Intersection: Racial equity commitments reach $200 billion

DELIVERING ON DIVERSITY, GENDER EQUALITY, AND INCLUSION

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In this issue, we consider the racial-equity commitments that organizations have made since the murder of George Floyd. We also look at the confirmation of Kenya’s first female chief justice, and why office furniture and floors shouldn’t be the same color.

THE FACTS

One year’s worth of commitments

Yesterday marked one year since the murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis. Since May 25, 2020, more than 1,100 organizations have committed a total of $200 billion to racial-equity initiatives, according to the latest McKinsey analysis. Commitments by financial institutions make up nearly 90 percent of this amount. Much of the money will go toward affordable housing, lending in lower-income and minority communities, and community development. In “It’s time for a new approach to racial equity,” we take stock of the commitments that have been made, and we reflect on what it will take to deliver meaningful, systemic change.

THE ZEITGEIST

In her court

Last week, Martha Koome was confirmed as Kenya’s first female chief justice. Justice Koome has a record of defending dissidents, advocating for women and children, and quickly clearing judicial backlogs. She played a key role in shaping Kenya’s 2010 constitution, whose Bill of Rights prohibits discrimination against women, strengthens women’s property rights, and allows mothers to confer citizenship on their children. Kenya has made significant progress lately in boosting women’s leadership in business, but the country still has some way to go when it comes to women’s legal protections. Governments across the continent should ensure that women’s rights are enshrined in law—and enforced by authorities. As Justice Koome once said of laws barring female genital mutilation, “Even the best laws cannot be 100 percent overseers if they are not well implemented.”

THE VIEW

“Accessible by design means embedding accessibility, and the insights of people with disabilities, into the design process. You cannot just put a ramp on a building a week before you launch it and cut the red ribbon.”
–Jenny Lay-Flurrie

Jenny Lay-Flurrie, Microsoft’s chief accessibility officer, says that if you incorporate accessibility into the design process, “you’re quite simply going to get better stuff.” (One example: talking books, which were created for blind people.) She notes that building accessibility is “not just about meeting the letter of some local code.” Companies can boost accessibility in a number of ways, including a few very simple ones, “like making sure you have different-colored furniture from your carpet or flooring for people who are blind or low vision.” As Lay-Flurrie explains, “when the furniture is the same color as the carpet, it’s hard to differentiate between them and you can easily trip.”

— Edited by Julia Arnous, an editor in McKinsey’s Boston office

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