Following the election of Donald Trump, diversity equity and inclusion initiatives, including those focused on gender equality, have become highly politicised. Taking stock of these changes in the higher education sector, Emily Yarrow, Julie Davies and Trang Dinh discuss the fault lines of this conflict and point to the Nordic model as a source of potential solutions.

This International Women’s Day (IWD) feels poignant, though for the wrong reasons. A theme this year is ‘accelerate action’, encouraging increased urgency and pace of interventions to drive gender equity. This comes in the context of a World Economic Forum Global Gender Gap Report that finds it will take ‘five generations beyond the 2030 Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) target’, or around 131 years, to reach gender parity.

There has been much to celebrate since the first International Women’s Day in 1911, when women came together to hold rallies and banners demanding their right to vote. However, almost 114 years later, we find ourselves at a critical juncture. With the presidency of Donald Trump and swingeing financial cuts in the UK and other higher education systems, again undermining the roles of women in research and its global impact. 

In the USA Trump’s war on Diversity, Equality, and Inclusion (DEI) policies and programmes has already taken hold in the private sector, with a range of major multinational firms eliminating or sunsetting DEI programmes and policies. This will have adverse consequences globally for women and other minoritised and under recognised groups because of the powerful impact of conglomerates on graduate recruitment and workforces around the world.

The ramifications of the decisions, actions, and anti-DEI sentiments of the world’s most powerful country have already, rippled outwards globally, with many organisations having to adopt positive and negative stances on the issue of DEI. This will inevitably lead to an uneven global landscape in terms of inclusion, particularly in markets such as India, where regulation and legislation surrounding discrimination and equality are nascent.

The ramifications of the decisions, actions, and anti-DEI sentiments of the world’s most powerful country have already, rippled outwards globally, 

In the public sector, the Trump administration has placed all diversity staff on paid leave, a clear signal that certainly in the United States, DEI is no longer important. Many states have passed legislation that restricts college DEI initiatives. This has been replicated on campus, where some colleges have already eliminated DEI offices, removed DEI-related statements from their websites and axed student clubs that support DEI. 

These moves are compounded with The White House Executive Order frighteningly titled: ‘Ending Radical and Wasteful Government DEI Programs and Preferencing’. This has more than set the tone for tough challenges ahead in terms of gender equality and DEI, with terms linked to equality already having been expunged from research. This will lead not only to regressions in terms of what has been achieved in recent years, but more problematically, Trump’s actions and the executive order reverse and undermine the factual basis of hard-fought wins in gender parity goals and DEI more broadly. This is against the spirit of UN Sustainable Development Goals on equity and is already having an impact on career pipelines, particularly in STEM subjects such as engineering.

Trump’s actions and the executive order reverse and undermine the factual basis of hard-fought wins in gender parity goals and DEI more broadly.

Ironically as the USA eschews DEI, UK research is set to double down on its value. Following lengthy consultation, guidance from Research England stipulates that the Research Excellence Framework (REF) will grade university departments on their share of women and minoritised ethnic staff, promotion rates by race and sex, and DEI staff training. This could prove problematic, as women still do more academic service work. As with other equity programmes, such as Athena SWAN, this can also lead to performative ways of doing equality work, ‘institutional peacocking’ and contribute to representative labour and the taxing of the identities of institutional equality champions. Whether this leads to the kind of culture wars seen on American campuses remains to be seen, although it is fertile ground for media already hostile to higher education and research in the UK.

Amidst these challenges, we might look to Nordic countries, such as Finland or Denmark, for optimism. A recent study found that in Denmark, the child penalty is markedly lower, reflective of generous parental leave policies, and where childcare is capped at 30% of its actual cost. Finland can be presented as a model of equality and well-being, that we should look to, to inspire systematic change in the UK, rather than the USA.

Finland has consistently ranked as the world’s happiest country, and equality is at the heart of this success. This achievement is not accidental, but the result of a systemic commitment to fairness and inclusion. In 1906, Finland became the first country to grant all women the right to vote and run for office. A year later, Miina Sillanpää made history as the first female member of parliament, later becoming Finland’s first female minister. Today, women comprise 47% of the Finnish Parliament, a testament to the nation’s enduring dedication to gender equality.

Finland has consistently ranked as the world’s happiest country, and equality is at the heart of this success. This achievement is not accidental, but the result of a systemic commitment to fairness and inclusion

While the United States remains the only OECD country without mandated paid parental leave, Finland sets a global example with generous parental benefits. By supporting both parents in child-rearing and ensuring access to affordable, high-quality childcare, Finland empowers mothers to fully participate in the workforce, fostering economic growth and personal well-being. As we look to the future, Finland stands as a model of equality and sustainability for Europe, and beyond.

However, this International Women’s Day, is not a celebration, nor is it a great opportunity for corporate laundering. Rather, it should serve as a reignition of the unfettered need for continuing the fight and accelerating action, particularly in higher education institutions. We must ensure that the efforts of those who have worked and continue to work tirelessly, often to their own detriment, are not lost. In the words of Gloria Steinem, ‘The story of women’s struggle for equality belongs to no single feminist nor to any one organization, but to the collective efforts of all who care about human rights’. This International Women’s Day, and every day, complacency is not an option. We must embrace a proactive and resilient stance to continue the fight for a more just and equitable world.

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Image credit: Karl Maria Stadler, Graphic of the poster for Women’s Day 1914, Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0).