As the sun sets on the twenty-first Commonwealth Games it brings us the opportunity to reflect on not simply sporting success but also the way in which the games has promoted diversity and inclusion. Manchester in 2002 had the honour of being the first games to integrate para-sports into the main program, but these Gold Coast games for the first time delivered equal numbers of events for men and women.
Nevertheless, there is a widespread recognition that across the world more can be done to promote diversity and inclusion, with Tom Daley’s comments with regard to the thirty-seven competing nations that still criminalise homosexuality hitting the headlines worldwide. Even in the UK there is more to be done as Business Minister Margot James’s recent letter to FTSE 350 companies signifies.
In her letter she calls on businesses to improve diversity and inclusion, encouraging them to take forward recommendations made by Baroness McGregor-Smith and commenting that “Genuine and lasting change must come from within the business community.”
Those recommendations, which aim to improve ethnic minority progression in the workplace include:
• publishing a breakdown of their workforce by race and pay
• setting aspirational targets
• nominating a board member to deliver on those targets
