Much ado about diversity?

I was listening to an American lecturer, who was trying to make a point on having the skills of great people. He illustrated this using a video of Bono – Bono, the Irish rock Star and Forbes 6th most influential person in the world. In the video, Bono was delivering a speech at an NAACP event- the National

Association for the Advancement of Colored People. He was being recognised for his work with development agencies to alleviate poverty. The speech had received a standing ovation, and we were analyzing the video for key lessons. This lecturer who didn’t appear to be one of those people who can be easily impressed was full of praise for Bono’s skills. Understandably, Bono was as suave while speaking as he was when singing.  ‘Bono is xxx and xxx and then also a born again Christian ’was the teacher’s explanation after the video ended. Shortly after came this, came a caveat that said: ‘I’m not advocating that as a path to go’.

That statement made me think through how many caveats I had heard in his class during this period- I wondered if it was a genuine desire to accept diversity or to absolve one’s self  from any potential suits or what?, I wondered if they had adults who had typically gone off to do what they said, just because they said it?

In trying to explain something during the course, he said to us: ‘How many of you are married here or have common law partners or a ‘is with someone’.  Again, I knew it was an attempt to be inclusive. Another time was when he was recommending a book for reading, and there was another caveat ‘please note I’m not saying this is the best book on this subject but definitely a ‘great one’. I mused then that he must have had an experience where someone had taken his words literally and perhaps taken actions based on his words.

It would appear that this experience made him a house of adjectives which he used to qualify every statement. I finally confirmed that I wasn’t being subjective in my thinking that he was indeed under some company or self induced compulsion when he repeatedly used ‘Him’  ‘or ‘Her’ when referring a CEO. To be honest I thought he was walking too much on a tight rope on this one- especially as many credible sources (Huffington Post’s Alanna Vangianos and others) have repeatedly reported that only 21 out of the Fortune 500 companies (4.2 percent) have female CEOs. This realistically made the male easier to refer to as the CEO, poor lecturer I suppose he didn’t want to offend any feminist in his class in case there was any.

I suppose it is easier to forgive a lecturer given he isn’t a politician- not literally I mean he isn’t a ‘card carrying politician’ as we say in Nigeria.  Amazing how one so free is held down by a suitcase of adjectives. Don’t get me wrong, I do like that America’s drive for accountability; accountability from everyone, leaders and non leaders alike. I admire their huge focus on inclusion. I’m just wondering if it isn’t being over theatrised. Hopefully one day, in our bid to be respectful, we wouldn’t have to ‘genderise’ inanimate objects. ‘Waiter, is that a male or female soup’?

Nkiru Olumide-Ojo