If the oil light keeps coming on, you can keep topping up the oil reservoir, but sooner or later you re going to have to look under the hood and find out why that light keeps coming on. Similarly, if we keep topping up the levels of representation in the Public Service, we re addressing the problem in the short term. But talking about diversity and culture opens up the hood and allows us a look at what really makes that light keep flashing on. Employment equity is the foundation upon which diversity and inclusiveness can be built. To use another metaphor, perhaps it is time to think of employment equity as the floor instead of the ceiling.
Diversity builds on that floor.
The two concepts complement each other. It is difficult for one to work without the other. Employment equity forces us to confront the fact that, despite our differences, we have fundamentally the same rights and access to a healthy, functioning workplace. Diversity forces us to acknowledge that while we value what we all share in common, we must also value the ways in which we contribute differently. Employment equity, rightly, given history, has zeroed in on rights.