what you mean by this? Are you implying middle and upper class white people have a culture that makes them perform better? Or are you talking about things like that second generation immigrants tend to have cultural pressures to do well? In which case why are they still underrepresented in a lot of jobs?

Aspiration within family and culture
Cultural cache Have never heard this term before.
Differing interests between groups This sounds suspiciously like you think women are underrepresented in STEM because they arent interested and instead intrinsically prefer lower paid careers like care work.

Differing skills across groups dont know what this means - what skills do men have that women don't
Biology AKA discrimination as far as I'm concerned
Geography ?? Again not sure what this means...

I think white, heterosexual, able bodied men are at a significant advantage in this country due to bias and indirect discrimination against women, people from different ethnic backgrounds, disabled and gay people.
I would love to think the bias is subconscious but unfortunately the older I get and the less we seem to be able to make any headway the more I think many men are more interested in upholding the status quo that suits them than any notion of fairness.

In my opinion, all this "we have to measure it" is just about stalling. We've been measuring it and its made no difference. In fact all that happens is we get a load of reasons why there is not really a gender pay gap for example.

We can all see the disparity between how men are treated and how women are treated in our own lives. Why do we have to measure it before its taken seriously?

And really, why is that what the minister for Equalities has decided is her priority? Given all the things she could be doing to address inequality.

GBeebies has the same slant as the Express

https://www.gbnews.com/politics/kemi-badenoch-diversity-schemes

Kemi Badenoch has hit out at Britain's diversity drive, saying it has been "counterproductive" and "ineffective". She warned that inclusion policies must not come at the expense of white men

Well the representation of males vs females is pretty easy because you can see it.

And I think women have been waiting long enough for that to get sorted out.

I'd like the Women and Equalities minister to grow a spine and start penalising companies that are paying lip service to EDI but going backwards in terms of % women/pay gap reporting.

I'd also like to see companies having to report on how many staff have left under NDA and their gender. As a minimum. Really I'd like to see NDAs removed completely. Then women would be able to tell their stories openly.

I would love to see how many NDAs are in place at Frank Hesters company for example.

Here's a summary of their recommendations:

1. The government endorses a new framework (outlined in Recommended framework for D&I success) which sets out criteria employers might apply to their D&I practice, for effectiveness and value for money. (In summary these were being data driven, reviewing the impact of interventions and managing performance better)
2. The government funds, and works with, a research partner to develop a digital tool similar to the Education Endowment Foundation’s ‘Teaching and Learning Toolkit’.[footnote 3] This will allow all leaders and managers, in every sector, to assess the rigour, efficacy, and value for money of a range of D&I practices. It will also ‘nudge’ commercial or activist providers of interventions to evaluate and prove impact.
3. The Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) explains and clarifies the legal status for employers in relation to D&I practice, with particular focus on the implication of recent rulings for HR policies and staff networks. (In summary this was providing principles for employers and letting lawyers worry about the complexity of the law, not expecting managers to interpret and apply it themselves).

What do you think there is such disparity in outcomes for different groups at the moment then? Is it that people in the UK don't believe in meritocracy and are thwarting it in spite of the law? Is it that white men are somehow intrinsically better at the jobs that pay more than other groups? Is it that the meritocracy is an illusion due to subconscious bias? Or all of the above? And what do you think we should do about it?

Fwiw I think the report findings seem sensible and I hope they are implemented. I'd have liked to see Badenoch talk more about how she plans to do that, but of course one can't rush these things. Mulling is required before action.

She wrote the telegraph article linked upthread in response

And yes, I agree, its hard to see what she's said other than some white men have been unfairly treated and EDI initiatives cost a lot for uncertain outcomes. Not fully sure why she commissioned and paid for it out of tax payers money to be honest.

Even less sure what the express is up to. Maybe I'll go see what GBeebies think

I put the link upthread

It's about a report that was published today, commissioned by badenoch. Worth a read because the report is pretty anodyne and uncontroversial.

Maybe its just the express playing culture wars, of course

💯

Belief in "meritocracy" is why we are struggling to make progress. We already have laws and regulations to prevent discrimination, and yet the over representation of middle/upper class white men in positions of power or financial reward remains.

So the "meritocracy" isn't enough to make a change. We need to remove structural barriers and that's the kind of thing I'd like to see a Minister for women and equality talking about. Not pandering to the egos of threatened men.