I was going to write about a very different topic this week. But another idea I had on the back burner collided with something that has happened in my personal life, so I’ve decided to focus on diversity and inclusion (D&I) instead.
A couple of weeks ago, I realised I hadn’t written about D&I in financial services for a long time. Looking around, I realised it wasn’t just me – everyone else has been quiet on that front.
It wasn’t so long ago that an internet search would throw up masses of content on that subject, but I think there has been a noticeable drop-off since the Financial Conduct Authority and the Prudential Regulation Authority decided not to proceed with formal D&I rules last year.
The only interesting thing I could find recently was that HSBC is rolling out British Sign Language for Beginners Training to all 23,000 of its employees.
When D&I was everywhere in financial services, disability-led stories and initiatives seemed thin on the ground
That has a story behind it – HSBC UK channels support manager Christopher Stafford hired a deaf employee last year and thought other employees would benefit from the chance to learn sign language. So, the bank teamed up with the Royal National Institute for Deaf People to run a successful pilot scheme, which has now become a company-wide programme.
When D&I was everywhere in financial services, disability-led stories and initiatives seemed thin on the ground. I now wonder if being out of the spotlight has enabled firms to quietly respond to areas of specific need within their business rather than slavishly following the national trends.
National agendas on things like D&I have started to worry me. That’s something I thought I’d never say because I’ve always seen a need for some sort of intervention.
My son never gets a say in group work because someone else’s needs always take priority. It tends to be girls
I was brought up on a council estate in London’s multicultural Bethnal Green and went to a girls’ school in nearby Hackney. I’ve seen first-hand that some people don’t have access to the opportunities that others do and how the complex relationship between gender, ethnicity and socio-economic background shapes lives.
I’d hoped that president Trump’s actions to rollback D&I policies in the US wouldn’t lead to the same thing happening in the UK. But now I’m really concerned about how D&I is operating in our education system.
My eldest son attends a sixth form that prides itself on inclusivity. He never gets a say in group work because someone else’s needs always take priority. It tends to be girls.
There are girls with learning difficulties and medical conditions. It is challenging for everyone – for them, their tutors and fellow students. One girl cried when outvoted in a group decision, prompting tutors to reverse it in her favour, which caused uproar among the rest.
Weekend Essay: Is Diversity and Inclusion a fad or the future?
One girl was sanctioned to miss studies to pursue her fledgling career abroad, regardless of graded assessments. She has no conditions as far as I know but she’s great PR for the sixth form, so my son’s group had to do without her for a few days.
It has been tough for my son and the other boys in his class. They have got used to rolling over for a quiet life and that doesn’t seem fair.
This week, my son stood up to the three girls in his group who were trying to take control of his part in a project. They wanted to farm it out to someone they thought would help them get a better grade.
My son refused, so they tried everything they could to push him out. When that failed, they complained about him to the tutor. She sided with the girls on all points except one.
I want everyone to get the chance to live their best lives. But I have to ask – what are we doing to our boys?
It’s difficult to address any of this with the leadership. Students who raise objections are told they are being unkind. Question it as a parent and you are made to feel that you’re attacking vulnerable young people.
Anyone who knows me well knows I would never do that. I want everyone to get the chance to live their best lives, as it is so often put. But I have to ask – what are we doing to our boys?
It was interesting to read in the Times Educational Supplement that a new research organisation, the Centre for Policy Research on Men and Boys, has set up a commission to look at how the education system can be reformed to meet the educational and developmental needs of boys.
Boys consistently lag behind girls academically, which obviously needs looking at. But the commission will also explore how identity, status and attitudes towards manhood affect young men.
If pushed, I’d probably say D&I initiatives work only if the culture underpinning them includes everyone
Like headteachers across the country that are mentioned in the article, I think this is well overdue. One of those headteachers talked about boys experiencing a loss of identity, not knowing what they are supposed to do or be. That’s the little chink of uncertainty that people like Andrew Tate pounce on to stir up hatred.
My son is lucky in that he has a close relationship with me, my husband and his siblings. We talk about this as a family and he’s feeling positive about starting afresh at university.
His tutors there have already made him feel wanted and valued at a pre-induction day. He has made new friends there – male and female – who are always in touch via their group chat.
I genuinely don’t know how I feel about formal D&I initiatives now. If pushed, I’d probably say they work only if the culture underpinning them includes everyone. Even those who aren’t part of an underrepresented group or minority need to feel they are valued and belong, not sidelined.
Maybe the FCA knew what it was doing in giving formal D&I rules a miss.
