Calling all White, Straight, Middle-Aged Men – How you can help!
04 Sep 11:00 by Clare Butler
At Laurence Simons, we champion the equality and diversity agenda. We care passionately about enabling positive change in lawyers’ career choices and ensuring our clients have the best talent in the market. We want to help. So far, so clear.
However, a challenge we face is that the talent pool, particularly at the more senior end, can be homogeneous. White. Male. (And most likely, because we do not ask or care, heterosexual). Which got me thinking. If we want to address the equality and diversity agenda, and setting aside the obvious requirement to look at educational and income blockers, then we need to engage men. White, straight, middle-aged men. So, this blog is aimed at you. Yes, you, Mr. White-Straight-Middle-Aged Man. You who have as your birthright your white maleness, which gives an automatic privilege. This is a call to action. It will outline some facts and ask two questions.
In case you think that this blog is men-bashing, let me state my case: I like men. In fact, some I even love, excluding the obvious ones of The Fella and my blood relatives. I have male friends. More than a handful. They are all good, honest, decent, caring, contributing members of society. They are good parents. Good husbands and partners. Good team players. Undoubtedly excellent employees. They are left- and right-leaning in their politics. Some like football; some like rugby; some hate all sports. Some are good cooks; others are not. Some are dapper dressers; others take a more “dragged through a hedge backwards” approach.
Yet, in one aspect my (white, straight) male friends and family are all similar. They do not know how to help move the diversity and gender agenda forward. It is not because they do not want to. [If they actively do not, that requires a different blog.] It is more insidious than that: they simply don’t think about it. It does not occur to most white, straight middle-aged men that they (you) are an essential component. In fact, it may just be that white, middle-aged men hold the keys to be the difference that makes the difference: to lead the diversity and gender agenda in their boardrooms.
Here are some facts and two questions: