“We don’t have discrimination here — we’ve got a policy.”
It’s a familiar line in workplaces that mean well. But sometimes that very confidence becomes part of the problem.
Blog 5 by Natalie Iddon Blanchard, in a series exploring the paper Kaiser, C.R., Major, B., Jurcevic, I., Dover, T.L., Brady, L.M. and Shapiro, J.R., 2013. Presumed fair: ironic effects of organizational diversity structures. Journal of personality and social psychology, 104(3), p.504.
The paradox of progress
Equality and inclusion policies have become a hallmark of responsibility across higher education, the public sector, and private industry. They signal intention and commitment — yet research by Kaiser et al. (2013) shows a troubling side-effect: when an organisation appears to take diversity seriously, people assume it is already fair, even when evidence suggests otherwise. This “presumed fairness” effect can make discrimination harder to detect, challenge, or correct.
At The Centre of Behavioural Equality (COBE), we see how this pattern manifests differently, yet consistently, across UK sectors.
EDI policy in higher education
Universities rarely lack policy. Every institution has an EDI strategy, an Access and Participation Plan, or a Charter submission. The abundance of policy can create assumptions of equality.
When bias is reported, responses often focus on procedure rather than experience:
“We have processes for that.”
Those processes can feel opaque or adversarial, leaving complainants uncertain whether their concerns are taken seriously. Because institutions see themselves as progressive, discrimination is sometimes reframed as misunderstanding, and staff or students may stop raising issues. Silence is mistaken for harmony, while policy intended to protect becomes a shield that deflects critique.
Create policies that illuminate, not cast shadows to hide in
Across all sectors, the same pattern emerges: the presence of equality structures is often mistaken for equality itself. Attention shifts from lived experience to procedure, and those who report bias may be doubted or dismissed.
The solution is not to abandon policy, but to treat it as a tool.
