The Commodification of Equity

The Black Lives Matter protests of 2020 were a genesis of sociopolitical consciousness for many. As we were confined within our homes, watching police forces use needless violence against the Black community, there was a moral compulsion to recognise the uncomfortable and unruly truth of systemic violence. As this political consciousness and solidarity diffused throughout the public, there was increasing pressure on institutions and corporations to acknowledge their role in perpetuating systemic inequality. As a result, Equity, Diversity, Inclusion, and Accessibility spread like wildfire.

Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion and Accessibility (EDIA) is a broad set of administrative policies and commitments to anti-discrimination. As EDIA gained popularity, public and private institutions began to align themselves with these values by unequivocally denouncing discrimination and pledging to uplift diversity. The proof of these institutions’ commitment to EDI often comes in the form of equity training, equity commissioners, and the continuous publication of their diversity statistics. Universities are notorious for this.

Yet, much of this feels extremely superficial and unhelpful. The policies emerged during a moment of intense social pressure. As a result, many EDIA initiatives feel rushed and unthoughtful as institutions attempt to quickly adhere to changing social values. Even three years after the shift to EDIA, these policies feel performative. At UofT, for example, equity training often contains elementary-like worksheets to explain the theory of intersectionality and cartoons to explain microaggressions. There is nothing wrong with making complex critical theories more accessible, but this should not remove a large amount of context from the theory.

Furthermore, it’s difficult to consider EDIA policies as genuine as universities often fail to meaningfully reprimand faculty members who engage in acts that are contradictory to these policies. For example, at UofT, Professor Robert Reisz faced allegations of racism and sexual harassment. Through an external investigation, UofT found that the allegations were true. However, he did not face termination. Reisz was scheduled to teach in the winter semester of 2023. UofT’’s lack of accountability measures for faculty members illustrates how, despite having equity policies to protect vulnerable populations, the institution frequently fails to uphold the policies it pledges to. 

The dissonance between how institutions represent themselves through EDIA compared to how they act in practice leaves me with the question: is there authenticity underlying these initiatives?

I have concluded that there is no integrity within the pledges insofar as diverse voices are tokenised while simultaneously silenced.

These surface-level policies and the tokenising of diversity illustrate that equity has become capitalised upon. EDIA policies have become a means by which these institutions can display their alleged high moral standing. The focus of EDIA is no longer the communities it was made for but the optics of these institutions. Black people are being placed on university brochures despite not attending the school, while the work of Black scholars within these institutions is devalued and undermined. This paradox is indicative of the ulterior motives of EDIA as a marketing ploy. As financial objectives distort the true purpose of EDIA, these policies come off as opportunistic, performative, and superficial. The commodification of equity allows institutions to sell diversity as a product while failing to meaningfully support diverse populations.

Moving forward in promoting genuine equity, higher education institutions have a duty to encourage critical thought. These frameworks and theories which help us understand the world should not be limited to social science and humanities programs. Critical studies, such as anti-colonial and anti-racism perspectives, are essential to all fields of study and, therefore, should be understood as interdisciplinary. Eugenics was once considered a legitimate field of study in medical science. Revisionist education is a tool of propaganda: Architecture is an apparatus of settler-colonialism. Systemic violence is diffused throughout society. Therefore, if universities are interested in challenging systemic inequality, they must provide students with knowledge that can be applied in their careers. This would be more meaningful than mapping ourselves out on the wheel of intersectionality.

The implementation of EDIA is a step in the right direction. I fear that many of these institutions do not realise that. It is simply a step. There is so much more meaningful work that needs to be done beyond dropping buzzwords and think pieces that can be found on Twitter. Especially within post-secondary institutions, I believe a fundamental aspect of education is encouraging deeper and more insightful knowledge. Teaching EDIA policies at an elementary level is not inciting this. Equity must be embedded into the work we do—from medical sciences to engineering to the arts—if we are passionate about dismantling systems of oppression.