'The elephant in the room' – Will Trump affect European diversity efforts?

Efforts to promote diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) in the tech sector were already under pressure even before last year’s U.S. elections. Now that Donald Trump is cracking down on all government DEI programs in the States, is there any way of stopping such rollbacks from spreading to Europe as well?

When Impact Loop visited Sustainability Expo, one of London's major impact events, last week, there was plenty of optimism that DEI would remain a priority.

“It’s really sad to see what’s happening in the U.S. (with DEI), but I don’t think it will spread. I think we’ll hold our ground,” Anna Valle, a co-leader of the European chapter of Women in Cleantech and Sustainability, tells Impact Loop.

Women in Cleantech and Sustainability was founded in California in 2011 and opened up a London-based chapter last year, with a view of expanding across Europe.

But their expansion comes at a time when several other DEI organisations in the tech industry have recently shut down.

The charity Women Who Code and the global non-profit organisation Girls in Tech both stopped operations in 2024 because of a lack of funding.

“The representation of women in the industry is growing fast, but it’s still very minimal compared to the male dominance,” Valle says. “There is still a lot of ground to cover. … So the role of the organisation is to foster women’s development in the area, but also to build alliances. We need men to support women growing and accessing top jobs in the industry.”

According to the Tech Talent Charter's 2024 Diversity in Tech report, which surveyed more than 700 British tech companies, women and non-binary individuals make up 29% of employees, marking a slight increase from previous years. However, representation diminishes at senior levels, with only 22% of leadership positions held by women or non-binary individuals. Ethnic diversity also declines in higher roles; while 25% of tech workers are from ethnic minority groups, this figure drops to 13% in senior positions. Additionally, socio-economic diversity is limited, with just 9% of tech staff coming from lower socio-economic backgrounds.

The elephant in the room

How British companies operating in global markets should tackle diversity, equity and inclusion in other parts of the world was also a hot debate at the Sustainability Expo.

Marcia Balisciano, chief sustainability officer for global analytics provider RELX, says DEI has become “the elephant in the room” in some parts of the world, and suggests that we should change the way we talk about such efforts.

“We know that our customer base is representing a wide range of people and perspectives. But maybe we need to change the wording that we use,” Balisciano said in a presentation at Sustainability Expo. “I think it’s fascinating to think about the words that are used and how we might need to change those words. Because really, we can all agree that we need to be an inclusive organisation," he said. "I think it’s [about] separating out what can be more confrontational in terms of wording and find wording that [allows us to] meet people on a common ground,” he added.

Valle, though, says we shouldn’t shy away from the terms inclusivity and diversity.

“I think we should be using basic language and make sure that it’s easy to be understood,” Valle says. “It does what it says on the tin. It’s about being inclusive and being diverse. So I wouldn’t overcomplicate it.”