Understanding intersectionality: Inclusion and employees’ whole life experience
While businesses increasingly understand how gender, ethnicity or sexuality may impact a person’s experience in the tech sector, many don’t take into account how some will have an overlap of these experiences
The reason why diversity is so important for tech teams is because difference in opinions and life experience can lead to more innovative ideas, as well as ensure technology is developed with features that better reflect the needs of its user base.
For those campaigning for diversity and inclusion in the technology industry, the past decade has focused on helping businesses understand the benefit of encouraging underrepresented groups into tech.
But the result has been diversity and inclusion initiatives only focused on hiring a specific group of people, such as women or people of colour, overlooking how an overlap of these characteristics can affect their experience in the technology sector.
During a panel at the 2024 Computer Weekly and Harvey Nash Diversity in Tech event, experts discussed why it’s important to consider a person’s whole experience when trying to develop an inclusive and equitable tech culture, acknowledging the intersectional nature of many in the industry, and how that plays a part in forming their perspective and approach to tech.
Merriam-Webster’s dictionary defines intersectionality as “the complex, cumulative way in which the effects of multiple forms of discrimination (such as racism, sexism and classism) combine, overlap or intersect, especially in the experiences of marginalised individuals or groups” – an idea introduced by civil rights scholar Kimberlé Crenshaw.
As an example related to the IT sector, it’s difficult to be a woman in tech, it’s difficult to be a person of colour in tech, and it’s even more difficult to be a woman of colour in tech.
Sonya Barlow, founder and director of diversity, inclusion and belonging at the Like Minded Females (LMF) network, explained: “It’s really about what different experiences you have. In simple terms, is the fact that you have so many layers to you either going to help you or hinder you? Everyone here is intersectional, because we all have different layers. Diversity is about differences; intersectionality is the different layers that we bring to the table.”
The business benefit of including these individuals in the tech workplace is no different to the benefits of increased diversity in tech overall – diverse teams better reflect technology users, and the more mixed a group is, the more likely they are to come up with different – and therefore more innovative – ideas.
As explained by Megan Goodwin, co-founder of The Vision: “If you create an environment which actually embraces and seeks challenge, and seeks change, and difference of opinion, that is only going to be positive for your firm. All the stats that everybody’s given [during the Computer Weekly diversity event] are that the more diverse the leadership team, the more revenue it will generate.”
The challenge comes during the inclusion piece – developing a culture where people can thrive no matter their background.
She continued: “How many companies seek out very different opinions when they’re making massive strategic decisions? How many businesses really incentivise people to have a different view and to put their hand up?
“The quietest people in the room are the people who are probably the most unrepresented. How do you change that? I think that you need a culture shift of ‘difference is good’.”
Implications of intersectionality on individuals
Without this cultural shift, the working world is even harder for underrepresented individuals.
Barlow used some of her own overlapping characteristics as an example of intersectionality, highlighting that she’s of Pakistani heritage, is a British Asian, has ADHD and experiences chronic migraines.
“I not only face issues being a woman,” she said. “Turns out, I face issues being a brown woman, then I’m a loud brown woman, which no one really likes. You know what I mean? I’m ambitious on top of that, and then on top of that, turns out I didn’t know I had ADHD. I didn’t even know I had chronic migraines.”
Barlow also highlighted that her life and work experience will be different to others with different characteristics – and this is also true of what people need out of technology: different people will need different things depending on their experience.
But in the workplace, the more characteristics you have, the more difficult things become to navigate, clarified Gill Cooke, inclusion, equity and diversity consultant, associate, advisor, and trainer.
“The more different identities that you identify with, the more likely you are to have additional challenges, additional obstacles, probably additional discrimination, abuse, harassment, etc,” she said. “So, actually, the scales are really weighed against you. And really what we want to talk about is that, how do we recognise that and open the doors to more people?”
Whole self, or work persona?
A term often heard in the diversity and inclusion space relates to the concept of “bringing your whole self” to work, and how building an inclusive culture should help people to achieve this, especially if they are from an underrepresented group.
For someone with neurodivergence, such as autism or ADHD, this can be quite helpful – as highlighted by Goodwin, many people with neurodivergence end up “masking” at work, sometimes leaving them feeling alienated and exhausted.
“There are all sorts of mental health aspects towards people masking at work,” she said.
But while being embraced for who you are can add to a sense of belonging in the workplace, there is still a line to be drawn, said Cooke.
The workplace is still just that, so there needs to be a certain level of “appropriateness” when it comes to bringing your whole self to work, she explained.
“Actually, we don’t always want everyone’s authentic self at work, in the nicest possible way, because some people might come and say, ‘Well, I’m a racist, I’m homophobic. This is me, take it or leave it. I’m being my authentic self’.”
Instead, the goal should be creating an environment where everyone is set up to be as successful as they possibly can be.
Support and inclusion
Recognition was the first piece of advice the panel gave to ensure underrepresented groups are supported and included – acknowledging someone has challenges is one step towards helping build a better environment for them.
Many elements of difficulty, such as neurodivergence, can be invisible, so it’s unhelpful to make assumptions about the challenges people are facing.
Next, the panel explained that adaptations need to be made, and that’s not always a one-size-fits-all situation.
Tab Ahmed, founder and CEO of EmployAbility, told the audience she often hears excuses from employers when talking about disability, such as: “‘Oh, there’s nobody of disability who works here because we can’t see them.’”
“Okay, they’re not in a wheelchair,” she said. “That’s true, but that’s 5% of people of disability who might be in a wheelchair. Just because you can’t see it, doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist. Or the other thing I get is, ‘It’s okay, we have a ramp’. That’s great for somebody in a wheelchair. It doesn’t help ADHD so much.”
But the problem with non-visible differences, especially disabilities, is the challenge of disclosure. Ahmed urged businesses to ensure people have a safe and clear way to ask for help if they need it.
“One of the really key important things is, is there a safe, robust accommodations process in place that is well signposted that people can go to and be comfortable to engage with, knowing that their privacy is going to be protected and that information is only going to be shared with people that need to understand that information to provide the correct accommodations they might need in the workplace?” she said.
While there isn’t a single solution that will suit everyone, Ahmed pointed out that catering for those with disability and neurodivergence means businesses usually “get it right for the other diversity strands as well. Because I think sometimes disability and neurodivergence is one of the most complex strands to actually address.”
Advice for supporting intersectionality
The panel’s key advice for creating a supportive and inclusive work environment:
- Recognise that some individuals may have difficulties in the workplace because of their background, which may be exacerbated if they have overlapping characteristics.
- Don’t make assumptions about what people need.
- Create an environment where people feel able to ask for help, and make it clear how they can do so.
- Not one solution is going to work for everyone, so communicate with individuals to see what will help them: collaboration is key.
- Allow others access to the same accommodations, as it may unexpectedly end up making others’ work lives better, too.
- Educate employees about differences in working patterns and accommodations – understanding breeds recognition and acceptance.
- Focus on inclusion, and the rest will follow more easily.
Education was also mentioned as a key tool for ensuring colleagues are supported in the workplace, whereby ensuring employees are informed about differences in working patterns and the reasons behind them helps everyone to be more understanding, flexible and supportive, and in the end may result in helping everyone.
In fact, Cooke claimed both a holistic and a specific approach is best, suggesting firms make “reasonable adjustments” for those who need it, then make those adjustments available to everyone.
She also pointed out that many are so focused on getting diverse candidates into the tech workforce that they forget to focus on implementing the inclusive culture needed to keep them, and an overall flexible and supportive culture will be beneficial regardless of whether someone is from an underrepresented group or not.
“I think inclusion is more important than diversity,” said Cooke. “Inclusion creates diversity. I think in the past, people have brought people in, but then people who do have extra needs or are maybe a little bit loud, or a little bit this, or a little bit that, and they don’t fit in, and therefore they leave.
“If you want people to stay, start with inclusion, start with the inside, and then other people will want to come to the party,” she added.
At the end of the day, Barlow claimed, it comes down to common sense. “If you just take it a step back, it really is about being empathetic,” she said. “Would you like it if you were in that situation? Ask people what they want; ask people how they like to work.”
Originally published at ECT News
