a taxonomy of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion

Imagine you’re the CEO of a major ride-share company. Someone accuses your organization of sexism, pointing out that nearly all your drivers are men. Your first instinct is to launch into the familiar tech industry response about engineering demographics—fewer women in computer science, skewed applicant pools, and so on. But then they clarify: they’re not talking about engineers, but the actual drivers. Before you can explain that your platform doesn’t actually “hire” drivers—anyone can sign up with minimal requirements— such that there couldn’t possibly be any sexism restricting women drivers, you ask about their source. They cite “Chickipedia,” apparently an alternative to the “sexist” Wikipedia because unlike Wikipedia, more than 10% of its editors are women.

This scenario highlights a broader issue: conversations about diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) often become quite dumb. One camp insists demographics should never influence decisions—may the best candidate win! The other sees any demographic skew not mirroring the broader population as evidence of discrimination requiring intervention.

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