At Rotary, we are committed to treating everyone with dignity and respect, allowing everyone’s voice to be heard, and providing equitable opportunities for fellowship, service and leadership.
Connecting the Dots between DEI and Youth Service
May is the Month of ‘Youth Service’ in Rotary.
DEI issues related to youth encompass a range of challenges that affect young people’s access to opportunities, fair treatment, and sense of belonging. DEI issues are universal and apply to all ages. Youth can be particularly affected as they are at a critical stage of development in their lives, where their experience could have substantial and lasting impact into their adulthood.
Educational Inequity
Educational inequity affects millions of young people worldwide, who have uneven access to learning resources and career opportunities due to differences in their socioeconomic status, race, gender, disability, and geographic location. While some nations have made progress in expanding access to education, systemic disparities remain, reinforcing cycles of poverty and exclusion.
250 million children remain out of school across the globe, disproportionately in sub-Saharan Africa and low-income countries, where 33% of school-aged youth lack access, compared to just 3% in high-income nations. Despite limited progress, systemic underfunding persists. Only 1 in 10 countries allocates 20% of public spending for education, with low-income nations investing a mere US$55 per learner in 2022 versus US$8,543 in wealthy ones.
Even in developed countries, schools in disadvantaged areas, which often have geographical correlation with races, often lack resources such as trained teachers and technology, perpetuating cycles of exclusion. The US Supreme Court ruled in 2023 that affirmative action, an initiative set to correct inter-race disparities in college admission, is unconstitutional and discriminatory, bringing an end to this long-existing initiative which originally aimed to promote diversity in college.
Digital Divide
The digital divide is a critical DEI issue for youth, disproportionately harming marginalized groups by limiting access to education, employment, and social participation. Globally, over 1.3 billion students, particularly in rural, low-income, and minority communities, lack reliable internet, widening achievement gaps as remote learning and digital skills become more important. Without devices or broadband, youth face barriers in job application and self-acquisition of knowledge and new skills (e.g. AI literacy), thus reinforcing disparities. Digital exclusion also means that minority voices are unheard, with the bias exacerbated by algorithms in social media.
Mental Health & Social Exclusion
Bullying and discrimination are common among youth, with certain communities such as ethnic minorities, immigrants, LGBTQ+ individuals, and students with disabilities often subject to marginalization and harassment at school or among peers.
Cyberbullying, often anonymous and brutal, could be hurtful, and such hateful content can easily go viral and become very public, having devastating impacts on their mental health and self-worth.
How can these inequities be addressed?
UNICEF’s 2023 report highlighted how equitable education financing is critical to strengthening education systems so that no learner is left behind. Funding mechanisms should be introduced to reallocate education resources to disadvantaged populations, with priority initially given to foundational learning so that the poor and marginalized communities become more represented in the lower levels of education. Then, when coverage at lower levels is close to universal, resource allocation is gradually increased to higher levels, with a continued focus on the poorest and the most marginalized.
Investments are also needed to overcome the digital divide in education, which goes beyond simply providing youth with devices and internet connections. Improving offline functionality of digital tools would narrow the gap created by unequal internet access. Proactive bridging of the gender digital divide and ensuring accessibility for learners with disabilities (such as access to braille translation for textual learning materials, and audio description and signing for visual materials) are equally important.
While it is no small feat to tackle bullying, teaching youth about empathy and fostering a respect for differences could go a long way in dispelling prejudice, one of the main causes of bullying and discrimination. For example, unconscious bias training programs can be designed to help youth recognize and mitigate unconscious prejudices, which are automatic, ingrained stereotypes about people based on their identity (including race, gender, disability, religion, or socioeconomic status).
“WHY DEI MATTERS?” SERIES
World Day for Cultural Diversity for Dialogue and Development [21 May]
“Cultural diversity is as necessary for humankind as biodiversity is for nature.”— UNESCO Universal Declaration on Cultural Diversity
Established by the United Nations (UN) in 2002, the World Day for Cultural Diversity for Dialogue and Development celebrates cultural diversity, promotes dialogue between cultures, and highlights the role of intercultural understanding in sustainable development.
Young people are natural agents of change, and play a critical role in intercultural exchange globally. Through youth programs like the Rotary Youth Exchange and Rotaract, friendships can be fostered across geographical borders as well as ethnicities and faith, allowing youth to appreciate the multitude of cultures worldwide, and helping to dismantle stereotypes and reduce prejudice.
We should focus on nurturing young people to be our future leaders, armed with a better understanding of global cultural diversity and a stronger sense of cultural empathy, who will set themselves to resolve conflicts in pursuit of lasting peace.
