By Hande Yasargil
This year, we mark International Women’s Day amid a global retreat from Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) initiatives. McKinsey’s latest Women in the Workplace report states: “Progress is not parity”. Even the slow advancements we’ve made are now at risk.
This shift is not occurring in isolation; it mirrors broader political and societal trends. As someone who has spent years addressing systemic bias, I find the current moment deeply concerning.
Rethinking the Debate: Equality Is Not a Positive Discrimination
It’s time to reframe the conversation. Gender equity initiatives – quotas, representation lists – are not about giving women an advantage. They are about correcting centuries of structural discrimination. Ensuring fair access to leadership is not a contradiction of meritocracy; it is a prerequisite for it.
If women consistently outperform men in education, why do they remain underrepresented in leadership? The real question is not whether women are qualified, but why traditional evaluation systems have systematically kept them behind.
The Backlash: A Fear of Change?
Despite slow progress, we now see dominant groups – especially middle-aged men in power – framing themselves as victims. They claim they “have no chance” in today’s job market, despite holding the overwhelming majority of leadership positions.
Why is it that when women finally find their voice, those in power perceive it as a threat rather than progress?
A Cultural Shift Is Inevitable
Institutions may cut DEI programmes but people know better now. Businesses and societies cannot solve the world’s biggest challenges by ignoring half of its talent. The future belongs not to corporations or governments but to leaders in those organisations who act with wisdom, reason, and conscience.
Understanding the Resistance: A Psychological Perspective
The backlash against DEI can be seen through Vamik Volkan’s Large Group Identity theory lens. When a “large group” feels threatened, this can lead to increased anxiety, chaos, and panic among its members. To escape its panicky atmosphere, regressed “large groups” exhibit narcissistic or paranoid characteristics and reorganise themselves by using primitive mental mechanisms.
As women and minorities challenge the male-dominated power structures, some men tighten their ranks. Several psychological defences and processes emerge:
- Rallying around a leader: When threatened, group members gather around their leader for security and direction. This can persist for extended periods, either to modify group identity characteristics or as a defensive response to perceived danger.
- Splitting: Strong division between “us” and “them” (the external enemy), making the “other” a target for dehumanisation.
- Dehumanisation: Making it easier to tolerate behaviours or commit acts of violence against the perceived external enemy to maintain and protect the group identity.
- Amplification: Groups often reinforce their specific identity in exaggerated or distorted ways to show that the large group identity still survives.
- Primitive mental mechanisms: Massive introjection through uncritically accepting or adopting the viewpoints of others or magical thinking (the belief that unrelated events are causally connected despite the absence of any plausible causal link).
- Border psychology: Thinking becomes highly polarised, with groups becoming preoccupied with protecting boundaries, and differences are experienced as unchangeable borders separating identities.
These defences collectively maintain, protect, and repair the threatened large-group identity, often at the expense of individual autonomy, critical thinking, and peaceful relations with other groups.
Is this resistance a symptom of a larger identity crisis? For centuries, leadership has been equated with traditionally masculine traits. But as the world shifts toward valuing empathy, collaboration, and emotional intelligence – qualities historically labelled as feminine – perhaps the real fear is losing the old definitions of power.
The Growing Gender Divide
Some recent research shows that the ideological gap between young men and women is wider than ever. While young women increasingly advocate for freedom and democracy, young men lean toward conservatism and the far-right. The Financial Times recently warned: The fight for human freedoms is now led by women, intensifying gender tensions.
This means we must work harder than ever – not just for today, but to ensure future generations don’t pay the price.
Hope Is Action
As Manfred Kets de Vries says:
“Hope is not naïve optimism that assumes a positive outcome is inevitable. Hope entails action. It is goal-oriented and backed by a realistic plan, making it a powerful engine for change.”
On this International Women’s Day, I call on all women:
💡 Step forward
💡 Volunteer for leadership
💡 Take your seat at the table
💡 Engage with men who are willing to be allies
Women’s empowerment creates more innovative and profitable organisations, with research showing gender-diverse companies achieve 25% higher profitability and 19% greater innovation revenue. When women lead, they often bring different perspectives to decision-making that result in more inclusive policies benefiting all employees through better work-life balance and supportive environments. Dismantling gender barriers unlocks the full potential of half the population, driving economic growth and creating more equitable societies where everyone’s talents and contributions are valued regardless of gender.