Diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) are the three pillars that promote fair opportunities, treatment, policies, procedures, and more of all people in and outside the workplace. Diversity, equity, and inclusion primarily represent those often overlooked, historically underrepresented, and discriminated against because of their background, identity, etc., including the BIPOC and LGBTQ communities, women, people with disabilities, senior citizens, the youth, pregnant women, and more.

Each pillar represents an essential value organizations seek to establish through the DEI framework. Although each value is different, they are all related and work towards the same goal. Other countries use different variations of DEI. For example, Britain swaps equity for equality. Their variables are EDI, equality, diversity, and inclusion. Other variations are justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion (JEDI), inclusion, diversity, equity, and access (IDEA), and diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging (DEIB).

As mentioned, all pillars represent different values but are all related. Diversity promotes the variety of people, identities, races, ethnicity, class, religion, disability, age, background, and more in the workplace or organization. Equity focuses on fairness, justice, societal disparities, and “allocating resources and decision-making authority to groups that have historically been disadvantaged and taking into consideration a person’s unique circumstances, adjusting treatment accordingly so that the end result is equal.”