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Upending “Normal”: Toward an Integrated and Intersectional Approach to Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in the Legal Profession: Comment on Blanck, Hyseni, and Altunkol Wise’s National Study of the Legal Profession

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  12 July 2021

Angela C. Winfield
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Extract

Diversity, equity, and inclusion (“DEI”) in the workplace is a complex issue at any time and in any organization. However, in this time of great upheaval—COVID-19, a renewed racial reckoning in the United States, and increased climate consciousness and social justice awareness—profound issues about work and the role of organizations are being raised simultaneously. This confluence of systemic issues highlights three critically important broad concepts that can help evolve our approach to addressing workplace inequities.

Type
Commentaries
Information
American Journal of Law & Medicine , Volume 47 , Issue 1 , March 2021 , pp. 100 - 107
Copyright
© 2021 The Author(s)

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Footnotes

†

Associate Vice President for Inclusion and Workforce Diversity, Cornell University.

References

1 By normal, I am using the definition of what is the standard or usual practice. I also note that some scholars have raised the academically and philosophically problematic nature of using the term normal in the context of disability and diversity studies, which, by definition, excludes. See generally, Lennard J. Davis, The End of Normal: Identity in a Biocultural Era (Univ. of Mich. Press 2013).

2 Christine Simmons et al., Get Comfortable at home: Big Firms Plan to Allow Work from Home for rest of Year, Am. Law. (Sep. 03, 2020), https://www.law.com/americanlawyer/2020/09/03/get-comfortable-at-home-big-firms-plan-to-allow-remote-work-for-rest-of-year/ [https://perma.cc/Q8K6-VKQW].

3 Ross Kerber, Helen Coster & Arriana McLymore, U.S. Companies Vow to Fight Racism but Face Critics on Diversity, Reuters (June 10, 2020), https://www.reuters.com/article/us-minneapolis-police-companies-insight/u-s-companies-vow-to-fight-racism-but-face-critics-on-diversity-idUSKBN23H1KW [https://perma.cc/JF4J-A3WC].

4 Substance Abuse and Mental Health Servs. Admin., Double Jeopardy: Covid-19 and Behavioral Health Disparities for Black and Latino Communities in the U.S. (2020), https://www.samhsa.gov/sites/default/files/covid19-behavioral-health-disparities-black-latino-communities.pdf [https://perma.cc/QY8W-P4RC].

5 See generally Kimberlé Crenshaw, Race to the Bottom, Baffler (June 2017) https://thebaffler.com/salvos/race-to-bottom-crenshaw [https://perma.cc/8BUV-TFT5].

6 Peter Blanck, Ynesse Abdul-Malak, Meera Adya, Fitore Hyseni, Mary Killeen & Fatma Altunkol Wise, Diversity And Inclusion In The American Legal Profession: First Phase Findings From A National Study Of Lawyers With Disabilities And Lawyers Who Identify As LGBTQ+, 23 U.D.C. L. Rev. 23 (2020).

7 Peter Blanck, Ynesse Abdul-Malak, Meera Adya, Fitore Hyseni, Mary Killeen & Fatma Altunkol Wise, Diversity And Inclusion In The American Legal Profession: Discrimination and Bias Reported by Lawyers with Disabilities and Lawyers Who Identify as LGBTQ+, 47 Am. J.L. & Med. 9, 16 (2021).

8 See id. at 13; see also Blanck et al., supra note 6, at 28.

9 Blanck et al., supra note 7, at 19, see also Juliet Linderman, At the EEOC, harassment cases can languish for years, Associated Press (April 9, 2018), https://apnews.com/article/fbd80007a30b44d69bb61f46c2a62e4a [https://perma.cc/3RVZ-TB2F].

10 See Charge Statistics (Charges filed with EEOC) FY 1997 Through FY 2020, U.S. Equal Emp. Opportunity Commission, https://www.eeoc.gov/statistics/charge-statistics-charges-filed-eeoc-fy-1997-through-fy-2020 [https://perma.cc/3FXG-MS7G]; see also Blanck et al., supra note 7, at 18.

11 Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, Pub. L. No. 88-352, 78 Stat. 241 (1964) (codified as amended at 42 U.S.C. § 2000e (2018)); see also 29 C.F.R. § 1608.1 (2014).

12 Title I of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, 42 U.S.C. § 12111 (2018); Introduction to the ADA, U.S. Dep’t Just. C.R. Division, https://www.ada.gov/ada_intro.htm [https://perma.cc/FJY2-NKUN] (last visited Jan. 3, 2021).

13 What is the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)?, ADA Nat’l Network https://adata.org/learn-about-ada [https://perma.cc/3G8D-EPZG].

14 Systemic Enforcement at the EEOC, U.S. Equal Emp. Opportunity Commission, https://www.eeoc.gov/systemic-enforcement-eeoc [https://perma.cc/XD37-NPBU] (citing U.S. Equal Emp’t Opportunity Comm’n, Systemic Task Force Report to the Chair of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (2006), https://www.eeoc.gov/systemic-task-force-report-chair-equal-employment-opportunity-commission [https://perma.cc/5PE2-GLYE]).

15 Systemic Enforcement Information, FY19 and FY 20, U.S. Equal Emp. Opportunity Commission, https://www.eeoc.gov/systemic-enforcement-information#fy2020 [https://perma.cc/D26A-3DYR] (last visited Mar. 15, 2021).

16 See Blanck et al., supra note 7, at 9-10 (concluding “that primary individual and multiple minority identities are associated with reports of discrimination and bias in the legal workplace”).

17 See id. at 28-29, 40 (recording significant variations in self-reported subtle and overt discrimination by groups of lawyers stratified by combinations of individual identities comprising disability, sexual orientation, gender, race, and ethnicity).

18 Id. at 28.

19 Id.

20 See Stephen Frost, Opinion, Why Inclusion Efforts Fail, Forbes (June 26, 2020, 6:59 AM), https://www.forbes.com/sites/sfrost/2020/06/26/why-inclusion-efforts-fail (reporting that HR populations often focus on gender issues at the expense of other diversity characteristics, like race); Marcus Haymon & Lydia Wang, Intersectionality in Organizations: Why ‘Bringing Your Whole Self to Work’ is Not Sufficient, Dalberg (Oct. 07, 2020), https://dalberg.com/our-ideas/intersectionality-in-organizations-why-bringing-your-whole-self-to-work-is-not-sufficient [https://perma.cc/2LHL-XFB5] (discussing the absence of intersectionality in most existing diversity and inclusion initiatives); Winny Shen & Soner Dumani, The Complexity of Marginalized Identities: The Social Construction of Identities, Multiple Identities, and the Experience of Exclusion, 6 Indus. & Organizational Psychol. 84, 86 (2013) (discussing the ability to possess multiple social identities and experience multiple marginalization as a result).

21 More specifically, to truly create an inclusive workplace environment for attorneys with disabilities, we need to recognize and grapple with the fact that the disability community includes individuals from all other identities including all other marginalized identities. The same is true for other identities- when we implement initiatives for women attorneys, we must realize that the population includes women of color, women who identify as LGBTQ, women with disabilities, and so on for each marginalized identity.

22 Susan Kelley, ‘Belonging at Cornell’ Survey to Inform Diversity Action Plans, Cornell Chron. (Aug. 25, 2020), https://news.cornell.edu/stories/2020/08/belonging-cornell-survey-inform-diversity-action-plans [https://perma.cc/L3GY-CFJF]; Belonging at Cornell, Cornell U., https://diversity.cornell.edu/sites/default/files/uploaded-files/Belonging%20at%20Cornell%20Survey%20Results%20Overview.pdf [https://perma.cc/K4J7-K3SU].

23 Cornell U., supra note 22.

24 Agarwal, Pragya, Opinion, How Microaggressions Can Affect Wellbeing in the Workplace, Forbes (Mar. 29, 2019, 6:59 AM)Google Scholar, https://www.forbes.com/sites/pragyaagarwaleurope/2019/03/29/how-microaggressions-can-affect-wellbeing-in-the-workplace [https://perma.cc/4MKZ-YYVU].

25 See Blanck et al., supra note 6, at 14 (describing the D&I+ model).

26 The Developmental Model of Intercultural Sensitivity, Intercultural Dev. Res. Inst., https://www.idrinstitute.org/dmis/ [https://perma.cc/CLF4-HVAB] (last visited January 14, 2021).

27 Id.

28 Id.

29 Id.

30 Melissa Dye, Stage 5: Adaptation, Dev. Model Intercultural Sensitivity, http://meldye.weebly.com/stage-5-adaptation.html [https://perma.cc/GKG3-592Q] (last visited January 14, 2021); Intercultural Dev. Res. Inst., supra note 26.

31 Dye, supra note 30; see also Shahila Zafar et al., A Critical Analysis of ‘Developing Intercultural Competence in the Language Classroom’ by Bennett, Bennett and Allen, 21 World Applied Sci. J. 565, 569 (discussing the application of empathy, problem solving, and risk taking in the context of DMIS adaptation).

32 See Blanck et al., supra note 6, at 14 (describing the plus in D&I+ as organizational modifications to accommodate diverse talent); Intercultural Dev. Res. Inst., supra note 26 (describing adaptation in DMIS as behavioral modifications to adapt to different societal culture).

33 Blanck et al., supra note 6, at 17.