Equity, Diversity, + Inclusion (EDI) in Tech
While EDI in tech (and EVERY industry) should be core to leading an organization, if you find yourself needing to make a business case for it as I once did, some of the resources below might help you do that (or consider looking for a work home at another organization b/c the fact that you have to make a “business case” at all just sucks).
In the USA Today article, “Why Diversity Matters to Your Tech Company,” author Joelle Emerson points to higher levels of creativity and innovation, improved performance, attraction of talent and better serving a diverse user base as key benefits.
“How to Make the Business Case for Workplace Diversity in 7 Steps” from the Greenhouse blog highlights research from McKinsey, the Stanford Graduate School of Business and University of Illinois at Chicago.
In the Financial Times article, “The Evidence is Growing – There Really is a Business Case for Diversity,” research shows “two-dimensional diversity” including gender, race, language and global experience can lead to expanded market share/new market capture and better understanding of end users.
Anita Borg Institute suggests a number of concrete steps to take to recruit more technical women, as well as interview do’s and don’ts and relevant professional organizations.
Hire More Women in Tech includes a consolidated list of important supporting articles.
Techstars surveyed ~700 founders globally to understand what challenges they face in building their companies with diversity and inclusivity in mind.
In The TED Interview, “Mellody Hobson Challenges Us to Be Color Brave,” sharing her thoughts around, examples and benefits of building a diverse organization.
Kat Li surfaces how Native Americans are “The Invisible Minority of the Tech World.”
If you are in a recruiting/hiring role or have any level of influence within your organization, consider engaging with, researching, learning from, and supporting some of the following people and organizations.
- As You Sow
- Black Girls Code
- Blacks in Technology
- Black Tech Nation
- Black Women Talk Tech
- Code2040
- /dev/color
- Diversify Tech
- Latinas in Computing
- LaunchCode
- Lesbians Who Tech
- Lightship Capital
- Mother Coders
- National Society of Black Engineers (NSBE)
- Natives In Tech
- Out in Tech
- Power to Fly
- The Black Economic Development Fund
- Women in AI
- Women Who Code
Also consider analyzing the sentiments of your job descriptions using a tool like Textio, work with a diversity-focused recruiting or hiring platform like Joonko or Blendoor, or a platform intended to reduce bias like Applied.
Anti-Racism Links
White people, it’s not enough for us to be allies: we need to be actively anti-racist. That means taking a good, hard look at the privileges and biases we hold. It means taking the time to educate ourselves on systemic racism and for the parents among us, having those conversations with our kids early and often. It means not staying silent when we witness things like microaggressions in the workplace, or in general, because of the emotional discomfort and White Fragility. It means wholehearted listening and amplifying the voices of others when we have a seat at the table.
- 11 Things To Do Besides Say ‘This Has To Stop’ In The Wake Of Police Brutality | Huff Post
- Corinne Shutack on Medium
- | Frame Shift Consulting
- Anti-racism resources for white people | Google Doc compiled by Sarah Sophie Flicker, Alyssa Klein in May 2020
- Be Actively AntiRacist: Resources/Trainings/Hiring/Books/Films/Podcasts | Google Doc
- | FastCo
- How Did We Get Here? 163 years of The Atlantic’s writing on race and racism in America
- | Brown University
- How We Juneteenth | The New York Times
- An Open Letter Project on Anti-Blackness |
- Protesting as a White Accomplice | Google Doc Showing Up for Racial Justice Denver Chapter
- Resources for Accountability and Actions for Black Lives | Google Doc compiled by Carlisa Johnson
- | act.tv
Anti-Racism Links for Parents:
- 3 Experts on How to Raise Anti-racist Kids | FastCo
- Black Lives Matter Instructional Library with Read Alouds
- | The Hechinger Report
- FREE PLAY: Open Source Scripts Toward an Antiracist Tomorrow | “Award-winning playwright, poet, and changemaker Idris Goodwin offers five short plays for multi-generational audiences to spark conversation about race in America.”
- Injustice and Anger: Understanding your emotions | BrainsOn Podcast
Anti-Racism and Anti-Oppression Links for Business + Tech Leaders:
- A Guide to Indigenous Land Acknowledgment | Native Governance Center
- A Step-by-Step Guide to Transform Diversity & Inclusion into Anti-Racism | Lily Zheng on the Berrett-Koehler Publishers blog
- Advancing Racial Equity and Inclusion in the Workplace Symposium | Denver Public Library
- Advancing Racial Literacy in Tech via a keynote address by Dr. Ruha Benjamin
- Algorithmic Justice League
- AWAKE to WOKE to WORK: Building a Race Equity Culture | Awake in the Center
- Being Antiracist by Kim Crayton
- Data for Black Lives
- Drupal Diversity and Inclusion
- Equity-Centered Community Design | Creative Reaction Lab
- Ethical OS
- Host Your Own Power + Privilege Workshop: “A guided conversation for your community, designed for Icebreaker by Dr. Akilah Cadet”
- How Companies Without Racists Perpetuate Racism | Kafi Pane on the Gravitational Blog
- How to Begin Designing for Diversity: “A guide to get you started in building equitable products, services, and content, written by Boyuan Gao and Jahan Mantin of Project Inkblot, with illustrations by Fanny Luor”
- Ida B. Wells Just Data Lab
- INCITE!’s Principles of Unity
- One Black employee’s answer to “How can I help?” | Alica Forneret on the Culture Amp Blog
- Prosper Portland Equity Framework
- Solidarity Comes After Justice: The Only “Affirming” BLM Statement Tech Leaders Need to Make | April Garrido Wright on Medium
- Reimagining Small Business: A town hall to listen, learn & commit to building equitable, anti-racist organizations” | “
Accessibility Links for Tech Leaders
- Accessibility Object Model (AOM)
- Deque Systems
- Introduction to Web Accessibility | W3C
- Stark | accessibility-focused tools for design and dev teams
- The A11Y Project
- The Disability Visibility Project
- Universal Design
- Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG)