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Conclusion

Conclusion

Have diversity statistics, which includes data on gender, race and ethnicity, improved over the past 10 years across high tech, higher education, legal and government/leadership industries?

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The short answer is yes

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Diversity statistics have improved over the past 10 years across these industries. But, the rates of improvement are small and slow – and there are still significant racial and gender disparities in all of these industries. 

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  • In the high tech industry, we found that there have been efforts to improve racial diversity over the past 10 years that have increased the amount of non-whites in the industry. But, when it comes to gender diversity, there has been very little improvement in female representation. From 2014 to 2020, male representation never wavered below 60%, whereas female representation never exceeded above 40%. 

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  • In higher education, we found that across three regionally distant colleges, spreading from the west, southwest, and southeast regions of the U.S., there is a noticeable emphasis on maintaining a higher female representation from 2014 to 2019. However, the racial majority within that six year timeframe is predominantly White.

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  • In the legal field, the improvement in diversity statistics are alarmingly low. The majority of the field continued to stay over 85% White and over 60% male, with little change. This was the worst diversity improvement out of all the industries we studied. 

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  • In the U.S. Congress, there has been significant improvement since 1945, and gradual improvement in the past 10 years. It seems that the highest jump in improvement took place in 2001. While the majority of congress still remains heavily dominated by White males, it seems that diversity will continue to improve. 

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The long answer is not enough

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Though we found gradual rates of improvement across all our chosen industries, we were saddened by the racial and gender disparities across professional industries. Diversity is an incredibly important topic that must continue to be measured and recorded. We hope to see these trends continue to improve over time, and at even faster rates. It is important for the United States to be fully represented by its leaders, lawyers, students, and tech professionals. 

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How can we hold industries that are vital to our society accountable for their slow progress in improving diversity efforts?

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