I live in Canberra, and our Territory elections are on this week. Driving around and seeing the candidate corflutes all over town, I’ve been pleased to see the diversity of people running for a seat in the legislative assembly.
I particularly noticed what seemed like a big increase in the number of south Asian Canberrans running as candidates. Wanting to see if my hunch was correct, I looked up the records of every territory election that I’ve voted in, and it turns out this year we have the highest number of south Asian candidates on the ballot since 2008, my first voting election.
Progress is happening when it comes to representative diversity. I am pleased by this – but the truth is, I wouldn’t vote for any of the candidates that look like me if they were in my seat. Despite our similar backgrounds, many of the south Asian candidates happen to be running for conservative parties. Our values don’t align and my votes will go to the (overwhelmingly white) candidates who better represent my views.
It might seem odd that I argue for the importance of representative diversity in all parts of our society when I won’t put my votes behind getting diverse candidates elected. But this speaks to the nuance I feel is often lacking when we talk about diversity in leadership.
For decades now, we have been preoccupied with what representation looks like. Business, government and community forums have all been tasked with increasing diversity in their leadership structures, and that means actively increasing the number of women, people of colour and other marginalised identities present.
The phrase “if you can’t see it, you can’t be it” is often touted as the catchcry for representative diversity – we need more diversity at the top, so that young people see themselves reflected in leadership, which in turn opens their horizons, improves self-image and ultimately leads to a more equal society. The thinking often goes that having people like you in leadership means your views and concerns will be represented by them.
While I think this is a noble concept, I don’t think it totally holds up. When I see other people of colour in leadership positions, it does signal to me that the organisation in question is likely to be an inclusive environment. But I don’t assume that because we have similar backgrounds, that person is likely to represent my views. In fact, this thinking feels very essentialising and in some ways reductive.
The underrepresentation of diversity in leadership is a result of entrenched discriminatory attitudes based on stereotypes of different marginalised groups – whether that’s the rhetoric that all women are too “nurturing” to make tough decisions, or that people who speak English as a second language can’t engage in complex, meaningful discussions to the same extent as native English speakers, it comes back to defining groups with blanket characteristics that deny the individuality we each hold.
If I think about the south Asian candidates in the ACT election, they range vastly in age, professional backgrounds, religion and culture. Aside from a shared experience of race in a majority-white country, it’s unlikely we have many common experiences. The conservative politics that some of the candidates in question prescribe, too, is likely to be a product of their unique experiences, just like my progressive politics are undoubtedly linked to the environments I spent time in as a young person and the communities I’ve been part of – which have no link to my Indian background.
The true value of representative diversity isn’t in the simplistic notion of a direct representation of diverse communities. It’s about increasing the diversity of experiences, views and values that contribute to places of power and that inform the decisions made in those spaces.
I’m just as invested in having other marginalised communities represented in decision-making spaces as I am in my own communities: I want to live in a society where we harness the experiences and insights of all people, and I believe that will benefit all people in turn.
So just as I celebrate the increase in diverse candidates running for election, I also celebrate the opportunity I have as a voter to elect people who represent my needs and interests – regardless of their identity. To me, that’s what true diversity means: people of all backgrounds given equal opportunity to contribute to our shared community, and bringing their richness of experiences to the table.
• Zoya Patel is an author and editor based in Canberra
