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  • Apple CEO Tim Cook makes 1117x his median worker’s pay of $84K, there are more women in the C-suite than ever but parity is still out of reach, and AI bias tests ignore skin hues

Apple CEO Tim Cook makes 1117x his median worker’s pay of $84K, there are more women in the C-suite than ever but parity is still out of reach, and AI bias tests ignore skin hues

DEI in 5: Biweekly DEI News

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Politics & Law

  • DeSantis: I’ll take accreditation from schools with DEI programs [MSNBC]: “As president, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis says he would strip accreditation from colleges and universities that offer diversity, equity and inclusion programs. In an interview Wednesday, the faltering Republican presidential candidate told conservative commentator Hugh Hewitt about his plans for higher education. The governor, who has suggested that he might pursue drone strikes against Mexican drug cartels as president, said he would ‘totally blow up the accreditation cartel’ if he wins the White House.”

  • Urging Congress to Protect Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in the Military [Human Rights First]: “Human Rights First today joined more than 35 organizations in sending a letter to Congress urging them to exclude 22 anti-DEI and other harmful provisions proposed in the House and Senate versions of the FY2024 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA)… Past versions of the NDAA emphasized that an inclusive military is critical to maintaining and increasing the strength of the force. The provisions in this year’s NDAA put both this progress and the strength of our military at unnecessary risk.”

  • Biden administration waives federal laws to allow border wall construction in Texas [NBC]: “In a striking acknowledgment of the need to address the migrant influx at the southern border, the Biden administration announced it waived 26 federal laws to permit more border wall construction in southern Texas, a move that builds on one of the most controversial cornerstones of the Trump administration. The Department of Homeland Security posted the announcement overnight in the Federal Registry, which said the administration was waiving federal laws such as the Clean Air Act, the Safe Drinking Water Act and the Endangered Species Act for the wall construction in Starr County, Texas, using federal funds appropriated in 2019.”

  • Latina-Led Nonprofit Launches AI & The 2024 Election Public Awareness Campaign [POCIT]: “A Latina-founded nonprofit, AIandYou, has launched a campaign to prepare young people of color and women against possible AI-generated misinformation leading up to the 2024 presidential election. AIandYou was founded in 2019 to educate marginalized communities about artificial intelligence (AI) to help end users understand how AI impacts their daily lives. The nonprofit encourages communities to understand AI’s potential and pitfalls, providing online resources in easy-to-understand languages.

  • How Companies Can Adapt To Europe's Evolving DEI Policies [Forbes]: “Indeed, a harmonious alignment with the EU's vision for equitable workplaces requires more than superficial changes; it demands a profound transformation in organizational culture and practices—a recalibrating of the corporate compass—for companies doing business in the EU and wanting to continue to do so. Here's how companies in the United States—and elsewhere—can adapt: 1. See costs as an investment, 2. Take a holistic approach to compliance, 3. Empower employees and equip employees.

Inclusive Leadership

  • Special Report: Understanding out-of-control CEO pay—and why it’s a problem [Fast Company]: “Across Hollywood studios—and across industries—CEOs are taking home compensation packages that are hundreds or thousands of times greater than their workers’ salaries. Different analyses yield varying CEO-to-worker pay ratios—one recent report put the median CEO-to-worker pay ratio of the S&P 500 at 324 to one. That number in itself is shocking, but even more absurd ratios emerge looking at specific companies. Apple CEO Tim Cook pulled in more than $99 million in 2022, 1,117 times the company’s median worker pay of $84,493. Put another way, that means the typical Apple employee would have to work 1,117 years to make what Cook earns in one.”

  • Most bosses think you’ll be back in the office 5 days a week within 3 years [Fortune]: “In fact, 63% of CEOs predict a full return to in-office working by the end of 2026, according to KPMG’s Global CEO Outlook, which surveyed 1,300 global chief executives. Meanwhile, just 7% think that fully remote working will be the norm in the long term.”

Art, Music, & Entertainment

  • LGBTQ Activists Billy Porter and GLAAD President and CEO Sarah Kate Ellis to be Honored at New York Stage and Film’s 2023 Annual Gala [GLAAD]: “This year’s honorees are GLAAD President and CEO Sarah Kate Ellis and Emmy, Tony and Grammy Award-winning singer, actor, writer, and producer Billy Porter… Through his art, Billy Porter provides the world with unprecedented and life saving representation as a Black queer person who has spoken openly about being HIV positive… Sarah Kate Ellis is not only GLAAD’s President and CEO, but is also an author, public speaker, wife and mother, and one of TIME’s 100 most influential people in the world.”

  • ‘I Am Part of the Story of Art’ [NYT]: “A pioneer of the Black Arts Movement in Britain, Claudette Johnson now has her first solo show at a major museum in London — steps away from Gauguin.”

Research

  • Women in the Workplace 2023 [McKinsey & Company]: “This year’s research reveals some hard-fought gains at the top, with women’s representation in the C-suite at the highest it has ever been. However, with lagging progress in the middle of the pipeline—and a persistent underrepresentation of women of color—true parity remains painfully out of reach.”

  • AI bias tests gloss over a crucial aspect of skin color, Sony research claims [The Verge]: “While the AI industry has focused on making its algorithms less biased based on the lightness or darkness of people’s skin tones, new research from Sony is calling for red and yellow skin hues to also be taken into account. In a paper published last month, authors William Thong and Alice Xiang from Sony AI, as well as Przemyslaw Joniak from the University of Tokyo, put forward a more “multidimensional” measurement of skin color in the hope that it might lead to more diverse and representative AI systems.

  • Experiencing discrimination could increase obesity risk [The Hill]: “Experiencing discrimination could lead to increased negative health outcomes including obesity, according to a study published this week. Researchers found that when people were exposed to discrimination, their appetite was stimulated. The stress caused by discrimination increased cravings of unhealthy foods which in turn led to stress-related weight gain.

  • The state of STEM gender equity in 2023 [Australian Government]: “The 2023 monitor shows some improvements for girls and women in STEM. For example, the number of women in STEM-qualified occupations increased by 68% from 2012 to 2022. But there is still a lot of work to do before Australian girls and women have an equal opportunity to learn, work and engage in STEM: Only 23% of senior management and 8% of CEOs in STEM-qualified industries are women.

Workplace, Professional Development, & Employee Wellbeing

  • How Organizations Can Demonstrate Dedication to Diversity, Equity & Inclusion All Year-Round [ADP]: “Showcasing commitment to DE&I is trending with employers, but many are starting to see a business case for inclusion. Helena Almeida notes the practical application, "There's a 56 percent increase in performance when an employee feels a strong sense of belonging and inclusion, and there's a 50 percent reduction in turnover risk." This means that inclusion positively impacts performance loyalty. DE&I programs can work through affinity resource groups, communication, mentoring programs, anti-discrimination policies, and training programs. Finding out what works best to help your employees feel connected and included is important.”

  • How to Avoid the Unexpected Consequences of Your DEI Policy [HBR]: “While many managers are attempting to improve inequalities facing employees by implementing diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) policies, these policies often have unexpected, negative consequences for the employees — including those the policies are trying to help. How can managers avoid this?”

Life, Society, & Environmental

Until next week,

This newsletter is co-curated by Nico Escobar. Need virtual coordination? Social media management? Content creation? Reach out to her!

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