oa De zevenkoppige draak van ongelijkheid

Diversity in the workforce – in terms of social identity categories such as gender, race, ethnicity, age, and class – has become a prime concern for organisations in both the public and private sectors. Despite decades of equal-opportunities legislation and numerous initiatives, progress towards equality, diversity, and inclusion in organisations remains – at best – slow. Inequality in organisations seems to be an unbeatable seven-headed dragon that has a multitude of faces in different economic, social, and cultural contexts. In this essay, Marieke van den Brink questions whether we have the right swords or bravest heroines to beat this tenacious dragon of inequality. She proposes to unravel the complexity and polyvocality of change by distinguishing between inequality practices – the routinised organisational practices that produce inequality regimes – and equality practices – the planned change interventions aiming for gender equality. Greater insight into the ways that gender equality practices and gender practices interact with, conflict with, and anticipate each other can further our knowledge and understanding of the slow rate of change that gender equality policies have managed to achieve.