From the underrepresentation of women in STEM to the disproportionate incarceration of racialized peoples, and a great number of issues in between, the consequences of inequity are everywhere. Over the past few decades, there has been growing focus on addressing these issues within public and private organizations for their staff and the communities they serve.
Though many well-intentioned institutions have implemented practices like inclusive hiring policies and racial sensitivity training, they fall short because they miss the big picture. They fail to address the systems, structures, and cultures at the very root of their equity problems. A reluctance to even acknowledge that discrimination is occurring, pushed on by the false belief that our society and its systems are unbiased and rewards people purely on merit, has continued to block any progress toward more equitable outcomes.