Reflecting on Privilege

For just over three years now, I have had the great fortune of being the President of the Canadian Institute of Planners. The Canadian Institute of Planners works on behalf of over 7,000 planning professionals nationally and abroad, and has served as the voice of Canada’s planning community since 1919. We have been celebrating our centenary this year! Our members include urban, rural, regional, resource, indigenous, and environmental planners.

I say the great fortune of being the President of the Canadian Institute of Planners, but was it really luck that helped me arrive here? Or is there more behind it?

Do you ever take the time to reflect on how you arrived to where you are in life? Certain events that occurred? People you’ve met along the way? I find that I have been reflecting a lot on this lately. Is it luck or by design that I’ve been in the role of President?

In the last three years I have attended the United Nations Habitat III in Ecuador; Caribbean Urban Forums in Belize, Jamaica, and Trinidad; the United Nations World Urban Forum in Malaysia; the American Planning Association’s Annual Conference in New Orleans and San Francisco; and numerous Planning events and conferences within Canada. Across all of these events, there is a theme or a broader conversation that has emerged.

The conversation is about social equity and inclusivity or inclusion. Social equity…or in other words, closing the gaps between avoidable or remediable differences among groups of people, whether those groups are defined socially, economically, demographically, or geographically. And inclusion, the concept of including people who might otherwise be marginalized due to their language, the colour of their skin, religion, cultural status, income, or sexual orientation.

Now it’s not just a conversation, in North America, we have seen the formation of large movements such as Black Lives Matter, Idle no More, and #MeToo. Action is being taken, change is starting to occur, but in my opinion, certainly not at the speed it needs to. The Canadian Institute of Planners is in the early stages of working on social equity policy for our organization and for our members.

So back to my question, is it by design that I am the President of the Canadian Institute of Planners?

I was born in Canada, now that is purely by luck – a safe place, with clean water to drink, and universal healthcare. My parents were immigrants from the United Kingdom. My parents owned a house and the land it was on. They were both employed in successful careers, a nurse and a salesman. While their marriage did eventually fail, there was never any domestic issues such as physical, drug, or alcohol abuse. I attended a university of my choice. I successfully graduated, with some student debt - I was married and launched my career shortly thereafter. I had two daughters, whom I could afford childcare for. I own a house and the land that it is on. I obtained my Masters while working full-time and gradually climbed the ladder in the world of professional planning right to the President position at the Canadian Institute of Planners, through gained experience and the expansion of my professional network. Throughout my career, I have had opportunities to further develop my skills, I had support, and mentors.

While this is a generalized version of my personal story, it is very common story for many caucasion North Americans. It is a life and a story of privilege - I recognize this. It is not luck that I became the President of the Canadian Institute of Planners.

I haven’t had to face social, professional, or institutional barriers because of my language, the colour of my skin, my religion, my income, or my sexual orientation. Being a women, I have faced some challenges, but nothing that I couldn’t overcome or fight my way through, one way or another.

Now all that said, when I took on the last name Mohammed at the age of 26, my world did change. With marriage and taking my husband’s last name, I now shared a name with another “Eleanor Mohammed” on the No-Fly list. All of a sudden the Canadian Government and airlines didn’t trust me anymore, simply because my last name changed. It was an eye-opening experience to how privileged my life had truly been. Never before had I been subject to so many random security searches and airline harassment when booking tickets. Yes, it still continues to this day….now I consider myself very lucky, because this didn’t start for me until later in life…some individuals have faced this type of treatment since birth, which most certainly would impact their outlook on life and society. I am simply judged and have to deal with the many assumptions that are attached to having a typically muslim last name - I am not muslim, but that’s not really the point is it?

Until personal tragedy struck my family in December 2018, I had no idea how difficult it is, and the strength required, to show up for everyday life while coping with grief, trauma, and loss.

Now contrast my story to the reality of others in North America and around the world, who face immediate barriers, challenges, illness, and even death due to circumstances beyond their control – location of birth, income, social status, race, religion, sexual orientation:

• 828 million people live in slums today and the number keeps rising.
• Every day in 2014, 42,000 people had to abandon their homes to seek protection due to conflict.
• In 2015, between 5.2 persons and 6.7 persons per 100,000 persons worldwide were victims of intentional homicide.
• U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics concluded that an African American male born in 2001 had a 32% chance of going to jail in his lifetime. For the Caucasian American male, the chances are just 6%.
• In all countries with data, children from the richest 20 per cent of households achieved greater proficiency in reading at the end of their primary and lower secondary education than children from the poorest 20 per cent of households.

What about on a professional front?

• Worldwide women are still underrepresented in managerial positions. In the majority of the 67 countries with data from 2009 to 2015, fewer than a third of senior- and middle-management positions were held by women.
• In the United States between 1979-2012, median wages rose for Caucasion women by 31%, but only 20% for African American women.

What about the environment?

• In 2014, 9 of 10 people who live in cities were breathing air that did not comply with the safety standard set by the World Health Organization.
• The number of deaths attributed to natural disasters continues to rise, despite progress in implementing disaster risk reduction strategies. From 1990 to 2015, more than 1.6 million people died in internationally reported natural disasters.

Overwhelming isn’t it? - both internationally and at home. Any number of these factors will derail an individual from success - in whatever form that might be - health, wealth, social wellbeing.

According to the Government of Canada, compared to non-racialized persons (Caucasians) living in poverty, racialized persons living in poverty are more likely to be:

• young
• married
• immigrants
• highly educated, and
• unemployed.

What was that….poor and highly educated….well that doesn’t add up….…

Back to my main point…social equity and inclusion captures essential and fundamental Human rights. The time is now for all of us to ensure social equity and inclusion, regardless of where we live or the sector that we work in. It impacts all of us, globally and locally.

What are those more tangible actions that we can all take as professionals and as organizations?

As an initial step we all need to recognize our own privilege. How did we arrive where we are today? Who helped us along the way? Did we overcome barriers – how did we do it?

What is the current situation that surrounds you? When you look around at work, are you in a diverse environment, with different demographics, young and old, different cultures, knowledge, skills and physical abilities? What does the leadership look like in your organization?

In preparing for a keynote speech last year, I came across Deloitte's work in championing action in relation to diversity and inclusion. Through their research they have determined that there are five concrete actions that organizations of any size can take to move the dial on diversity and inclusion:

• First: set expectations for specific, inclusive leadership behaviours. Set a vision for the organization, walk the talk, and make everyone accountable – we can all be leaders.
• Second: protect against backlash. Avoid tokenism and develop a pipeline for leadership roles by tailoring development to meet individual needs. Support traditionally under-represented groups and embrace positive conflict or dialogue – recognizing the diverse perspectives of the team.
• Third: Embolden the inclusion generation to prepare for the future of work, capitalizing on the perspectives of Millennials and Gen Z to shape the future of work. Achieve a deep understanding of team members and their aspirations – provide real and creative support for their life circumstances and backgrounds. Let employees have a voice in the future of their work. Engage all employees in rethinking what diversity and inclusion mean for your organization, your industry, and your country.
• Fourth: Don’t leave future inclusion issues for future generations to solve. Hire on cultural contribution, not ill-defined cultural fit. Use tech tools to remove bias from all stages of hiring. Evaluate performance on inclusion dynamically, not episodically.
• Fifth and finally from Deloitte: Own inclusion and social equity inside and outside your workplace. Stand up for it on an ongoing basis, not only in reaction to specific events. Stand-up for inclusion to clients, suppliers, and others in your network when they demonstrate exclusive or biased behaviours. Share lessons learned with other leaders and other organizations. Don’t be afraid to speak candidly about what is and isn’t working.

I really appreciate that last point – Stand up, share, and speak up. Do not be afraid.

What about the actual work you engage in? Depending on what you do in your profession, consider how engagement with others from diverse backgrounds and with diverse perspectives, on your team, your community, or project area, can improve and strengthen the effectiveness of your internal and external policies, scientific analysis, recommendations, and designs. The possibilities are endless.

We are so well connected today with social media – it can be a gift and it can be a curse. It is an excellent tool to share information on inclusion and social equity. Through professional platforms such as LinkedIn, we have the ability to connect with people from all over the world; we can read, listen, and understand the barriers that others may face. We can provide mentorship at a distance, we can share and recommend professional and leadership opportunities, and we make introductions that can change lives – now that is a lot of power!

In conclusion, I have shared my story with you and acknowledged my privilege, while contrasting it with others' experiences around the world. I have also highlighted steps that we can take to close the gaps, as organizations, and professionals. I hope that you feel inspired to take personal and professional action to address social equity and inclusion.

Please feel free to leave positive thoughts, tips, and ideas in the comments below.