While India’s history reeks of exploitation of women and reliance on their unpaid labour, the sun had just begun to shine on women when it was suddenly cut off by Donald Trump. Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI), as proliferated by the United States’ in the 80’s when it had started gaining momentum, enables the workforce to practice non-discrimination against the marginalised communities. What was aimed to include the racially marginalised, women, and gender-diverse individuals into the workforce, has backfired, pushing thousands towards joblessness.
What was aimed to include the racially marginalised, women, and gender-diverse individuals into the workforce, has backfired, pushing thousands towards joblessness.
India’s hierarchy is held in place by the institutionalisation of casteist-patriarchal structures that essentially exclude women. Dalit women lie at the intersection of caste and gender, and public sector jobs, only, offer them immunity from being discriminated against. The DEI frameworks, initially brought by the MNC’s have gathered support from companies in India, who feel that the framework exposes them to talents who might’ve been overlooked had there been no procedures to ensure their hiring.
While an ANSR survey states that women find the DEI procedures to be duplicitous, and a simple marketing ploy, the end to DEI frameworks shall take us back to the darker days where workplace microaggressions wouldn’t hold individuals accountable. As per the Gender Inequality Index 2022, India ranks 108th out of 191 countries; its jump to 14 places from the 2021 index has been heralded by the Ministry of Women and Child Development.
Celebrating the lowly position in the inequality index comes as a shocker when a central minister denied the existence of ‘patriarchy’, on record. What seems to be the reason behind this inferior rank then, might one ask?
Scrapping the DEI: reinforcing meritocracy or white supremacy?
Multinational companies boast their inclusive practices while women in the corporate sector barely make it to the executive roles. Constituting only 6.7% of the total workforce, women in senior leadership roles, are closer to being zero than they are to fifty. Despite making strides into the workforce, women were the worst hit, during COVID-19. South Asian women have to bear the brunt of workplace pressure, but additionally, workplace harassment, sexist stereotypes, and the risk of gender based violence, which also contributed to the diminishing of women in the labour force by 9% in 2022.
A quantitative study by the Pew Research Center, asserted that among those surveyed, women, racial minorities and democrats were more aligned to view DEI favourably than white men and republicans. Thus, it is of no surprise that Donald Trump would move to disband and destroy any and all forms of inclusionary measures. The executive order to put an end to DEI, came at a cost to Indian students. Universities would have to cut down on scholarships offered, which shall put hundreds of student lives in jeopardy.
Scholarships made education accessible in foreign universities. According to a report by the Economic Times in 2023, in Tier I and Tier II cities, the male-female students’ rate of foreign applicants had become 50-50, improving from 70-30 in 2019. There has also been remarkable improvement in Tier III towns. While foreign education is largely inaccessible to many, scholarships have managed to make it a distant dream for some.
With its removal, we can expect the number of women foreign applicants to plummet. Indian women willing to study abroad have been held back by their social and domestic commitments, and some, by financial constraints. DEI also vouched for an inclusive educational and workplace environment, with support for the minorities. With a lack of such institutionalised policies diasporic Indians, might be “othered” and would become vulnerable to racial attacks. As women, the vulnerabilities intersect, making them susceptible to manifold hostilities.
With a lack of such institutionalised policies diasporic Indians, might be “othered” and would become vulnerable to racial attacks. As women, the vulnerabilities intersect, making them susceptible to manifold hostilities.
A preference to hire students with foreign degrees by MNCs will further isolate Indian women from the international labour force, if they are unable to get an education. The precarious position of diasporic women would further disempowerment and exclude Indian women from the global workforce. While Trump insists on building a “meritocratic” society, abolishing all forms of inclusionary measures and diversity hiring, the basis of “merit” is intensively based on “white supremacy” and underplaying the systemic oppression in the States’ that prohibits people from mobilising themselves.
The call for meritocracy in Trump’s America, resembles the call for removal of reservation for minorities in India. While affirmative action (or positive discrimination) in both the countries have been justified due to the past atrocities the minorities were subjected to, both of them have come under fire in recent times. While no political party in India has called for an obliteration of reservation, the revocation of affirmative action plans by the Supreme Court in the University of Carolina and Harvard University was rejoiced by the conservatives.
The removal of DEI frameworks in workplaces by the Trump administration should not be welcomed by thousands of Indian women who are trying to set their foot in the States’, in such troubling times. Diasporic Indian women should understand that they should be willing to conform to Trump’s rules and regulations, since their visas and greencards are also subjected to revision, if found engaging in any protests.
Diasporic Indian women should understand that they should be willing to conform to Trump’s rules and regulations, since their visas and greencards are also subjected to revision, if found engaging in any protests.
The self-deportation of a doctoral scholar, Ranjani Srinivasan, came after their involvement in pro-Palestinian protests. Their educational biography includes a Masters’ from Harvard University, an M.Phil from Columbia University, where they were pursuing their doctoral research, as well. Their educational attainments did not provide them with an immunity, given America’s strong support for the Israeli military and anti-Palestine rhetoric.
The localisation of global affairs
In 2017, Accenture has announced their commitment to promulgate gender equality by making women’s participation in their company reach to 50%, by 2025. As reported, the company believed in “diversity” being a trademark for innovation and strength. It was in 2025 itself, that Accenture had rolled back their DEI programme, aimed at inclusion of women. That’s a step-back from their promise.
In Accenture (India), women make up around 45% of the workforce in India, and occupy 25% of leadership roles, which might decline given the roll-back of DEI frameworks. The statistic is enough to portray the lack of women in senior roles, in the Indian workforce. Companies like Accenture, make up for a significant portion of IT jobs, which open Indian women to technical employment roles. A report by Fortune India, delineated the lack of women in engineering roles, with L&T having only 8.1% women employees, as of 2024.
While Wipro and TCS are doing comparatively better, it is due to a number of reasons that women engineers still do not make up a considerable percentage. According to the report, the hiring of women engineers were looking at a steady growth due to DEI measures, without which, institutional problems such as conscious/unconscious bias during hiring, lack of safety measures, would deepen its hold on the labour force in India, barring women’s participation. Meta, has also rolled back its DEI programme, whose ripple effect will be felt in India, as well.
Thus, Accenture’s scrapping of DEI programmes, following Trump’s suit, would leave a rippling effect on a global and a local scale. The Neeraj Ghaywan film, Geeli Pucchi, recounts the horrors of women working in factory settings. India grapples with casteism and employment. The conscious relegation of a Dalit woman into a blue-collared role, and hiring an upper-caste woman, not qualified for the position, for a white-collared one, speaks volumes about “meritocracy” in India.
The conscious relegation of a Dalit woman into a blue-collared role, and hiring an upper-caste woman, not qualified for the position, for a white-collared one, speaks volumes about “meritocracy” in India.
Structural inequalities will persist if interventions are not made into the private sector in India. At a time when the local is globalised, it shall be a matter of days when DEI programmes come to a standstill, for other MNCs operating in India.
