Is the Social Enterprise sector in Scotland diverse?
Zahra Hedges
CEO | Building Confidence and Resilience | Creating Culture Change in Scotland
Do you think the social enterprise sector in Scotland is diverse?
Do you think the volunteers who serve on our boards and people in our teams represent the communities we work in, and country that we live in?
From what I see, they don't. In the three years that I've been working in this sector, I'd say that I am the darkest person in the room at most events I attended - and I am mixed race.
We are lucky in Scotland to have a census carried out every two years which gives a rounded picture of the state of our sector, and as we have done a few now, we can spot trends, applaud progress and set new goals.
However, the census, useful though it is, doesn't give us much data on diversity. We are quite rightly proud of the fact that women lead 65% of social enterprises in Scotland but it often seems like the majority of the highest profile and/or influential organisations in the sector are run by men.
But we don’t know this. I'm not a fan of data for data's sake, but you can't change what you don't measure and I truly believe that it is incumbent upon us, as a sector which is trying to do business better, to take a leading role in this.
Without a better representation of the make- up of our country can we truly be the forward thinking, inclusive, equitable organisations I'm sure most of us aspire to be?
That’s why I and a group of others in the sector have come together to fill in the gaps, uncover the data, and share stories from diverse voices in the sector. We will be working with a researcher over the next few weeks to help us with this.
We do love this sector and are very proud of all the things we do do right. But that shouldn't mean we can be complacent in the areas where we could do better.
This week is the start of Pride Month and we’ve seen justifiable outrage about the death of George Floyd in the USA. But if you are interested in making a difference in our own country and our own sector, please get in touch. Meetings are virtual and we are only starting out, so it's a perfect time to get involved and influence what happens next.
As with all content I post on social media, these opinions are my own and do not represent those of my employer
Building Juniper. Supporting people.
4 年For interest/relevant connections,?Catherine Aitken?. I wonder too about diversity in the corporate sustainability and hybrid social impact spaces.
Senior Strategy Advisor
4 年Thanks for sharing this Zahra, keen to join this important conversation!
Social Work Student | Mental Health & Justice Services Worker | Freelance Website Designer & Cloud Architect student
4 年Would love to be involved in the conversations. We may work with marginalised communities but I'd like our team to reflect that too. There's always room for improvement
Author Speaker Facilitator - Impact, ESG, Circular Economy, Social Enterprise
4 年Zahra.. we could do really good webinar session on this... the conversation needs to be widened...
Founder and CEO @ Invisible Cities, TEDx Speaker, 2024 Traveler of the Year (National Geographic)
4 年Definitely not diverse enough. It doesnt help that every support organisation is also run by white men (as lovely as they are). I think the whole start up support system also prevents people from disadvantaged backgrounds to start a social enterprise. I would love to also be involved in conversations