The National Association of Women Lawyers (NAWL) published its study on women in biglaw and the results were disappointing. The percentage of women equity partners went up by 2% since 2006, and logged more hours but got paid less — earning only 80% of their male counterparts.
According to the 2010 U.S. Census data, African Americans make up 12.2% of the general population, yet only 4.8% of lawyers are African American. 16.3% of the general population is Hispanic, and only make up 3.7% of lawyers.
The law certainly isn’t the only industry struggling with diversity. Twitter Engineering Manager Leslie Miley, the only black engineer in a leadership position at Twitter, quit citing Twitter’s unwillingness to address the lack of diversity. Miley wrote:
…a particularly low moment was having my question about what specific steps Twitter engineering was taking to increase diversity answered by the Senior VP of Engineering at the quarterly Engineering Leadership meeting. When he responded with “diversity is important, but we can’t lower the bar,” I then realized I was the only African-American in engineering leadership.
Microsoft was widely praised recently when it nominated two women to its board, bringing the total number up to three (out of 11). Yet, when examining Nasdaq 100 companies, exactly ZERO had only three men on its board, or four for that matter. 37% had one token woman on its board.
In a Forbes article, The Lack of Diversity In Tech Is A Cultural Issue, the author writes:
Kieran Snyder, a former senior leader at Microsoft and Amazon and now CEO and co-founder of Textio, interviewed 716 women who held tech positions at 654 companies in 43 states. On average, these women worked in tech for seven years and then left. Kieran asked these women specifically why they opted out.
Some 192 women (27%) cited discomfort working in these companies. The overt or implicit discrimination was a primary factor in their decision to leave tech. That’s just over a quarter of the women surveyed. Several of them mentioned discrimination related to their age, race, or sexuality, in addition to gender and motherhood. They also stated that lack of flexible work arrangements, the unsupportive work environment, or a salary that was inadequate to pay for childcare all contributed to their decision to leave.
Lack of diversity is also a problem in journalism (only 22% of the writers at The New York Times are women), and newsrooms (people of color fill only 12% of newsroom managerial positions).
It’s, of course, not all gloom and doom. In this article, Avvo founder and CEO Mark Britton shared its employment stats:
Britton said that 46% of Avvo’s total workforce are women, with 33% in senior leadership roles and 25% in engineering — well ahead of the national averages he presented where women represent 25% of jobs in tech, with only 12% in engineering.
Which brings me to… so what? Why should companies care about diversity? The best answer may be: because it’s necessary for the company’s success and survival.
There’s been a lot of discussion about the future of law recently and if one thing is for certain, there is a lot of uncertainty. While we all have a tendency to want to be around people that are like us and share our views, having a cookie-cutter “yes man” in your circle is detrimental, especially during times where law firms must be agile and able to pivot to survive. If you only surround yourself with people that are like you, think like you, dress like you, and share similar life experiences, you can’t have the key ingredient that having a diverse workforce offers: difficulties and challenges.
As this Scientific American article points out, having a diverse workforce is hard:
Research has shown that social diversity in a group can cause discomfort, rougher interactions, a lack of trust, greater perceived interpersonal conflict, lower communication, less cohesion, more concern about disrespect, and other problems.
However, these difficulties are precisely the thing that makes a team more resilient:
Diversity enhances creativity. It encourages the search for novel information and perspectives, leading to better decision making and problem solving. Diversity can improve the bottom line of companies and lead to unfettered discoveries and breakthrough innovations. Even simply being exposed to diversity can change the way you think.
When lawyers don’t reflect the diversity of their clients, when researchers don’t reflect the people they are studying, when news reporters don’t reflect the people they are reporting on, when companies don’t reflect their customers, how is true progress or innovation possible?
It is not enough for companies and organizations to hire for diversity. They must also strive for a place where differing opinions are allowed and welcomed. Having one token woman on a board isn’t enough.
Diversity is not only key to a successful company, but peaceful nations as well.
The solution is straightforward and has been outlined many times before: end violence and discrimination against women and girls, ensure women are key players in peace-building and social development, and peace will follow – in homes, societies, countries and globally.
Talking about race, gender, sexual orientation, and all of the things that we look at when creating a diverse workplace are hard. There are also factors that get swept under the rug in the diversity conversation, such as physical abilities, religion, socio-economical status, and age.
We must all strive for a more compassionate workplace where differences are celebrated, and create an environment where everyone can feel free to express their ideas. A workplace where everyone can feel comfortable being who they are. Where differing opinions aren’t seen as bad, but an opportunity for creating mutual understanding and learning. This is the only way we’ll survive as a profession, as a country, or as humans.
This article previously appeared on Above the Law.