Malakia, Bendita Cynthia
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(Article) The Avant-Garde: A Fundamental Rethink of the Inclusion and Diversity Professional of the Future
01.10.2020
The killing of George Floyd at the hands of the police in May and the racial reckoning that ensued around the globe led to actual and performative desires for organisations to demonstrate that they are making significant and systemic internal changes to combat racism and other inequities. One of the first actions that comes after the issuance of a public statement is the hiring of a diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging (D&I) professional. -
(Article) First Things First - Performance and authenticity
01.01.2021
I am a person, like you. I recently had cause to learn the etymology of the word. Though it has transformed in meaning over time, one stated origin is the Latin word persona, which meant ?actor's mask; character in a play?. Whatever human interactions that took the word from a character in a play to a human being, one thing is clear - somehow, the essence of humanity seems to lie in the chasm between who we truly are as people and who we present ourselves to be. -
(Article) First Things First - Navigating employee activism in the new norm
01.04.2021
The world is changing at a breakneck pace. Employees expect their organisations to address key social issues. Savvy organisations will engage with employee activism and harness this to integrate a range of views and voices to deliver on strategy and policy. Engaging with employee activism allows employers to go beyond surveys and really consider multiple points of view in a more robust manner. However, engagement needs to be thought out carefully and always approached with empathy. Not engaging with the pressing issues of our times is no longer an option. -
(Article) First Things First - Addressing the challenge from all angles - leveraging responsible business to support JEDI
01.07.2021
Given the amount of socioeconomic and political shifts in the world, many legal organisations have risen to the challenge of addressing them by taking increasingly strong steps to elevate justice, equity, diversity and inclusion (JEDI) inside and outside of the workplace. What does this look like and what are some of the best ways to approach this? -
(Article) First Things First - Integrating intersectionality into our JEDI strategy
01.10.2021
Engaging an intersectional perspective in justice, equity, diversity and inclusion (JEDI) initiatives in the modern workspace is a topic of increasing conversation. As a Black bisexual woman, I am wholeheartedly supportive of intersectionality analysis and scholarship from an experiential perspective - I know that subjugation on the basis of race, gender, sexual orientation and other under-represented identities is not merely additive, but is synergistic and multiplicative. -
(Article) Shade(s)
01.01.2022
The level of conversation and concern about intersectionality in the diversity industry has increased significantly over the last few years. A term created by Kimberl? Crenshaw, intersectionality is the state of having multiple marginalised identities that operate to have a synergistic impact on an individual such that the combination of identities is not additive but multiplicative. Intersectionality also emphasises that the experience of having multiple marginalised identities is unique from that of individuals having singular marginalised identities. This focus is important and elevates attention on another area of diversity involving multiple identities that receives less focus in the legal diversity arena - the impact of multiracial identity on the work experience.