US companies are accelerating their retreat from diversity and inclusion initiatives amid an all-out assault from conservatives emboldened by the election of Donald Trump.
The pullback includes Walmart’s decision to end some of its diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives last week, and Boeing’s move to disband its DEI department earlier this month. And on Thursday, a US judge in northern Texas rejected a plea deal federal prosecutors had reached with Boeing tied to two fatal crashes of the 737 Max, objecting to justice department guidelines to consider diversity in selecting a monitor to ensure corporate compliance.
These corporate rollbacks were “the beginning of the cataclysmic shift on DEI” that would accelerate once Trump takes office next year, said Michael Delikat, a partner at law firm Orrick and co-founder of its DEI task force.