Towards inclusive gender diversity training – a critical framework

• Date: 21 January 2025
• Pages: 1-17
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1108/EDI-04-2024-0134
• Published date: 21 January 2025
• Author: Rasika Mahajan,Inge Bleijenbergh,Yvonne Benschop

Towards inclusive gender diversity

training – a critical framework

Rasika Mahajan, Inge Bleijenbergh and Yvonne Benschop

Institute of Management Research, Radboud Universiteit, Nijmegen, Netherlands

Abstract

Purpose –The purpose of this paper is to design and apply a critical framework for assessing the inclusivity of

gender diversity training. The framework combines insights from intersectional feminist and postcolonial feminist

theory. It is applied to assess whether and how influential gender diversity training manuals question the (re)

production of systems of inequality and promote the recognition of varied lived experiences of women particularly in

global workplaces.

Design/methodology/approach –This qualitative research was done in two stages. First, we designed a critical

framework consisting of five elements taking inspiration from intersectional and postcolonial feminist theories.

Second, we analysed four gender diversity training manuals from prominent international organizations to assess

their inclusivity.

Findings –We found that gender diversity training manuals construct a binary understanding of gender,

implying that being a woman is a universal experience. Second, the documents take a systemic approach to

intersectionality, acknowledging societal systems, but the focus is on oppression as opposed to privilege,

obscuring possible complexities of intersecting social categories. Third, the narratives of gender diversity

trainings reflect western hegemony in referring to “global norms” and women from the global south.

Originality/value –The paper brings together complex theoretical strands of intersectional and postcolonial

feminist theory in the form of a critical framework that can not only be used to assess gender diversity training

but also be applied to other gender diversity interventions. Practical suggestions for trainers to develop more

inclusive gender diversity trainings are discussed.

Keywords Gender diversity training, Intersectionality, Postcolonial feminist theory,Critical framework

Paper type Research paper

1. Introduction

Gender diversity training is a key part of organizations’ efforts to reduce bias, influence the

representation of women in the workplace and in leadership roles, and promote social equality

in workplaces. While diversity training is designed to promote equality and inclusion within

organizations, implementing the training does not always achieve these outcomes (Dobbin and

Kalev, 2016). Often, gender diversity training is generic and does not take into account how

gender intersects with other social categories such as race, class, religion, age, sexuality and

disability. Taking intersectionality into account is a key concern for training and other

interventions for equality, diversity and inclusion (e.g. Tatli and €

Ozbilgin, 2012;Nkomo and

Hoobler, 2014;Dennissen et al., 2020). Critiques on diversity training note how it is developed

from a western lens, not meeting the needs of non-western participants (Peretz et al., 2015).

Indeed, Alhejji et al. (2016) in their systematic review found that academic research on

diversity training primarily comes from and talks about western organizations. Research on

diversity training was primarily based in United States, Canada, UK, Australia, Netherlands

and “developed” countries accounted for almost 100% of the data samples (Alhejji et al., 2016,

p. 128). This resonates with postcolonial critiques on western domination in organization

Equality,Diversity

and Inclusion: An

International

Journal

1

© Rasika Mahajan, Inge Bleijenbergh and Yvonne Benschop. Published by Emerald Publishing Limited.

This article is published under the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY 4.0) license. Anyone may

reproduce, distribute, translate and create derivative works of this article (for both commercial and non-

commercial purposes), subject to full attribution to the original publication and authors. The full terms of

this license may be seen at http://creativecommons.org/licences/by/4.0/legalcode

This research is a part of the G-versity – Achieving Gender Diversity project and has received funding

from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie

Skłodowska-Curie grant agreement No 953326.

The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at:

https://www.emerald.com/insight/2040-7149.htm

Received 5 April 2024

Revised 11 November 2024

Accepted 19 December 2024

Equality,Diversity and Inclusion: An

InternationalJournal

Vol.44 No. 9, 2025

pp.1-17

EmeraldPublishing Limited

e-ISSN:2040-7157

p-ISSN:2040-7149

DOI10.1108/EDI-04-2024-0134

studies (e.g. Prasad, 2003;Westwood and Jack, 2007). We use postcolonial feminist theory to

argue that organizational knowledge produced in a western context cannot be applied

universally because it may fail to do justice to the lived experiences of people in the global-

south. Postcolonial feminist theory, to our knowledge, hitherto, has not been applied in gender

diversity training. Combining intersectional feminist theory with postcolonial feminist theory

allows taking into account the persisting effects of colonialism and patriarchy on systemic

inequalities and how interventions deal with that.

The aim of this paper is to combine insights from intersectional and postcolonial feminist

theories into a critical framework to assess inclusivity of gender diversity trainings. Such an

assessment helps in preventing reinforcement of dominant western narratives in gender diversity

trainings and supports acknowledging multiple experiences. While gender diversity trainings

aim for inclusion as an outcome, by assessing training manuals we examine how inclusion

features within the design and content of these trainings. Other assessment frameworks for

training have been developed in literature (see Orser and Elliot, 2022), however not from the

critical perspective offered in this paper. A critical framework, first, supports examining the

social categories the training (implicitly) addresses, and second, enables unpacking indications

of political, economic and/or cultural domination. The research question is: How can we assess

gender diversity training through a critical framework combining postcolonial feminist theory

and intersectional feminist theory? We will first develop this critical framework, and then, apply

this framework to assess gender diversity training manuals.

As empirical material we use four influential gender diversity training manuals. We selected

manuals developed by international organizations such as United Nations (UN) Women, UN

Women training centre, Gender Equality (GE) Academy and European Institute for Gender

Equality (EIGE) that have been prominent in producing and disseminating gender diversity

training manuals throughout the world. Trainers and policy makers use these documents to design

gender diversity trainings and promote social equality within organizations. We are interested if

and how international organizations with an explicit goal to promote gender equality, acknowledge

their western legacy and how it translates to the knowledge on gender diversity in these manuals.

The following section briefly addresses diversity management and trainings. Following,

we discuss intersectional and postcolonial feminist theories and integrate them into a critical

framework. The methodology addresses the selection of the grey literature and the method of

analysis. In the results, we apply the critical framework. In the discussion, we reflect upon

using the critical framework for assessing if and how interventions support social inclusion.

2. Diversity management and gender diversity training

Diversity training emerged in the United States as a prominent diversity management

instrument, to educate managers about biases and stereotypes, or to teach Black employees

and/or women appropriate workplace behaviour (Dobbin and Kalev, 2016;K€

ollen, 2021).

Early research on diversity training was done from a business case perspective, focused on

how diversity training improves profitability (Johnson and Schwabenland, 2013).

Additionally, meta reviews on diversity training focused on it effectiveness. Scholars show

that diversity training is easy to organize and can increase awareness about stereotypes but fails

in changing behaviour (see Kalinoski et al., 2013;Bezrukova et al., 2016;Alhejji et al., 2016).

A particular popular form of training, unconscious bias training, has received ample attention

from researchers, questioning its effectiveness (e.g. Apfelbaum et al., 2008;Paluck and Green,

2009) or critiquing its focus on individual as opposed to systemic change (e.g. Noon, 2018).

We argue that commonly used diversity instruments, such as gender diversity trainings,

would benefit significantly from addressing the deeply embedded assumptions and practices

that lead to marginalization of some and privileging others within organizations. Roberson

et al. (2024) argue research on diversity training has plateaued in recent years, masking the

complex challenges tied to diversity training and emphasize the need for more robust

theorizing in specific training contexts. And existing knowledge on gender diversity training

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