‘Don’t be afraid’: Catherine Fox urges corporate Australia to embrace DEI

Australian companies should not be afraid to promote their diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives in the face of global backlash, one of the country’s leading commentators on gender and the workforce has urged.

Catherine Fox (R) speaking at a Australia-UK Chamber of Commerce event at Australia House in London on Wednesday, with Qantas Regional GM for UK, Europe, Middle East and Africa. Picture: Supplied by Australia-UK Chamber of Commerce

Corporate Australia must “be brave” and embrace diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives in the face of global backlash, one of the country’s leading commentators on gender and the workforce has urged.

Author and corporate speaker Catherine Fox says President Donald Trump’s push to dismantle diversity programs across the US federal bureaucracy has spooked businesses that are now struggling to deal with the growing political war against DEI.

Since Mr Trump’s crackdown in January, a number of global companies have begun to water down diversity initiatives, including Google which has scrapped a program that sought to employ workers from under-represented communities.

“What we’re seeing in the US is absolutely driven by backlash, the feeling that – and it is a feeling, it’s an assumption – that men have lost out because of diversity programs, that women are getting an unfair advantage,” Fox told The Australian, after headlining a Australia-UK Chamber of Commerce event at Australia House in London on Wednesday.

“There’s very little data to support that belief.

“What we do know, by and large and on balance, is that women still progress more slowly, and there is a gender pay gap.”

While Australian companies were not yet back-pedaling on DEI as aggressively as US companies, Fox said there was a growing reluctance for businesses to promote the equal opportunity programs that they had spent years investing in.

“I suspect they feel that there’s a risk in being more public about it … I think because they’re watching what’s happening in the US and the ramifications,” she said.

“They have invested in diversity programs … they’re not about to throw all of that away, and I absolutely believe that, however we haven’t seen a huge number (of companies) stepping up publicly.

“Don’t be afraid … be a bit braver.”

Fox acknowledged there was a growing scepticism about DEI in Australia, but believes public outrage was less potent than in the US.

“I don’t think we’re as polarised a community, but I do think there are some people who feel that we’ve gone too far with diversity,” she said.

“Some people think ‘this has reached its logical conclusion, we don’t need to do anything else’, and that’s not the case,” said Fox, pointing to a recent Gender Compass research, which found 63 per cent of Australians believe we are close to, or already have achieved gender equality.