Some people would like to believe that the direction of history is irreversible, and that battles for the environment and for fair treatment at work for women and people from diverse backgrounds will win out everywhere. They like to think that more and more companies, administrations, institutions, universities and laws in every country will soon ensure a harmonious balance in recruitment and a reduction in greenhouse gas emissions.
In fact, since the 70s, American universities have imposed quotas on students according to their origins; in France, much has been done more recently to ensure that young people from the suburbs are admitted to the best universities and grandes écoles. In many countries, laws have been passed to ensure that men and women receive equal pay for equal work, and to ensure that boards of directors and executive committees have equal representation of men and women. And much has been done to take account of environmental and biodiversity issues.
In the USA, a Supreme Court decision of June 29, 2023 (concerning Harvard and the University of North Carolina) put an end to the obligation of positive discrimination in universities, which encouraged American companies to disregard it in their hiring practices. A little later, one of Donald Trump’s main advisors, Stephen Miller, and his group, America First Legal Group, embarked on a virulent campaign against any company or institution giving priority to women or non-whites, arguing that a company has no other mission than to generate maximum profit for its shareholders; they launched boycott campaigns of these companies described as “anti-white”, and their products denigrated as “woke”, the ultimate insult for these people. Then, on the same grounds, they filed lawsuits against IBM, Pfizer and Morgan Stanley.
Faced with these threats, several companies, such as Ford, Harley Davidson, Deer, Boeing and Black & Decker, have just surreptitiously abandoned their diversity policies. Very recently, Walmart withdrew from The Human Rights Campaign Corporate Equality Index, and decided not to renew a practice established after the assassination of George Floyd in 2020 giving priority to its African-American suppliers. And most major American investment funds no longer even pretend to be interested in environmental requirements.
More generally, a very violent and global attack is developing against what these movements call “woke capitalism”, or “left-wing capitalism”, which embodies, in their view, a betrayal of the fundamental values of the United States and the principles of its Constitution.
All this at a time when the worldwide plight of women is more tragic than ever, and when the most recent events, such as those in Florida, Valencia and Mayotte, make it more obvious than ever how important it is to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and how important it is for democracies to remain exemplary models for the rest of the world.
The European Union, which is working hard to implement bold legislation to promote gender and social diversity, and to measure the environmental impact of all production, risks once again finding itself out of step with the United States and its global corporations. We can already hear investors around the world quipping: “the Europeans are committing suicide with their regulations, which their own companies won’t be able to meet, leaving the field open to the very large American firms, which will make enough profits in countries where there are no regulations to have the means to comply with European regulations and destroy their local competitors”.
It is therefore to be feared that, in Europe too, contrary to the grand rhetoric, and despite the sincere actions of many companies, some governments and the European Parliament, the issues of diversity and the environment are being taken less and less seriously.
To avoid this, Europeans urgently need to simplify their regulations, to remain competitive, without giving up their fight to promote the life economy, through incentives rather than constraints. Who will dare?