Corporate DEI is virtue signaling, evident by how many large companies are backpedalling with haste now that it's no longer being pushed on them by government policies.
DEI which emphasizes traits people are born with (race, gender, etc) is harmful for companies and individuals, penalising successful companies by burdening them with sub-par workers who have to be hired to fulfill a quota instead of because they'll add to the company. It also penalises talented and/or hardworking individuals who don't meet the DEI criteria by blocking them from jobs and saddling the few who have to be kept with the full load of keeping the company going whilst the people who "look right" attempt to fill their roles.
I'm all for equity. I don't believe in discrimination. DEI is discrimination - just socially and governmentally sanctioned. I want to help people up too - but that's not achieved by showing everyone that ability and experience are trumped by rainbow hair or whether or not you have a penis (and for how long).
DEI is just a deeply flawed idea. If there isn't enough representation in some field, the solution is to go to the group that lacks representation and first convince them they should try and build a career in said field, and second, help them reach the required level of proficiency in that field.
Instead DEI approaches the "problem" from the other end. It wants the entire field to change in order to artificially bring the balance they think is "fair".
Which brings me to another point. What's so special about representation? I'm not aware of any moral argument that justifies it in any way shape or form. It's a completely arbitrary value. Does it really matter if some fields have mostly men? or women? I understand the equality under the law, but it seems progressives and to some extent liberals have obsessed over equality to the point of shoving it everywhere and anywhere possible. Literally nothing happens if some fields naturally have over-representation of certain groups of people. As long as their isn't active gatekeeping, there is absolutely no problem aside from the activists crying loudly that it is somehow a form of oppression, but that's just ridiculous.
DEI which emphasizes traits people are born with (race, gender, etc) is harmful for companies and individuals, penalising successful companies by burdening them with sub-par workers who have to be hired to fulfill a quota instead of because they'll add to the company. It also penalises talented and/or hardworking individuals who don't meet the DEI criteria by blocking them from jobs and saddling the few who have to be kept with the full load of keeping the company going whilst the people who "look right" attempt to fill their roles.
I'm all for equity. I don't believe in discrimination. DEI is discrimination - just socially and governmentally sanctioned. I want to help people up too - but that's not achieved by showing everyone that ability and experience are trumped by rainbow hair or whether or not you have a penis (and for how long).