Aiming for Diversity: The Positive Example Set by the Website of the U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs
Aiming for Diversity: The Positive Example Set by the Website of the U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs
Introduction
The military represents a very important institution in the American public arena, and its core values and practices reflect the society’s ideology. Historically, the military has been a racist and sexist institution (Carbado 1999). This means that it excluded or discriminated against African Americans and females. Traditionally, women have been excluded from the military, and only recently, steps have been made towards their integration in active duty. The changing ideology towards multiculturalism, gender equality and disability rights creates the need for diverse institutions. The Department of Veteran Affairs is an institution which needed to evolve rapidly in order to meet the needs of a diverse and egalitarian society. This is particularly important because are held in high regard in America, and veterans have become a multicultural group with very different needs. Consequently, the people hired to attend to their needs must be equally diverse in order to help them efficiently. Furthermore, as a governmental institution, the Department of Veteran Affairs needed to set a positive example for the private sector as well. The website of the U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs sets a positive example for other institutions in what the promotion of diversity is concerned, which shows that this governmental institution is trying to erase the negative image of the military as a racist and sexist institution.
The website of the Department of Veteran Affairs is easily accessed by anyone. The website has a special page dedicated to diversity, which illustrates the institution’s awareness regarding the need for an efficient diversity policy. The Office of Diversity and Inclusion (DOI) page can be accessed from the careers page of the website, under the topic “diversity” at http://www.diversity.va.gov/about/default.aspx. The DOI page includes accessible information on the rights of the employees to be protected from discrimination, workplace harassment and bullying, according to the U.S. legislation. This shows the department of Veteran Affairs’ commitment towards ensuring an equal treatment of the employees. The website addresses sexual discrimination, discrimination against people with disabilities, as well as racial forms of inequality. However, no visible affirmative action policies were present. This means that the website is not committed to fighting against discrimination in the society and its diversity policy is resumed at making sure that all individuals have an equal right to veteran benefits, and to get a job at the Department of Veteran Affairs.
This policy is visible on several pages on the website. For example, the “careers” page includes a diversity topic which states the organization’s commitment to diversity. This should encourage diverse people to apply for a job, having the confidence that the gender, race, sexual orientation and disability status of the candidate will not represent an obstacle in obtaining the desired job. In regards to the primary dimensions of diversity, the pages of the Center for Minority Veterans (CMV) and the Center for Women Veterans (CWV) inform the veterans regarding their benefits and the programs dedicated to them. The fact that members of the minority groups have specific pages which are easily accessible and destined for them alone, shows how careful the Department of Veteran Affairs is to cover their needs, but also to make sure that they cannot be accused of discriminatory practices.
Not all minorities are offered the same degree of accessibility to information however. In regards to people with disabilities, the DOI policy statement includes the protection of employers with disabilities through reasonable accommodation. Members of sexual minorities also may find information on issues concerning them with more difficulty, although the website does addresses their specific needs. Finally, in regards to secondary dimensions of diversity, the DOI policy statement includes protection for employers of different religious backgrounds and languages through reasonable accommodation. There is no other type of information regarding these groups.
Usefulness of the diversity information
The diversity information presented on the website is useful for both employers and employees. This organization seems dedicated to ensuring diversity in the workplace, which is noticeable in the variety of information on the DOI page. The information allows employees to understand the laws against workplace discrimination, and to become familiar with their rights and benefits, such as the right to reasonable accommodation for disability or religious minorities. The website also includes complaint forms and contact information, where employees can send complaints regarding the infringement of their rights. For the veterans themselves, the website is extremely useful because it allows them to understand their rights, in regards to specific rights. For example, in regards to sexual minorities, the website includes the information that veteran spouses of the same sex have a new right to be buried together. This is significant because, in one of her speeches, Titus (2014) complained about one case in which a couple of lesbian veterans were not allowed to be buried together. This has changed apparently, and the website is careful to provide an update in this respect.
However, in particular, the information seems useful for disabled and racial minority veterans while sexual minority veterans may find information less useful, as it is scarce and refers to only a few legislative rights. Consequently, the Department of Veterans Affairs seems to have integrated the rights of sexual minorities less effectively in their diversity policy (Titus 2014). In regards to the timeliness of the information, as shown above, the information is up to date and gives individuals updates regarding new legislation and rights. Therefore, it can be stated that the information seems fresh and recently updated.
Appropriateness of the photographs and graphic material
The website does not contain many photographs and abundant graphic material. For potential employees, the Office of Diversity and Inclusion website includes a photo of racially different individuals of both sexes. They seem to be racially diverse employees. The photo includes African –American, Caucasian, Asian and Indian employees, symbolically placed in the upper right corner of the place, in a row, to suggest that diversity is a very important characteristic of the work environment within the Department of Veteran Affairs. For the veterans themselves, the page of the Center for Minority Veterans and the Center for Female Veterans include slideshow of different pictures representative for each category. There is no other graphic content apart from the images positioned in the center of each respective page. This is enough to give a sense of commitment to diversity, because the pages are meant to provide information, and the graphic content only functions as evidence of the commitment to minority veterans. On the other hand, there is no image which refers to sexual minority employees or veterans or to individuals of different religious backgrounds particularly visible minorities, such as Muslims. There is no relationship of these pictures to the text which is not surprising, since these pictures are only meant to provide the veterans with evidence of diversity within the department and to suggest the website’s respect for anti-discrimination legislation. Graphics are not reused on multiple pages and this means that the department treats the diversity issue with great seriousness.
Perspectives
While the website is carefully designed to take into consideration the diversity of the American society, not all of the minority groups are represented in the same way, or are given the same level of attention and interest. As in most workplaces today, the LGBT community continues to be discriminated (Hunt 2012). This is visible on the website because the website only provides information regarding anti-discrimination legislation. This means that the website ensures the members of sexual minorities that their rights are respected but they do not seem to be encouraged to apply for positions within the department, or to ask for benefits, because their specific contributions are not praised and acknowledged, as it happens with women and racial minority veterans. Furthermore, very little information dedicated to LGBT veterans. This is consistent with Carbado’s (1999) opinion that discrimination in the military has stopped being directed towards racial minorities, but is now directed towards sexual minorities.
Furthermore, the present situation of the sexual minorities seems to come from discriminative practices in the military. The military used the same discourse against sexual minorities who serve in the army, as it did with African Americans in the past, suggesting that heterosexual individuals would not feel comfortable sharing their living and sleeping spaces with LGBT people. As Carbado (1999) showed there are similarities “between the language the military employed in the context of the 1940s to justify racial segregation in the armed forces and the language the military currently employs to justify its discriminatory practices against gays and lesbians” (p. 292). However, it may be noted that the website of Veteran Affairs does not employ discriminatory language, nor does blatantly discriminate against sexual minorities, despite the fact that it does address this issue less.
Internal management issues
The organization seems to have a defensive attitude towards diversity, not a developmental approach (Day 2007). This means that it tries to respect the legislation as much as possible without viewing those differences as beneficial for the development of the organization (Day 2007). This defensive attitude may be a result of the fact that the army is historically perceived as a deeply discriminatory institution. The army has excluded women, has discriminated against African Americans and currently, it discriminative towards sexual minorities. Therefore, the website of the Veteran Affairs is meant to demonstrate a commitment toward diversity as a way of avoiding accusations of discriminatory practices. However, a developmental approach, based on affirmative action, would be more appropriate and would encourage people more to apply for jobs, and to demand their rights, feeling more supported and entitled to the same benefits as any other applicant.
Overall, I was impressed by the diversity content of the website and I would be encouraged to apply because the website is dedicated to promoting diversity, through the pages which are specifically designed to address this issue, such as the page of the Office for Diversity and Inclusion, the page for the Center for Minority Veterans, and the page for the Center for Women Veterans. The website almost ignores the sexual minority groups, which seems to be a serious problem of the institution, in general, and also focuses less on the problems of disabled employees. The website proves a defensive attitude towards diversity, which may be a result of its historical racist and sexist identity, but it must develop a developmental attitude, by encouraging affirmative action and establishing diversity awards, which are not present at the time. While there is room for improvement, the website does emphasizes diversity and tries to help minority employees and veterans to get the benefits they are entitled to.
References
Day, R. (2007). Developing the multi-cultural organisation: managing diversity or understanding differences? Industrial and Commercial Training, 39(4): 214 - 217
Carbado, D. (1999). Black men on race, gender, and sexuality: a critical reader. New York: New York University Press.
Hunt, G. (2012).Are we equal yet? Making sense of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender issues in the workplace. In Harvey, C. P. & Allard, M. J. (eds), Understanding and managing diversity (6th ed.) (152-162). Saddle River, New Jersey: Pearson
Titus, D. (2014). Titus blasts VA for discrimination against LGBT veterans. Retrieved from: https://titus.house.gov/news/floor-statements/titus-blasts-va-for-discrimination-against-lgbt-veterans
