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Diversity

This Month

Hejaz Financial Services co-founder Hakan Ozyon.

Meet the $3b Aussie wealth manager you’ve never heard of

Hakan Ozyon and Muzzammil Dhedhy have quietly built a major financial services player with $3 billion in funds under management, servicing Australian Muslims.

  • Yolanda Redrup
Islamophobic graffiti in the western Sydney suburb of Chester Hill.

Islamophobia surges more than 500pc, says racism register

Amid the national debate over antisemitism, Muslims say they are also targeted by hate crimes.

  • Andrew Tillett
Jo Stanley, Jay Curtain and Lauren Allen were the most successful crowdfunders on the Birchal platform this year.

Sidelined by VCs, women are taking their start-up ideas to the public

The three biggest raises of 2024 on Birchal, the country’s dominant equity crowdfunding platform, are businesses run by women. And largely backed by women.

  • Yolanda Redrup

November

Dr Katie Spearritt, chief executive of Diversity Partners.

Why the backlash from men is threatening gender targets

Mining behemoth Rio Tinto is not the only company to discover pockets of male employees who resent the push for greater diversity.

  • Sally Patten
Jakob Stausholm says Rio’s Everyday Respect program is also about driving better performance.

Did gender diversity and merit collide at Rio Tinto?

The challenge for companies is to find a way to promote pluralism while treating all employees equally and avoiding inflaming a politicised culture war.

  • The AFR View
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Kellie Parker is Rio’s chief executive in Australia. The company has been grappling with cultural change since a landmark report in 2022.

Rio Tinto workers push back against its diversity efforts

Two years after a major review found the company had systemic bullying issues, employees of both sexes say they are uncomfortable about some changes.

  • Updated
  • Peter Ker
Tim Reed and Craig Blair were asked about the culture of treating tech founders as protected geniuses.

Airtree partner says ‘problematic’ founders can still be accommodated

Craig Blair, an influential venture capitalist, says visionary founders are often “deeply flawed” but should be supported as they create great businesses.

  • Yolanda Redrup
Recruiters say some clients have asked them to conduct female-only searches to fill vacancies, putting them in “compromising positions”.

Is female-only recruitment discriminatory? Even lawyers are divided

The debate over gender diversity targets was reignited this week when the Australian Financial Review revealed employers had told recruiters not to bother shortlisting men for senior jobs.

  • Euan Black

Fortescue Energy chief quits religious group board amid staff concerns

Mark Hutchinson is no longer a director of Alpha Australia National Office, whose evangelical attitudes towards sex have displeased many employees.

  • Peter Ker

October

Mark Hutchinson says the market is unlikely to invest in nuclear power.

‘I have let you down’: Fortescue’s Hutchinson apologises to gay staff

Fortescue chairman Andrew Forrest says his leaders are required to back equality, prompting a mea culpa from energy boss Mark Hutchinson.

  • Peter Ker

Fortescue’s Hutchinson breaks sex silence as Rio inks gay pride deal

He’s a director of a religious group that broadcasts a strictly hetero, gender binary view of sex, but Fortescue boss Mark Hutchinson says he loves diversity.

  • Peter Ker
Women make up half the population but less than one third of expert voices.

How women can remove the ‘ick’ factor and become experts

One of the greatest barriers to women owning their expertise publicly is fear of criticism and being exposed as an imposter.

  • Penny Locaso

September

Samuelson Appau

DEI is no longer just about ethics, it’s about profits, academics say

Australian business schools are providing an increasing amount of diversity components to reflect a growing corporate demand.

  • Gus McCubbing
The key to diversity is company culture: Khuda
1:01

The key to diversity is company culture: Khuda

Robin Khuda says AirTrunk is succeeding in diversity because it's embedded in its culture.

  • Updated
A Ford plant in Dearborn, Michigan. The company has become the latest to start walking back commitments to diversity and inclusion, as part of a backlash from ESG initiatives in the US.

Wall Street’s ESG backlash does little to dent Australia’s enthusiasm

Analysis from Jarden shows ASX-listed groups increased their mentions of environmental, social and governance commitments in the last earnings season.

  • Joshua Peach and Joanne Tran
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August

Politics tainting reform of the RBA

Readers’ letters on parties at odds over the Reserve Bank; trouble at the MSO; diversity policies; the job of an opposition leader; Labor losing its way; and the soaring price of gold.

Peter Rae

Court’s landmark ‘trans women are women’ verdict lauded

Booting a transgender woman from an exclusive app for being insufficiently female constitutes unlawful discrimination, a judge has found in a landmark gender-identity case.

  • Luke Costin and Duncan Murray
Protesters march on the Brooklyn Bridge in 2020.

Is this the end of the line for diversity policies?

One of the most important management trends of the past decade may no longer be equal to the occasion.

  • Aaron Patrick
Robby Starbuck

This man is forcing big companies to halt DEI

US companies including Harley-Davidson and the maker of Jack Daniel’s whiskey are halting their diversity efforts after being targeted by right-wing commentator Robby Starbuck.

  • Beth Kowitt
Myths about why men are paid more than women don’t stack up.

This Gender Pay Day, employers must take action for their own good

Women must work, on average, 50 more days per year to earn the same as men. Here’s what businesses need to do about it.

  • Mary Wooldridge

Original URL: https://www.afr.com/topic/diversity-5wc