3/20/2007 Elaine Sihera’s Speech – March 8th, 2007
Distinguished Ladies, Lady Vereker, Mrs. Brown, Minister Cox and Minister Butterfield – I can’t tell you how honoured I am to be here.
Diversity is an inside job. About you the individual. If you feel terrible about your life, if you lack confidence and the belief that you are wonderful, you have a great potential and you matter, you will not believe that about others either. Worse of all, you are likely to find scapegoats for the way you feel and the things you haven’t managed to get in your life. It is then very easy to blame people who are different and easy to identify.
Diversity….MEANING… Acknowledgement and acceptance of difference, which might lead to a CELEBRATION of difference. Diversity is different from equal opportunities because they are NOT the same. One is about SAMENESS and making each person CONFORM to feel part of the whole and the other is about accepting the person as they are in physical, cultural and aspirational terms. Equal opportunities is also based on the law. It follows legal imperative which focuses on the actions of groups, while is diversity is about the individual. That is why when discrimination is entrenched it easily becomes institutionalized.
The main truth about all humans, without exception is we gravitate towards our own kind, we feel comfortable with our own kind that’s why only 4% of people have relationships across racial boundaries. Worst of all for a diverse society, we recruit in our image and likeness because we seek comfort in similarity and we fear the effects of difference.
FEAR is the worst aspect of acknowledging and accepting diversity because we fear
A. The difference itself
B. Loss of territory
C. Insecurity
D. Loss of Opportunities, our livelihood being taken by others who are always deemed to be undeserving
E. Exclusion through a strong need to belong
F. Loss of identity and culture
G. Being replaced altogether
Diversity is hard to achieve because of this fear.
At the heart of diversity is RESPECT – Respect for the uniqueness of the individual, while sharing the similarities. But, respect has 6 dimensions. To truly respect someone, we have to be CURIOUS about them, to give them your ATTENTION, to want to have DIALOGUE with them and, most important, show SENSITIVITY to their feelings. That should EMPOWER that person, encourage them, and finally HEAL any historical conflicts or misunderstandings.
That is because the greatest need for every one of us is to be SIGNIFICANT, to be APPRECIATED, to be VALUED, and INCLUDED. True diversity success simply depends on making that individual feel they are valued, appreciated, included and significant. So success in diversity does not depend on the law, though laws are important for setting the parameters of behavior, and establishing a legal basis for the validity of actions. These are so important because to be INCLUDED is an essential part of our need to belong and to feel wanted; to be significant fulfills our need for achievement and to be valued and appreciated lies at the heart of our self-esteem. Take those away and we begin to feel powerless, impotent, and invisible, which kills motivation and human spirit. The worst feeling for anyone is not to be heard. It virtually makes them invisible.
Ladies, you are here today because you are deemed worthy to be accorded significance. Value, appreciation, and inclusion. Someone thought highly of you to ensure your presence here. And your belief in yourself confirmed that perception.
Which brings me to the heart of diversity and why it is very difficult to get the right results: PERCEPTION. How we view others from our own world. We do NOT share the same reality. You might think we are all the same to some extent in this room: all high powered women of value. But, you will be going back to your bases to report on what I said from five different standpoints:
A. Whether you FEAR the message I bring and feel uncomfortable with it, critical and insecure.
B. Whether you are curious about the message but don’t really understand it and seek some enlightenment but just enough to cope with.
C. Whether you are keen on the message, a willing student, and wish to take it all in.
D. Whether you have got the message already, need reinforcement, and wish to pass it on.
E. Or, whether you are way beyond the message and are now ready for ACTION. This is just empowerment for you.
So never assume the person you are sharing space with at any moment in time will be sharing your reality because they will be looking at the same situation from an entirely different standpoint; one which is ruled by their gender, color, status, aspiration, culture and, above all, PERSONAL CONFIDENCE. Hence why people reach so differently to certain things.
Let’s use the occupational situation in Bermuda to illustrate:
Bermuda is supposed to be the richest country in the world, per capita. The people earning over $95K per year will confirm that; those earning between $25K and $95K will hope that that is the case, because their situation can only get better. The majority of those high earners are white, despite making up just a third of your population. But tell that to the 67% (the other two-thirds of Bermuda) who earn under $25K and find it a real struggle to get the opportunities as well as the money; tell that to the senior citizens who are denied certain basic amenities to improve the quality of their life or to the workers missing out on promotions no matter how hard they work. So, Bermuda might be rich economically, but on a community level, in sharing the wealth equally, it is really rather poor.
There are some key reasons for this imbalance:
1. Acute discrimination. It does not mean that it is deliberate; or someone gets up and says “I am going to discriminate today.” It comes from:
2. NOT UNDERSTANDING what equality is really about
3. Entrenched monocultural practices which tend to benefit only one kind of persons, those with the power who are recruiting in their own image AND LIKENESS
4. A poor and continued perception of the value of certain groups
5. A basic lack of respect and sensitivity to the needs of diverse people,
6. Concentration of labour in just a few companies which makes change difficult to achieve as they protect the status quo because of their perceptions and beliefs.
7. Circle of disadvantage is maintained through perception…action based on such negative perception. Which then provides the evidence…and the confirmation to support the original perception.
8. In such situations, leaders do not lead on the issues and so the situation stays the same or has cosmetic and peripheral changes, which keeps everything virtually intact. Of course, real change becomes difficult and threatening
9. But the worst aspect of all in the Bermuda job market is the practice of appointing and promoting without interviews and short listing. That has a debilitating effect on new talent. It means unless you know someone, you are favored by someone, you are ready to cow tow to someone in authority, you are going to be left out of the promotion and job loop. That is a massive waste of human talent, and worst of all, takes NO account of difference. Such appointments would be made on perception of what is required, what is familiar, and what is comfortable, and likely to reflect their own image and likeness.
The Chamber of Commerce has a huge role to play in the changing of those perceptions. Its leaflets boast of being the VOICE of business on the island which also reflects needs business would have to recognize more fully both their RIGHTS and RESPONSIBILITES of business, the community suffers on the alter of big profits and skewed income and when the community is only interested in its rights as contributors, business and the economy suffers through a poor approach of market forces.
There has to be a happy medium in matching those rights with responsibilities on both sides to ensure good diversity practice is at the heart of every action and policy; where all disadvantaged people need to be educated about their own part in the growth of the country, particularly through the training, re-skilling, and personally development, raising awareness of good practice in all the companies the Chamber represents should be a key priority. [Handwritten notes here]
I feel heartened that the Bermuda Chamber of Commerce has taken the initiative to bring me here which, hopefully, begins the process of recognition of their key role in BUSINESS EDUCATION AND KEY equality management. I applaud their action AND WISH THEM WELL IN THE NEXT STAGE of continuing that awareness with action.
I thank you for having me here as I feel extremely honoured. I wish all you wonderful ladies, you fantastic wonder women, present here on International Women’s Day the greatest achievements in your lives. And may that life be long and prosperous.
THANK YOU.
|
