The Loud Silence Of Feminists

I had a really intense conversation last week about diversity in the workplace, racism and sexism. As you might imagine, the conversation continued well into the small hours of the morning. Though there were many different points that were made, one of the main nuggets of contention was that women and minorities are under-represented in Fortune 500 board rooms and executive suites because there simply aren’t enough qualified women and minorities. The person making that argument did concede that part of the reason for this dearth of talent was discrimination, but refused to let up that the numbers don’t lie – there are simply more white men out there who are qualified.

It was a mostly constructive conversation and one of the most interesting pieces was the discussion about whether hiring "diverse" candidates is just the right thing to do or it's actually good for business and the bottom line. We also talked about the need to recognize the importance of diversity in socio-economic levels. But, at the end of it all, what disturbed me the most was what I view as an excuse for institutionalized discrimination – the idea that America just doesn’t have enough women and minorities who are qualified to be top leaders of Fortune 500 companies.

It’s the same excuse that we’ve been hearing for the past 30 years. And with high school and college graduation rates among women and minorities rising a whole lot faster than for men, it does not make any logical sense that they are underrepresented simply because there are too few of them. For example, the latest census data show that 33% of women aged 25-29 have a bachelor’s degree as compared to 26% of their male counterparts. So, no, I just don’t buy into the idea that the overwhelming presence of white men in board rooms and executive suites across America is due to their higher education and better qualifications.

But!

Interestingly, I came across a fascinating opinion piece, "The Loud Silence Of Feminists", in which the author accuses feminists of keeping a deafening silence on the sexist treatment of Michelle Obama. She makes a good point. So, no, I don’t blame “the white man” for all the problems facing underrepresented groups – there is an institutionalized discrimination system in the U.S. and all of us play a role in keeping it there.