🗨 President Trump Warned Us

It all starts with President Biden’s Executive Order 14067. [LOGO OST]( At times, our affiliate partners reach out to the Editors at Open Source Trades with special opportunities for our readers. The message below is one we think you should take a close, serious look at.   1. Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves Dungeons & Dragons, the hugely influential role-playing game, was made into a film in 2000, but that was Dingy & Dragging. Now comes another attempt to turn the game into a swashbuckling fantasy blockbuster, this time starring Chris Pine, Michelle Rodriguez and Regé-Jean Page as its luckless heroes, and Hugh Grant as its sneering villain. As that casting might suggest, the film's comic tone is a long way from the doom and gloom of The Lord of the Rings and Game of Thrones: its directors, John Francis Daley and Jonathan Goldstein, are best known for a beloved comedy, Game Night. "They're really funny guys," Pine said to Tamera Jones at Collider. "They have a history of making really great comedy. And their idea for how they wanted to tell the story was exactly what I like about big-budget filmmaking, which is not too cool for school. There's an earnest, real heart to it with a really sweet message." On general release from 31 March (Credit: Netflix) (Credit: Netflix) 2. Luther: The Fallen Sun Now that Idris Elba is 50, his fans might have to give up on their dream that he will eventually be cast as James Bond. But they can console themselves with Luther: The Fallen Sun, a Netflix spin-off of the long-running BBC series. Since we last saw John Luther, the disgraced police detective has been in prison, but he breaks out to track down a wealthy serial killer played by Andy Serkis. Can John catch the maniac before another police detective (Cynthia Erivo) catches John? The series' creator, Neil Cross, promises to answer that question with more locations and elaborate action sequences than the TV series ever had. He told Morgan Jeffery in the Radio Times: "What we've been able to do [with the movie] – having delivered every episode of Luther on budgets which are comically small – is to have a wider canvas and a bigger budget to tell the kind of stories that we we've always wanted to be able to tell. And we've really been given the opportunity – while staying entirely true to Luther." Released on 10 March on Netflix (Credit: Warner Bros) (Credit: Warner Bros) 3. Shazam! Fury of the Gods The brightest and funniest of DC's superhero blockbusters gets a sequel from the same director, David F Sandberg. Asher Angel is back as Billy Batson, a schoolboy who can turn into a Superman-like demigod, played by Zachary Levi. And now his foster siblings can turn into superheroes, too. "It's sort of an extension of the first movie," Sandberg told Devan Coggan at Entertainment Weekly. "He finally found a family in that movie. But now, we see him struggling a bit now that they're growing up... He doesn't want everyone to just scatter and go do their own thing." Billy also has to deal with the fury of the gods – or rather goddesses. Helen Mirren, Lucy Liu and Rachel Zegler play the vengeful Daughters of Atlas, so if you've ever wanted to see Dame Helen flying into battle alongside minotaurs, harpies and unicorns, now's your chance. On general release from 17 March (Credit: Lionsgate) (Credit: Lionsgate) 4. John Wick: Chapter 4 Keanu Reeves puts his black suit on for a fourth time to play John Wick, a retired hitman who is drawn back into a shadowy assassins' guild. Since the release of the first film in 2014, the stories have grown more complicated, and the series' mythology has grown more elaborate. Is John Wick becoming a globe-trotting action franchise to rival James Bond and Mission: Impossible? The new film is two hours and 49 minutes long, with a supporting cast that includes Donnie Yen and Bill Skarsgard, and a plot that takes Wick around the world. "We had an amazing location diversity… from Sacré Coeur, to Arc de Triomphe, to the Louvre, to the Eiffel Tower," Chad Stahelski, the director, told Vinnie Mancuso at Collider. "I mean we were in Aqaba, Jordan for our opening sequence. Paris, Berlin, Tokyo, Osaka. We got around on this one." On general release from 22 March (Credit: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer) (Credit: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer) 5. Creed III In the third film in the post-Rocky boxing series, Adonis "Donnie" Creed gets in the ring with an estranged old friend played by the formidable Jonathan Majors, who was the best thing about the recent Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania. This is the first Creed film to be directed by its star, Michael B Jordan – but the biggest change is that the franchise's creator, Sylvester Stallone, won't appear as Rocky Balboa, having fallen out with its producer, Irwin Winkler. "We wouldn't have Donnie without Rocky, and he will always be a pillar in Donnie's life," Jordan told Matt Maytum at Total Film, "but Creed III is really the dawn of a new era for the franchise and the character. It was really important from a storytelling perspective to get to a pivotal point in Donnie's career a few years down the line where he has really established himself with his professional career and his family." On general release from 3 March (Credit: Neon) (Credit: Neon) 6. Infinity Pool The latest body-horror chiller from Brandon "son of David" Cronenberg stars Alexander SkarsgÃ¥rd as an author who kills someone in a car crash while he's on holiday in a tropical resort. The local government sentences him to death – unless, that is, he pays to create a cloned duplicate who will be executed in his place. Last year's Glass Onion, The Menu and Triangle of Sadness had the super-rich getting their comeuppance in island getaways, but Cronenberg's film, says Kristy Puchko at Mashable, is darker and more twisted than any of them. "Infinity Pool will make you squirm, but without the release of a climactic punchline. Instead, this satire of wealth and privilege will leave you stranded in its putrid muck, but perhaps smiling at the sheer gall of its horror." Released on 24 March in the UK, Norway and Sweden (Credit: Sony Pictures) (Credit: Sony Pictures) 7. 65 Bryan Woods and Scott Beck wrote the screenplay for A Quiet Place, so they're past masters at nifty man-vs-monster survival thrillers. Their new film, which they directed as well as scripted, stars Adam Driver as an astronaut who crashlands on what seems at first to be a distant planet, but turns out to be Earth, 65 million years ago. He and the crash's only other survivor (Ariana Greenblatt) have to trek through the primeval wilderness, but various hungry dinosaurs soon pick up their scent. Jurassic Park meets Predator, then? Or is 65 more original than that? "In the last 10 years, the theatrical landscape has become this place where almost every other movie is a sequel, remake or reboot," Woods told Chris St Lawrence at Discussing Film. "But the hope for this movie is that there's an air of mystery about it. And hopefully it's a little different than people are getting when they show up to the movies more often than not." On general release from 10 March (Credit: Netflix) (Credit: Netflix) 8. Money Shot: The Pornhub Story Pornhub was recently ranked as the 12th most visited website in the world. Since its launch in 2007, it has become synonymous with pornography on the internet, and with "user-generated" pornography in particular. But there have been numerous reports of videos of child abuse and other forms of nonconsensual sex on the site. A new documentary from Alex Gibney's Jigsaw Productions explores Pornhub's complicated history. Money Shot "requires us to grapple with what sexuality and consent means when billion-dollar internet platforms thrive on user-generated content," says its director, Suzanne Hillinger. "Who has, and who should have, the power in these environments? Our hope is that this film generates important conversations about sex and consent, both on the internet and out in the world." Released on 15 March on Netflix (Credit: Focus Features) (Credit: Focus Features) 9. Inside Vasilis Katsoupis's provocative debut feature stars Willem Dafoe as Nemo, an art thief who is robbing a luxury New York penthouse. When he trips the high-tech alarm system, he expects security guards to come running. But something worse happens: security guards don't come running, and nor does anyone else. Instead, the faulty system locks Nemo in the apartment with no running water, and no way of communicating with the outside world. And the owner isn't due to return for weeks or even months. What good are all the apartment's priceless paintings and sculptures to Nemo now? "This would be a great role for any actor," says Pete Hammond at Deadline, "but Dafoe seems right on so many levels [in] … a psychological thriller about survival, an art film all about art and its meaning in our lives." Released on 15 March in Belgium and 17 March in the US (Credit: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer) (Credit: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer) 10. A Good Person Almost 20 years on from Garden State, Zach Braff's debut as a writer-director, the former Scrubs star has made A Good Person, another indie comedy drama inspired by his own life and his own hometown in New Jersey. "I think both A Good Person and Garden State are authentically me in different times of my life," he told Nadia Khomami in The Guardian. Florence Pugh (Braff's ex-girlfriend) plays Allison, a successful and happily engaged young woman. But after she is in a car accident that kills her prospective sister-in-law, she plunges into alcoholism and substance abuse. Could her salvation be her friendship with Daniel (Morgan Freeman), a widowed Vietnam veteran who would have been her father-in-law? "I wanted to write about grief and how people stand up after grief," said Braff. "I wanted to write something that would feel universal, so it wasn't necessarily about a horrific car accident, but rather about the audience's personal low point in their own lives." Released on 24 March in the UK, Ireland, the US and Canada (Credit: A24) (Credit: A24) Both outright and subtle discrimination is hurting LGBTQ+ workers, and even driving them out of their jobs. But the landscape could be shifting. I In her 20s, RaShawn Hawkins went to work wearing an uncomfortable costume. Like many US workplaces, her job had a dress code. But as a cisgender, queer woman who describes herself as “masculine of centre” – she feels more herself dressing in stereotypically male clothing – having to wear women’s blouses and pantsuits for eight hours a day wasn’t just uncomfortable. It felt wrong, she says, like she was erasing her own identity to masquerade as someone else. “I was immediately changing into my normal clothing that felt good to me in my car, before I even left the parking lot,” says Hawkins. Eventually, she left that job, seeking out employment somewhere she could more readily be herself. Many LGBTQ+ employees – more than eight million in the US workforce alone, according to some estimates – have had similar experiences of discomfort and conflict, whether through explicit workplace discrimination, or microaggressions – subtler, indirect actions that intentionally or unintentionally make marginalised groups feel hurt or even attacked. Half of LGBTQ+ and “sexual and gender diverse” people surveyed by the Center for American Progress (Cap) in 2022 reported experiencing some form of workplace discrimination or harassment in the past year because of their sexual orientation or gender identity. The number jumped to 70% for transgender respondents. And, often, these workers quit as a result: a 2021 study by the Williams Institute on Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity Law and Public Policy, a US-based public-policy think tank, showed that more than one-third of LGBTQ+ employees said they have left a job during their lifetime because of how they were treated by their employer based on their sexual orientation or gender identity. This kind of discrimination can take a toll on LGBTQ+ workers, and even have knock-on effects for employers. But although these issues proliferate, some data shows workers are changing the way they’re searching for jobs. And there are signs that resources are emerging for these workers to find more safety in the workplace, and ultimately choose employers who support them as they are. A range of discrimination What constitutes mistreatment in the workplace is individualised, but stories of harmful behaviour towards LGBTQ+ people proliferate, both anecdotally and in the public discourse. Members within the LGBTQ+ community share about casual slurs tossed about the workplace, managers prioritising time-off for cisgender heterosexual employees with children and even colleagues promoting religious beliefs that are anti-gay. Casual conversation among colleagues can often be alienating to LGBTQ+ workers (Credit: Getty Images) Casual conversation among colleagues can often be alienating to LGBTQ+ workers (Credit: Getty Images) Hawkins, who has moved into a role as director of the workplace-equality program at American LGBTQ+ advocacy group Human Rights Campaign (HRC), says workers have told her about water-cooler talk in which colleagues make assumptions about a worker’s orientation or gender; or healthcare policies that don’t explicitly support same-sex couples’ ability to take parental leave. She also points to other examples, like her own experience having to abide by a gendered dress code policy, official or unofficial. Many of these issues, says Hawkins, stem from ingrained social norms in which "cisgender, heteronormativity” is the default – the assumption is everyone’s gender identity corresponds to their birth sex, and they are heterosexual – so the environment and culture conforms accordingly. This can be unwelcoming to those who identify as LGBTQ+, and create stressful working environments. Data shows this culture is also driving many LGBTQ+ employees to hide their authentic selves: in the Williams Institute study, more than half of LGBTQ+ employees surveyed said they were not open about their identities or sexual orientations with their supervisors, with more than a quarter not out to any of their colleagues. Along with demoralisation, this can breed workplace hostility. In the UK, a 2021 study from HR association the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) showed LGBTQ+ workers reported higher levels of workplace conflict than heterosexual, cisgender workers in the UK. Forty percent of LGBTQ+ employees said they had experienced workplace conflict in the past 12 months, compared with just 29% of non-LGBTQ+ employees. Those numbers were even higher for transgender employees. Many of these reported conflicts were never fully resolved: 44% of LGBTQ+ workers said their conflicts had not been resolved at all, and 38% said they had only been partly resolved. Workplace conflicts “can take a significant psychological strain on people”, says Lutfur Ali, a senior policy adviser at CIPD. “And it's one of the reasons that people have cited for why [LGBTQ+ people] are leaving the workplace.” Another issue that stems from discrimination, say experts, is job security and the opportunity for advancement. Although the Cap data showed LGBTQ+ respondents reported currently being employed at a higher rate than straight, cisgender respondents, the researchers also found that LGBTQ+ people were more likely to report that they were working part-time, were self-employed or were employed in the gig economy. This has knock-on effects for economic empowerment: along with the existence of an LGBTQ+ wage gap, the Cap report also showed that LGBTQ+ workers reported lower annual incomes overall. ‘Most people would rather have a job and a paycheque than a lawsuit’ It’s not the case that employees have no recourse against discrimination. However, while both the US and UK have laws intended to protect the workplace rights of LGBTQ+ individuals, the policies are limited, and attempts to enforce them can be resource intensive. It's this kind of crushing realisation that this probably isn't the best place for you to be, even though you're quite excited by the job itself – Jessica Nichols In the US, for instance, the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) that was formed under the Civil Rights Act of 1964 for decades only protected workers from discrimination on the basis of an “individual’s race, color, religion, sex, or national origin”. It wasn’t until 2020 that the Supreme Court ruled in Bostock vs Clayton County that the Civil Rights Act also protected LGBTQ+ employees from discrimination. In the years prior to the 2020 decision, a number of states sought to fill the gap by enacting their own laws prohibiting discrimination of LGBTQ+ people, but still only about half of US states explicitly have such laws on the books. In the UK, the 2010 Equality Act offers LGBTQ+ workers an avenue to file a complaint. However, many employees do not have the mental energy or financial resources to engage in a legal battle – the significant burden of which would be on them to prove that their experiences qualify as discrimination, says Brad Sears, founding executive director of the Williams Institute. For these employees, he adds, it may be simply easier to check out psychologically, or outright leave a position. “Most people would rather have a job and a paycheque than a lawsuit,” says Sears. “So, I think what you do see is people just moving on to the next job or being disengaged from their current job, as opposed to filing a complaint.” As employees are driven out, companies, too, stand to suffer. “We know from other studies of workplaces that it is very expensive when employees leave a job,” says Sears. “It requires significant commitment, significant costs and recruitment and retraining. So, this is actually a tremendous cost for businesses that such a high percentage of LGBTQ+ employees are considering other work because they don't find their workplace supportive.” And even for workers who choose to stay, this disengagement can also be expensive for firms, says Sears – as costly as employees leaving outright. Data from Gallup showed disengaged employees cost the world $7.8 trillion in lost productivity last year. . Ultimately, says CIPD’s Ali, “if an organisational culture is not inclusive of all people, then the state of wellbeing for all employees suffers and the business suffers at the end of the day”. In the UK, Jessica Nichols, a transgender woman, started LGBTQ+-focused job board Jobs With Pride (Credit: Courtesy of Jessica Nichols) In the UK, Jessica Nichols, a transgender woman, started LGBTQ+-focused job board Jobs With Pride (Credit: Courtesy of Jessica Nichols) Paving pathways for change However, the landscape may be shifting for LGBTQ+ employees, enabling them to find better, more welcoming workplaces. Data shows LGBTQ+ employees are increasingly prioritising working in an environment where it’s safe to openly be themselves – and are choosing potential employers who tout their inclusivity standards. The Cap report showed that 36% of LGBTQ+ and 65% of transgender respondents surveyed have decided on where to work to avoid discrimination. Subsequently, job-searching approaches have evolved: many workers within this group say they are actively choosing positions based on their environments, rather than on a company basis. That’s why earlier this year, Jessica Nichols launched Jobs With Pride, a job board for LGBTQ+ employees to search for openings with companies that have been vetted to be LGBTQ+ friendly. This was born out of her own struggle with finding a supportive work environment as a transgender woman. Nichols, a freelance technical product manager in Newcastle, UK, describes the job search as “mental gymnastics”. Too often, she says, LGBTQ+ workers find a job that seems like a perfect fit, but then through the unofficial whisper network of the LGBTQ+ community – information informally passed among marginalised communities – they learn how other LGBTQ+ employees had been treated at that company, or of non-inclusive policies. 36% of LGBTQ+ and 65% of transgender respondents surveyed have decided on where to work to avoid discrimination “It's this kind of crushing realisation that this probably isn't the best place for you to be, even though you're quite excited by the job itself,” says Nichols. Now, she is working to bring the information passed along the whisper network public. On Jobs With Pride, she only posts job openings with companies with records of inclusion, like those who have won awards from leading LGBTQ+ charities. Smaller companies without public records of inclusion must receive five separate recommendations from the LGBTQ+ community to meet the posting criteria. Although emerging resources like Jobs With Pride are important to help marginalised employees avoid discrimination, advocates and employment experts also say it should not be solely incumbent on LGBTQ+ employees to search out safe places to work – employers need to be proactive in creating an inclusive workplace. Ali contends that all companies can do the necessary work – after all, not all LGBTQ+ workers have the resources to quit a job, no matter how unsafe or unhappy they may be. Ali emphasises that part of this progress stems from education and training as well as providing a forum for candid, sometimes uncomfortable conversations. But he also says creating safe, welcoming environments means going beyond training and seminars, including being diligent about enforcing policies and setting diversity, equality and inclusion targets. “We like to encourage employers to see that it's good people management at the end of the day. Nothing more, nothing less,” says Ali. “We are who we are, and we bring ourselves to work. And the research is now overwhelming: inclusive treatment of LGBTQ+ people in the workplace is good for all employees.” 11. Close Léo (Eden Dambrine) and Rémi (Gustav De Waele) are as close as brothers, if not closer. They spend every moment together in idyllic rural Belgium, and can't imagine life being any different. But at the age of 13, the boys enroll in a new school where their casual intimacy prompts questions and rumours that could push them apart. This sensitive peer-pressure drama from Lukas Dhont (Girl) is a "beautiful elegy of lost innocence," says Phil de Semlyen in Time Out. "Delicately tracing the emotionally deadening but invisible frameworks of conformity that are imposed on young people in their most formative years, it's a quiet tragedy that's rendered close to uplifting by its gentle grace and compassion." Released on 3 March in the UK, Ireland, Finland and Taiwan, and on 17 March in Sweden [Trump]( “They’re looking to destroy the country,” Trump warns as he calls out the threat from the left … and unfortunately, he’s right. Freedom of speech … gone. Freedom of religion … gone. Effects from the pandemic have set back many workers. For women of colour, these factors have compounded to hurt their growth potential even more. T The pandemic’s effects on working women have been well documented by researchers and workers alike. Throughout the past three years, women around the world disproportionately suffered due to economic shutdowns. Their earnings, in many cases, have stalled or fallen relative to men’s, and in many pockets of the labour market, women still struggle to climb to critical leadership positions. More women than men are leaving their jobs, unable to navigate corporate structures while balancing commitments outside of paid work. But buried in the narrative of women’s recent struggles overall is another critical and often even more troubling storyline: the experiences of women of colour. Although much gender-based data and research is reported in binary terms – men versus women – women’s lived experiences are formed at the intersection of gender and race, or ethnicity. Simply, looking at women as a monolith can lose nuance: the struggles of a white woman in the workforce may not necessarily be comparable – or even at all similar – to those of a black working woman; and, in turn, a black working woman may tend to face entirely different barriers to those experienced by women of Middle Eastern, Hispanic or Asian descent. Now, as the effects of the past several years begin to crystallise, researchers stress it’s important to acknowledge that women of colour in the paid labour market have been disproportionately affected by a perfect storm of economic and societal factors that have played havoc with their pay and earnings potential. Not only were women of colour more likely to be laid off during the pandemic, for example, but evidence has also emerged that during the most recent wave of job cuts, they were more likely than their white peers to have been made redundant. To make matters worse, companies have been cutting and shelving diversity initiatives and programmes designed to support women of colour in the workforce. This confluence has left women of colour at a particular disadvantage, and in their quest to advance in the workforce and boost their earnings, they may now face an even steeper climb than before – something that employers, say experts, have a responsibility to address. Women of colour have been left at a particular disadvantage in the pandemic era (Credit: Getty Images) Women of colour have been left at a particular disadvantage in the pandemic era (Credit: Getty Images) A perfect storm Even though women of colour have always earned less and endured worse representation in management roles across the corporate world, the past three years have served up a crush of additional challenges. First, their workforce representation has fallen at an alarming rate. In the US, research shows that women of colour, ­and especially those with childcare responsibilities, were more likely to leave the workforce during the Covid-19 pandemic. And the latest Women in the Workplace report, compiled by consulting firm McKinsey & Company, in collaboration with women’s workplace-equality non-profit Lean In, showed that among the unprecedented number of women leaving their employers, the phenomenon is particularly pronounced for women of colour. For those who do remain in the workforce, many are encountering what McKinsey coins the “broken rung” at the first step up the ladder to management. According to their most recent research, for every 100 men who are promoted from entry level to manager, only 87 women are promoted, and only 82 women of colour are promoted. This is particularly worrying, says Tina Opie, an associate management professor at Babson College, US, since earnings potential correlates strongly to seniority. She notes that while 21% of C-suite leaders in the US are women, only 4% are women of colour and just 1% are black women. Opie says that while it’s “nothing new” that employees of colour, and particularly women, have tended to earn less and be less represented in the most senior ranks of the corporate world, the most recent headwinds are “troubling”. The ongoing corporate cuts are also taking a toll on this group, affecting their current roles as well as critical support structures. Although there is no hard data that indicates women of colour have been laid off in higher numbers than other workers, research by scholar Alexandra Kalev at Tel Aviv University shows that layoffs do tend to disproportionately affect women and minorities – especially managers – and particularly when cuts are determined by the tenure that an employee has been at an organisation, and by the position that they hold. In other words, women and minorities are less likely to have been at the company for many years, and are also less likely to be in a senior position than a white man. This makes them more likely to be deemed non-essential – more vulnerable to cuts. Women and minorities are less likely to have been at the company for many years, and are also less likely to be in a senior position than a white man. This makes them more likely to be deemed non-essential The important diversity and inclusion programmes that employees of colour rely on for advancement are also being threatened. Early data indicates that, during the recent wave of mass layoffs, and particularly in the tech sector, these DEI efforts have been on the chopping block (among other companies, Twitter is a high-profile example). And if economic uncertainty lingers, and companies continue to cut budgets, slashed funding could discourage organisations from reinstating or bolstering efforts and functions that would help to address the dynamics disadvantaging women of colour. Other cuts may also be stalling out advancement opportunities for women of colour. Kalev’s research shows that when companies offer work-life supports – such as the option to work flexibly, family leave and help with childcare – women, and especially women of colour, as well as men of colour, are significantly more likely to succeed climbing into management jobs. But these are benefits that can fall by the wayside when economic headwinds pick up. “Without such work-life supports, it is much harder for [women and women of colour] to keep their jobs and climb up the ranks,” says Kalev. A pay challenge If the challenges faced by women of colour persist or get worse, one of the major knock-on effects will be on earnings. There is already a significant pay gap between men and women in most countries. In the US, for example, 2022 data shows that for every US dollar a median man working full time makes, a median woman earns about 83 cents. In the UK, using the same parameters, the gap is marginally smaller, at about 85 pence to the British pound. According to the United Nations, the global gap is about 77 cents to the dollar, predominantly driven by women being under-represented in decision-making roles, doing more unpaid work than men and being over-represented in lower skilled and lower income work. Discrimination may also factor in, but that’s something that’s hard to measure and often difficult to prove, meaning that it can persist for years unnoticed. Yet women of colour earn even less. Research from the Center for American Progress (Cap), for example, showed that in the US, Hispanic women earned just 57 cents for every $1 earned by white, non-Hispanic men in 2020. For black women in the US, the wage gap may be responsible for an average of $976,800 in lost wages over a 40-year career, while resulting in losses of $1.15m for Latinas and $1.08m for Native American women. In the UK, ONS data shows Pakistani women earned about 69 pence for each pound earned by a man. As women of colour lose their opportunities for advancement and workforce tenure, it will be challenging to close this earnings gap, and enable them to gain footing in pay equality. As women of colour lose opportunities for advancement it will be harder to close the wage gap (Credit: Getty Images) As women of colour lose opportunities for advancement it will be harder to close the wage gap (Credit: Getty Images) And while women of colour are set back, losing economic empowerment, these issues can be tough to reverse. “This is deeply troubling,” says Hephzi Pemberton, founder of Equality Group, a London-based consultancy that focuses on inclusion and diversity in the finance and technology industry. She says that these effects are particularly concerning, because losses associated with being underpaid compared to another demographic group accumulate and grow over time. “As a result, women of colour are less able to build savings, withstand economic downturns and achieve some measure of economic stability. They are often the same women who are caring for others and supporting many community activities.” This potentially growing discrepancy can also have widespread implications, adds Pemberton. “It is not only a deep loss for the workplace – it ends up having a large impact on society more broadly,” she says. “When we invest in women of colour, we are supporting whole families and communities. We have to appreciate the outsized impact reversing this gap can have on our economy and society.” ‘An extensive diversity penalty’ Experts agree that employers must bear the brunt of responsibility for ensuring that women of colour don’t fall even further behind their peers in the workplace. As a first step, Pemberton says companies can start taking action by understanding the extent of these conditions, and collecting more nuanced data around them. Pay reports, she says, can be a useful resource to gauge and acknowledge just how much work needs to be done. Some countries, like the UK, mandate annual gender pay gap reporting for organisations of a certain size, but don’t require companies to break down gender pay data into categories that include race, for example. That, say some experts, could be one way of shining a light on the severity and urgency of the problem. Subsequently, it’s important for firms to also recognise there are several factors exacerbating pay gap issues – especially amid current conditions. “As those with the power to implement change at a higher level, the responsibility lies on the shoulders of employers and managers to acknowledge, address and remedy all racial and gender pay gaps,” agrees Opie, of Babson. “Employers must take a look at the role of intersectionality in pay discrepancies, and ensure that employees are compensated in an equitable manner,” she says. It is not only a deep loss for the workplace – it ends up having a large impact on society more broadly – Hephzi Pemberton “Without active intervention, the gap will keep widening,” says Pemberton. “Often, managers are unaware of the many ways they can be part of the solution. They need to see the data, receive additional training and establish structures to ensure women of colour aren't continuing to pay such an extensive diversity penalty.” Even with these compounding factors in play, however, not every development throughout the past few years has grim implications for women of colour. For example, some experts are hopeful that new US laws banning employers from asking salary history could help to stem the widening in pay gaps. When employers are able to ask about salary history before making a prospective employee a monetary offer, that enables a form of institutional discrimination and the perpetuation of wage gaps that can particularly disadvantage women and employees of colour, according to a paper published by academics at Boston University. “Even if employers do not individually discriminate, the use of salary histories appears to perpetuate the effects of past discrimination or other group inequities,” they add. Data from the National Women’s Law Center, a US-based non-profit, also suggests that salary-history bans can be effective at making sure that women of colour are paid fairly. Research shows, too, that women and minority workers tend to ask for less money, so some experts also predict that that incoming salary transparency laws – mandates to publish pay ranges on job advertisements, for example – could help to stamp out inequity. Levelling pay is, of course, only one part of the puzzle. As Kalev’s research shows, for example, employees need to create ecosystems – networks and benefits – that lead to the kinds of conditions in the workplace in which women – all women – can thrive. And perhaps far more basic than that, experts agree that employers must lead by example in acknowledging the lived experience of these women throughout the past few years. Only by doing this, can they create the support structures needed to ensure that no single demographic group falls even further behind. Freedom of self-defense … gone. It all starts with President Biden’s Executive Order 14067. [Go here to get the full story.]( [divider] From time to time, we send special emails or offers to readers who chose to opt-in. We hope you find them useful. Email sent by Finance and Investing Traffic, LLC, owner, and operator of Open Source Trades To ensure you keep receiving our emails, be sure to [whitelist us.]( This ad is sent on behalf of Banyan Hill Publishing. P.O. Box 8378, Delray Beach, FL 33482. If you would like to unsubscribe from receiving offers for Alpha Investor Report, please [click here](. This offer is brought to you by Open Source Trades. 221 W 9th St # Wilmington, DE 19801. If you would like to unsubscribe from receiving offers brought to you by Open Source Trades [click here](. © 2023 Open Source Trades. All Rights Reserved[.]( [Privacy Policy]( | [Terms & Conditions]( | [Unsubscribe](