February 6, 2025
As the global landscape for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) evolves, recent political shifts—especially in the United States—have sparked significant discussions about the future of these initiatives worldwide. This conversation is particularly crucial for Asia, a region that is experiencing its own unique challenges and opportunities in the DEI space.
Nikki Davies, Founder of Curated CoNEXTion and a DEI Consultant, welcomed everyone and introduced the purpose of the meeting, emphasizing the need for a supportive space to share thoughts and feelings regarding the current DEI climate.
The session concluded with a sense of community and shared purpose among attendees, reinforcing the importance of resilience and collaboration in the face of challenges to DEI efforts. Participants left with a commitment to continue the conversation and support each other moving forward.
Key Takeaways
The importance of maintaining DEI commitments despite external pressures.
The need for open dialogues and understanding differing perspectives.
A collective sense of hope and determination to continue advocating for DEI.
Continue the work to embed DEI practices in the businesses where we have influence and impact by extracting the value it has on performance, innovation, and decision-making.
Personal Experiences and Reactions were invited
Concerns about the impact of political changes on meaningful work of organisations and NGOs were raised. Initially, people voiced that they felt fear but overall later many saw potential opportunities for evolving the DEI narrative. There were, however real concerns on the impact of marginalised communities for example placing people with disabilities into jobs when real progress is getting made.
Those in business facing roles as service providers and consultants noted that many companies in Asia are still in discussions about how to respond to changes in the DEI landscape, with many giving no clear direction yet. It was agreed that it is early days, despite the volume of turmoil.
It was widely agreed that there have been mixed reactions from clients regarding DEI training budgets: some reporting their budgets are frozen, particularly in the US, while other organisations have not seen any change or have doubled down on their DEI commitments and efforts despite the political climate.
The same mixed reaction from companies was identified for hiring too: some companies are freezing hiring due to the climate while others remain committed to DEI hiring initiatives.
It was acknowledged that the threat to small and medium sized consulting firms that have specialised in DEI is real and there is a need for collective support during challenging times.
Feelings of sadness and concern about the global situation were expressed with some people having very personal concerns due to their own or families nationalities, or having empathy for those impacted directly either in their job or due to being part of a marginalised community.
D&I Commitment and Challenges
The group had several attendees who were relatively new to the topic of DEI and were beginning to understand the impact and relevance for them and their businesses.
Several attendees discussed the backlash against DEI initiatives in the U.S. and its implications for global practices. There was reflection on the contradiction between Western teachings on DEI in the past and the backlash that is currently being fuelled by the political climate in the U.S
It was, however, identified that there is a continued importance of DEI values in business and that the people and organisations who truly believed in the benefits, remain committed to overcoming challenges - challenges that have always existed.
Several organisations were identified as having had a more performative approach to DEI including pink, rainbow, green washing in the past, and it is these companies that were never truly committed to creating inclusive workplaces: these organisations are unsurprisingly the ones that are retreating first. It is predicted that these organisations will suffer in the long run to attract talent as the current climate hopefully will not last forever.
For many organisations, it was recognised that the importance of hiring diverse teams is a core value rather than a checkbox approach, and the business case for diversity of thinking has been made - this gave hope to participants.
Opportunities Amidst Challenges
All attending shared a sense of cautious optimism, noting that while there may be setbacks, there are also opportunities to reinforce DEI as a business imperative. It was pointed out that the focus should shift from performative actions to embedding DEI into core business practices and that DEI Professionals may finally not be parked in HR Departments, but to work on strategic imperatives.
The US political situation is resulting in systems that were broken, and that did not work for the marginalised, are being dismantled. While there is a threat in the US that more restrictive systems could be built, it was highlighted that in the first presidency very little changed. Should the same happen again, this time, with systems needing to be rebuilt, there may be an opportunity to rebuild them fairer and more effective for all.
Future Directions
The group discussed the need for ongoing conversations and support networks to navigate the evolving DEI landscape.
Intersectionality in all DEI work should be prioritised in these times of turmoil and uncertainty and it was emphasized collaboration among underserved groups is important now more than ever.
Participants were encouraged to think about how to engage with differing viewpoints authentically and constructively. The danger of remaining in an echo chamber came up several times.
There were some suggestions of approaches to activism and engaging courageously. One was to actively engage with people and offer 1:1 conversations with people holding opposing views to better understand their position - but truly be open in the discussion. Other ideas were to continue to share opinions and articles to shed light on issues. Finally it was agreed that countries outside of the US had a more prominent role to play to enable inclusion and a workplace where everyone can optimise their performance.
Next Steps
Nikki agreed to organise future meetings to continue the dialogue and support each other in the DEI space.
Participants expressed interest in sharing resources and strategies to strengthen DEI initiatives within their organizations and the organizations that they support.
Join Curated CoNEXTion Community: https://chat.whatsapp.com/FsSeuXxf1qSIchUrfyPGKH
Links and Resources
Bond: Belonging and the Keys to Inclusion and Connection, 2024, Greg Morely
Continuing the Work of DEI, No Matter What Your Company Calls It, 13 December 2024, Joelle Emerson
What comes after DEI?, 23 January 2025, Lily Zheng https://hbr.org/2025/01/what-comes-after-dei
From Backlash to Breakthrough: The Future of DEI Starts Now, 29 January 2025, Jocelyn Giangrande, M.A., SPHR,CCDP-SHRM-SCP, https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/dei-reckoning-we-didnt-know-needed-jocelyn-zgoxc/
What and Who Killed DEI and Why?, 31 January 2025, https://www.linkedin.com/posts/patricia-anderson
Evolution of DEI: Don’t let the Tail wag the Dog, 3 February 2025, by Heather Price, Joshua Price, Carly Wilkinson, Victoria Park https://symmetraglobal.com/evolution-of-dei-dont-let-the-tail-wag-the-dog
DEI: Has It Gone Too Far or Are We Throwing It All Away?, 5 February 2025, LaShaunna Griffin, MS Business Psychology, https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/dei-has-gone-too-far-we-throwing-all-away-lashaunna-w5iic/
The Little Known History Of DEI And Why It’s Critical To Its Survival, 25 January 2025, Julie Kratz,https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/little-known-history-dei-why-its-critical-survival-julie-kratz-rxfyc/
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