The issue around unfettered inclusivity is that it enables grifters to gain positions of power based purely on superficial elements that they possess.
The original meaning of diversity was "diversity of thought" -- it has been co-opted to mean something totally different.
Honestly it sounds more like a problem with your job's hiring process than with diversity movements. Even if you restrict your pool of candidates to a minority, if that minority is large enough, it's very likely someone from that community is capable of filling the role.
If you really don't care about the background then you can ally yourself with someone who does and get someone who both increases diversity and is competent at their job.
> The issue around unfettered inclusivity is that it enables grifters to gain positions of power based purely on superficial elements that they possess.
That's not specific to diversity. Dick measurement contests have existed forever. It's a myth that the past was more meritocratic that now. The proof is actually that if it were then the high ranks would be a lot more diverse than they are now. At least if you accept the premise that background is not related to capability (ie you are not racist/misogynic).
...As opposed to what happened before, where every single person hired was amazing and never the nephew of some boardmember.
The problem is that there will always be biases in hiring, "meritocracy" is a myth. It has been shown numerous times (e.g. [1]) that there is a significant bias towards men even if male and female candidates are equal, with the most decisive bias being an assumption that women may not be willing/able to work longer hours.
Besides, meritocracy is fraught with other issues as well, see e.g. [2][3][4] for more detailed writeups than I could possibly write here in a HN comment.
[1] https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/08912432221137...
[2] https://insights.som.yale.edu/insights/how-meritocracy-worse...
[3] https://press.princeton.edu/ideas/a-belief-in-meritocracy-is...
I'm starting to think there's more harm than good with these inclusivity movements. It creates two categories of students (and grads) when looking at hiring: people you know are there on merit and people who maybe got a little bit of help from "the quota".
I've heard it (in engineering only meetings) "you know this guy is solid, he went to X and he's Asian so you know he's there for the right reasons". And the thing is, you can't really argue with that logic.
Something I have to wonder is are women and minorities... ok with this?